How To Remove A Door Panel on your Mustang

How To Remove A Door Panel on your Mustang — photo 1

How To Remove A Door Panel on your Mustang

I’ve seen a few posts on people asking how to do different things as far as removing the door panel and it’s pieces and I know a lot of people buy new speakers so I figured I’d make up a little walk-through with pics and what-not.

The Mustang actually has one of the easiest door to take off, but one of the hardest to put back on. It’s quite simple once you get the hang of it.

How To Remove A Door Panel on your Mustang — photo 1

The first thing you’ll need to do in order to get the door panel removed is to take out the bezel in the middle of the door. You’ll need to pop out the top part of the bezel and lift up slightly, then with both hands, grab the bezel and tug firmly on it in a straight upward direction in order to pop the clip out of it’s socket. The clip is located where the bottom red circle is there so you want to place your hands around that and pull straight out so you don’t snap this. I remind you that anything you break on this bezel ruins the entire bezel because it won’t fit right and you have to buy a new one (23 bucks from Randy had to get one myself). Also, be careful not to pull the bezel too far out because your wiring is still all hooked up to your switches.

How To Remove A Door Panel on your Mustang — photo 2

When you turn the bezel around and look at the back of the switches you have 2 screws and a clip. Just pull the clip off and unscrew the two screws to release the switches from the bezel. I suggest pulling gently on the wires to remove the switches from the switch housing because if you pull the switch housing from the bezel, you must buy a new bezel because your switches will be sitting inside your door.

How To Remove A Door Panel on your Mustang — photo 3

Next thing is to remove this plastic plug from the door panel. It’s located near the bottom edge of the door where the door hinges are. It’s a bitch to pull out. You can use as much force as necessary to pull this sucker out, if it breaks you can buy bags of these for a couple bucks at your local auto parts store. Most likely it won’t break and it’ll just bend the frindges in the opposite direction which will work out nicely because they’ll need to be facing that way when you put it back in the door.

How To Remove A Door Panel on your Mustang — photo 4

The last set of screws in the two from behind the bezel. These are just #2 phillips screws that can be removed easily. No trouble here.


Now that you have everything unhooked you can start removing the door panel. The easiest way is to start from the bottom up. Just take your palm and start pushing up on the bottom of the door panel all the way down it and work your way up. Grab that sucker, pull up and take it off. Make sure once you get it off you have to slide it towards the front of the car to get it around the door handle.

How To Remove A Door Panel on your Mustang — photo 5

Here you have your speaker housing which is 6×8 but because Ford is a little homo in the audio department Pioneer is really the only 6×8’s that fit. You can put different 6×8’s or even different size speakers in there, but you have to drill your own holes and have to make sure that the tweeter doesn’t stick out too far. As you can see, the tweeters on my speakers are pretty damn big and almost touch the speaker cover when I put the panel on.

How To Remove A Door Panel on your Mustang — photo 6

Putting the door panel on is the same steps in reverse but make sure that after you get the panel around the door handle, you line up the hooks shown in the picture with the holes in your door and that your lock pin is inside the lock pin hole in the panel. If you don’t have the pin in the hole then your panel won’t fit.

Write-up by: slick @ mustangboards.com

27 Comments
  • Matt
    Posted at 22:03h, 1 April 2009 Reply

    This also works for the 1997 also, just FYI.

  • David
    Posted at 14:59h, 20 June 2009 Reply

    Thank you!

    Very helpful write up. Thank you.

  • robert
    Posted at 17:26h, 13 September 2009 Reply

    mustang door panel removal

    this is pretty informative BUT i have a speaker in the corner on top and can’t figure out how to remove that to get the door panel off. i don’t want to force it and can’t find any tabs or screws. the panel won’t lift up with this in the way. any help out there?

  • John
    Posted at 22:12h, 26 October 2009 Reply

    Replacement door pull/bezel

    Where did you purchase the replacement door pull/bezel (other than from dealership) Thanks.

  • Mindy
    Posted at 13:18h, 15 November 2009 Reply

    Just a thank you!! I am a girl trying to fix my power window motor. What a help!!!

  • eddie resch
    Posted at 02:11h, 12 April 2010 Reply

    door panel removel for a 93 mustang LX convertible

    how do I get the dorr panel off , How many screws are there and can you explain what has to come off in order for panel to be removed ??????

    • Mike
      Posted at 10:23h, 12 April 2010 Reply

      All the screws that need to come out are marked in the pictures. Once they are all removed and everything is disconnected to remove the panel lift up.

  • Lisa
    Posted at 21:43h, 10 May 2010 Reply

    Sweet! Loved the step by step pictures and descriptions!

