Support the hatch, even if you do it one side at a time, just one shock can't hold it up. The rope doesn't need to be tight, it just needs to keep the hatch from falling.
Pull up the rubber boot at the bottom of one of the shocks. Unplug the rear defogger. Pry out the retaining clip far enough to grab it with a pair of pliers, then pull it out. Push up on the hatch to release the tension on the shock and it will easily slide right off of the mount. Repeat on the other side.
Pull out the four push pins at the top edge of the speaker trim plates (two on each side). Mine really didn't want to come out. I used a small screwdriver to pry them out enough to slide a pair of dikes (diagonal wire cutter) under and pull (do NOT squeeze the handle, just pull).
A pic of the little bastard that you're dealing with.
To pull off the trim panel, reach under the front lower corner and pull straight out about 1". You should feel one of the friction clips release. Slide your hand up near the top front corner and pull it out until that clip releases.
Now there's one pin left in the rear upper corner. It's a pin similar to the four little buggers that you already removed, only it's a lot bigger and much more stubborn. You SHOULD be able to rotate the trim panel off of the last pin without pulling out the pin if you tilt the front lower edge up and down while guiding the upper edge out from under the roof panel. The pin isn't rigidly attached to the trim piece. If that doesn't work you'll need to pull the pin out while it's attached to the trim piece. Good luck!
Once the trim piece is removed you can pull the pin out with pliers and slide it back on to the trim piece. Here's a pic of the back of the trim piece. The silver clips are on either side of the seat belt hole, and the white pin is next to the speaker grill.
Pull out your old speaker, mount the new one. It helps if you have a magnetized adapter gizmo for your nut driver to help prevent dropping the screws.
I was surprised to find the cabin pressure relief vent behind the passenger side speaker.
Do whatever you need to with the wires. Connect them to your new speaker if you're reusing them, or tape them to the existing wire loom to prevent any rattles.
Put everything back on in the reverse order. Don't forget to push the defogger plug through the hole in the trim piece before you get it snugged back down. I found it was easiest to slide the trip piece under the roof panel, then get the top clip into position, line up the rear pin but don't push it in, insert the lower front clip (look up from below to see where the hole is), then use your palm to pound everything into place.
Was just thinking the other day about my panel popper and how great of an investment it's been for me. It will pay for itself many times over in saved time and aggravation over the years - well worth the $.
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C6 Coupe REAR Speaker Swap "How To" w/pics
