Civic EG

Well, This is a bit embarrassing due to how minor my problem is
I cannot remove my stock plastic ebrake cover to install my armrest
Because the two Phillips head screws are stripped and seem impossible to remove.

I bought an armrest and I would like to use it.

alrighty so you where in teh same boat ive been in well the whole not beig able to remove anything.....anyhow heres what to do and what nod to do....

What not to do....
dont use an air hammer thinking i could just pop the head off that wont work my first hatch still has the screws in it and its rather dented in teh center....

dont unless your horribly cautious with heat use a drill to drill out the heads because it will heat up and melt the plastic and if done enough will end up hurting your final result.....

and i know theres alot of donts but i want to help you so i want to get to the dos lol so heres the last dont Dont break out the hammer.....

Now heres a couple ways i got it those damn screws out (these should be called the bitch screws as they never want to come out..............

first since the heads are stripped you cannot use an impact screwdriver....so thats out

when that happens to me i breakout the grip tool Vice grips i pull the emergency break up as far as i can so i can fit the vice grips in there and grip the head of the scews and i do the tightest i can because well it just works better that way then i slowly twist and loosen and pop it out now thats one of the main ways i get it out....

now if all else fails id go for a drill and either oil or some drill lube and slowly go at it to just drill the heads off the screws and allow you to lift the console right off....then you can get at the reminants with vice grips


and once you get them out id suggest using 10mm bolts which in my opinion are less likely to strip

Ive put this aside for too long im jus gonna tackle it
replacing them with 10mm is so much more realistic.
Its such a minor problem but such a big headache
awesome thank you so much I appreciate it

Yeah I don't know WHY Honda didn't put bolts there in the first place. Really the best option is a manual impact driver with a #3 Philips. Do this BEFORE you strip the screws... it's no help to you anymore, but if anyone else is reading this .......... you have been warned!

For novices (we all were at one time!):
Manual Impact Driver

this happened to me too...

i had to drill the heads off with metal bits and then once i got the heads off i couldnt get the rest of the screw out so i just drilled through it with a smaller bit and used a self-tapering screw...

not how i planned on really doing it but it works just fine and my new center console looks great

I cant recall how deep the screws are, but if you happen to have a Dremel (or a friend with one), then just use the cutting wheel attachment with the snake handle to carefully cut a straight slit in the screw head. Then you can use a wide flat head screwdriver to remove the screws.