  • Dave Culbreth
    Posted at 17:42h, 21 August 2010 Reply

    Door panel

    This was a great instruction lesson for me. It worked like a charm. My drivers window was coming up about 1/2 inch to far. When I got the cover off I discovered that the window had come unglued from the track. The silicon is drying now hope that it works. What a cheap way to secure a window to the regulator. You would think that on a Cobra they would have came up with a better way. Thanks for the help it was a life saver.

  • rich
    Posted at 00:31h, 15 February 2011 Reply

    speaker in lower corner of window

    do i need to take door panel apart to pull this speaker out or does face cover come off there mach speakers in the 97 mustang gt

  • marty green
    Posted at 15:08h, 12 March 2011 Reply

    door panels

    I have a 95 mustang without power windows, how to you remove a door panel with a window cranks handle?

    • Joe
      Posted at 16:33h, 14 March 2011 Reply

      take the crank handle off first

  • Dave
    Posted at 10:16h, 12 June 2011 Reply

    Speaker grill and handle surround

    These instructions were a lifesaver – just used them on a 1997 Mustang GT. A couple of additions:
    if you have a speaker above the panel, you can remove its cover by simply pulling it off – this gives you more room to lift the door panel off.
    Once you have the panel off, you can pop off the smaller panel that goes around the handle. This makes it mush easier when you’re putting the panel back on; and the smaller panel can be put back from the outside.

  • Charles
    Posted at 14:26h, 1 July 2011 Reply

    great article

    Something inside the door panel (door lock?) is rattling more and more. I want to quiet it. Do I have to remove the entire door panel (driver’s side 2002 GT Convert) to get to the problem ? Thx

  • Bob
    Posted at 11:58h, 19 August 2011 Reply

    Thanks, worked like a charm

    Saved me a lot of time and money! Your presentation was perfect. The door handle had worked loose over the years, I removed the panel using your instructions, tightened the nuts and put back the panel in half an hour.

    Thank you for taking the time and effort to help me and others.

  • Lewis
    Posted at 22:34h, 11 January 2012 Reply

    Part Source

    You said “get from Randy.” Where can i get a replacement bezel? 2001 Mustang coupe driver side. So far, have not found for less than $65.
    Thanks.

    • Kenan
      Posted at 16:41h, 30 March 2012 Reply

      I would try eBay I buy everything from there.

    • gary
      Posted at 20:59h, 12 August 2012 Reply

      bezel

      you said randy..i need one of them dealer has it for 105.00…randy would be a big help…thanks

  • Gabriel
    Posted at 21:55h, 5 April 2012 Reply

    02 mustang

    Montreal Canada

    great write up makes the job easy followed you guide no problems

  • doug
    Posted at 01:14h, 25 February 2013 Reply

    mustang door panel and window replace

    thanks, great info and glad you did this site.

  • Marlene Slaughter
    Posted at 11:21h, 1 May 2013 Reply

    2001 MUSTANG

    My drivers side window want go up or down – all other windows work great – also the lock button on drivers door
    want work – any ideal what is causing this ?? Auto zone
    man told me i would have to take door panel off the see if there was a loose wire. Your instruction sounds very helpful if this is what I need to do.

    • Mike
      Posted at 11:26h, 1 May 2013 Reply

      Re: 2001 MUSTANG

      This has happened to me before. The fix is very easy. While inside your car, open the door and hold down the window button (if the window is up, or hold the window button up, if the window is down). While holding the button, close and slam the door, but make sure you’re holding the button. Sounds crazy but it will work, trust me! Mike take a few times and a few good slams.

    • Kevin T.
      Posted at 15:37h, 2 July 2016 Reply

      Thanks for your question and Mike's response!

      Thanks for your question: I had the same problem for a while. It only happened when it got very hot, and previously it always worked again when it cooled down. This last time it did not work even after it cooled down. I tried the trick in Mike’s response (slam and hold AT THE SAME TIME) and it worked! Thanks Mike!

  • Jimmy McMahan
    Posted at 15:30h, 6 July 2013 Reply

    Mike, you are most certainly the man. I followed the advice that you gave Marlene Slaughter and it worked! You saved me the cost of a motor ($123.00) or a regulator ($114.00). Although it may be a temporary fix, I’m extremely grateful for your insight.

  • Alan
    Posted at 12:20h, 15 March 2015 Reply

    Thanks!!!!

    This was a huge help! Not seeing any screws anywhere, I thought the panel was all one piece and was clipped on. I’m glad I stopped prying on it and checked for help online before I broke something. You were right – more difficult putting it back on. I was replacing the passenger side mirror and only had to pull the door panel off to unplug the wire. %*@&!!!

  • Sarge
    Posted at 16:09h, 2 January 2019 Reply

    2004 Mustang door panel

    Very helpful, Thank You 😊

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