Thanks for the responses.

I think there are 2 kinds of rivets being discussed here. There are the expanding rivets that have a flat head on them and there are the blind rivets that do not have a head on them. I may have the terminology mixed up but there are definitely 2 kinds.
I think the blind rivets are meant to be punched out and discarded but the expanding rivets with the heads could potentially be reused if removed properly. A new set of rivets come with the running board kit so I'm not concerned about reusing the old ones but I would still like to remove them easier without scratching the body parts. This was an issue when I had to remove some plastic covers in the trunk of my 330 to install clear tail lights.

I'd do a search but I don't even know what the tool would be called. I may try to make one.

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