PLEASE be advised, that it is in your best interest to pull down the rubber window moulding before attempting to tear away the A-pillar. A couple of folks have been a little rough and cracked their moulding while attempting to remove their A-Pillars. I believe that there may be a couple of small screws holding the lower portion of the A-pillar to the underside of the roof line of the car. I am getting this information second hand and have requested photos from those who have brought it up (above) but no one has been able to provide.

Just heads up!

 

Thanks for the heads up

 

Please let us know how it goes...and be patient. Pics if u can.

 

Ok, I only have a phone camera so images may suck but I'll definitely take some . . . stand by for pictures and progress.

 

UPDATE: So I began by taking off the B-pillars. . . NO PROBLEM . . .Got to the A's undid the first screw under the B's and slid a screw driver like said above . . .blah blah blah, busted 1 A pillar, other side was fine. . .When I went to replace them with the CF Fenders I new that something wasnt right. The weather stripping on the lower portion around the window needed to transfer over, along with the top portion of the stripping along the roof line especially if you have a CF roof like I do. Also you're going to need a lot of double sided tape and pre drill the holes in the A pillars if they aren't already done . . . aside from that pretty easy. Waiting for pictures . . . sorry for that delay

 

Can you tell me now with the pieces off why you think 1 pillar broke or what part stumped of the task you?

 

Installer is coming to change my windshield tomorrow, I guess I'll go ahead and try to remove the A pillars, I'm following the directions used above........

 

I suck, I think I broke it. I did everything up to the part trying to pull the big rubber molding off and there's like a glue-like substance underneath the moulding, so I left it alone, and decided to pull on the pillar, I heard cracking... snapping. The hell with it i kept pulling and cracking and snapping and cracking.

 

I hope you are using more than just double sided tape to hold them down. I believe you are supposed to actually screw down the lip that goes under the rubber window molding for added security.

Look fellas, I don't know if you guys realize this, but all it takes is a simple run of maybe 80-100mph and/or a strong gust of wind while on the highway and POOF, the A-Pillars are History. The edge of the A-pillar that sits on the front windshield must be secured and flush to the glass or else it will to rip the entire A-Pillar off the car.

IT MUST BE FLUSH ON THE GLASS.

If it is any bit loose, it is not secure enough for high speed and will break and fly off the car. The OEM pieces are very delicate pieces of ABS plastic and the weakest link on them is these small plastic tabs that plug into the many small holes along the edge of the pillar along the window line. If they break you will have to improvise some way to keep the edge down. Double sided tape may work for a small area, but the most important edge is along the front windshield (IMHO).

Each of these OEM pieces are in the low $400 dollar range (EACH). If you cannot afford replacements don't mess with it. Even the Carbon Fiber replacements are not perfect.
I removed my OEM pieces to have them wrapped in CF by someone on the forum. I was very LUCKY I guess to only have broken the underside part of the A-Pillar (the lip that goes under the rubber molding.) and none of the tabs broke. My mistake was selling the CF wrapped A-Pillars to someone with broken A-Pillars that never sat right. And you guessed it, one day while on the highway the passenger side broke and flew up in the air about 30 feet before landing on the highway only to be run over by the next car.

Lesson learned. Don't become a statistic.

If you guys have any concerns about performing this task, please take a safe route and let a body shop do it, so that it is virtually guaranteed in case they break your stockers that they will be replaced. If you break it and want to go back to stock that $400 + per side.

 

thanks so much for putting this up. i have to change the passenger side a-pillar on my 05 when i get home in about 3 weeks. i have looked everywhere for pics/drawings of this procedure!!! and you are correct on the price of this part, my local dealer quoted me $368.00. will keep watching this thread for anymore pics if anyone else has any to post. and i will definately put mine up when i do it. thanks again guys.

 

Sorry to have to be the ahole but If you follow these instructions you ARE BREAKING YOUR A-PILLAR. No disrespect to the OP but I would hate to see anymore Z owners breaking such an expensive piece.

Besides the 1 visible screw and tab that attaches the A-pillar to the car there are 8 other hidden screws and tabs that are only accessible by removing the rubber body stripping. Underneath the rubber body stripping you'll see a small retainer strip attached by 8 screws. These 8 screws are also attached to the A-pillar via the hidden tabs.

All that snapping and cracking you are hearing while removing the A-pillar via this method is the 8 hidden tabs breaking off the A-pillar!!! If you are going to remove the A-pillar, remove the rubber body stripping first and unscrew everything. The rubber stripping is attached with 6 clips and doublesided tape on top portion of the stripping and can be removed with care. You can reattach the rubber body stripping with double sided tape.

I found this info on the 2004 service manual which can be found and downloaded in these forums. The section where they cover this is under "Roof Side Moulding" in the Body Chapter.

Once again, no disrespect to the OP but at 400 dollars a pop to replace, this shiet can get really expensive! Hats off to you for posting though. Spread knowledge!

 

Maybe you didn't read any of the above, but I have been asking for someone/anyone to find additional info about the same thing for months. Someone already brought this up and I acknowledged that if there is a better way to kindly demonstrate. NO One to date is willing to take any pictures to show us all the "Better" way. I never stated that my way is the only way or the best. I am sure there are a million ways to kill a cat. This is just one way, and I guess by shear luck it worked for me. And No offense taken. We are all here to learn. That goes for me too.
I appreciate your bringing it up and yes these pieces as I stated are over $400 each side, so yes, please be careful when handling.

 

does anyone know if someone sells the seal that is attached to the a pillars. it runs along the window.

 

I bought a set from turbo-toys.com.
They have a ton of Z parts.
Props to Jim @ Turbo-Toys.

 

nice write up.
it sounds like its hard not to breaks stuff

 

does any1 have a pillars for sale?

 

DANGIT!!!! I should have been wise and read the rest of the thread before attempting this. I freakin snapped my d.side pillar in half down at the bottom near the front fender

OP Can you please modify this thread at the beginning? Just add a ****PLEASE ADVISE*** or something and tell people what is up from the get go. Thanks

 

Done. /\ /\ /\

 

Awesome! Thanks man...nice write up and images are great...

For those looking for pillars under 400 bucks you can try here...

I might order one...seems they come pre-painted because it asks the color in the right menu? Not sure but I will call them tomorrow and ask what the scoop is on this!

***Update*** Called Courtesy Nissan (the other place didn't answer) and they come color coated and prepainted.

 

Updated once more 8-11-09 with pic revealing screw locations prior to removing A-Pillar. Hope this helps. Thanks to those who helped to bring this to my attention. Hopefully this will eliminate any more horror stories.