Removing and installing rear side panel — VW
Removing and installing rear side panel on VW: 15 steps. What to remove, in what order, and what to check after.
Workshop procedure for VW — the exact step sequence and torque figures, straight from real workshop data.
🧭 Before you start
Fits: platform code 6Z1
📋 Procedure
- Raise vehicle 37.1General information; Raising vehicle with lifting platform and jack; Raising vehicle.
- Disconnect battery Electrical system27Battery; Disconnecting and connecting battery.
- Remove rear wheel housing liner .
- Remove fuel tank flap unit
- Release spoiler at side .
- Remove upper C-pillar trim General body repairs, interior70Trims, interior; Assembly overview - upper C-pillar trim.
- Remove tail light Electrical system94Tail lights; Removing and installing tail light MX3/MX4.
- Unscrew bolts (2) for securing to plenum chamber.
- Unscrew bolts (3) at rear.
- Unscrew bolts (4) at rear on inside.
- Unscrew bolts (5) for securing rear cross panel at bottom.
- Unscrew bolts (6) at front on inside.
- Unscrew bolts (7) for securing to front side panel.
- Unscrew bolts (8) for securing to end plate, B-pillar.
- With aid of second mechanic, remove rear side panel (1).
Other VW procedures
- Removing engine · 41 torque figures
- Removing and installing camshaft – VW Golf Cabriolet · 47 torque figures
- Adjusting valve timing – VW Passat B5 · 83 torque figures
- Removing and installing camshafts – VW Passat B6 · 39 torque figures
- Removing and installing coolant pump · 53 torque figures
- Checking brake light switch and brake pedal switch
- Checking fuel pump(s) – VW PG
- Dismantling and assembling selector mechanism on vehicles without key withdrawal lock up to 06.99
- Checking Lambda probe heating before catalyst
- Pressing front wheel bearing out and in with wheel bearing housing installed, 13" running gear
Who makes these pages, and how
TorqFix was built by a mechanic — after a 2,700 km drive with five roadside repairs that no diagnostic tool could explain.
The figures on this page come from manufacturer workshop documentation and are shown as they are. The page is assembled automatically from that data — it is not written by an AI. The AI works in the chat, where it answers for your specific car. It writes nothing here.
Variants of the same model differ. Cross-check torque against the factory manual for your engine before final tightening.
Seen a figure that does not match your manual? Write to us — we correct it and note when. support@torqfix.com
The story behind TorqFix →Workshop data on this page last updated 20 Sep 2026.