Driver's door lock cover removal?

[BimmerM]

Has anyone removed the cover that surrounds the drivers door lock? I painted (Le Mans Blue to match my car) a new cover w/o the key hole and I'm having difficulties removing the factory cover. I removed the 4mm hex bolt holding it in place but can't figure out how to pop it out. Any ideas? Seems like the locking mechinism is too shy to come outside.

[mdk5623]

I pried mine off. There are two 'fingers' that slip over the metal lock form, when you're looking at it, they are at 1 o'clock (using the keyhole circle as the clock) and 5 o'clock. If you can see the grooves at those positions from inside the door, you might be able to stick a small flat blade screw driver under the fingers to release them. They are riding over a small 'island' of metal, so if you can pull from the front and release it from the back, it'll slip right off. I pried it from the top--you'll probably marr/scratch the old cover doing this, but the point is moot--you're going to use the new, covered cover anyway. By prying it at the top in the 1 o'clock position, the back top 'finger' will break a small end off, giving some wiggle room. I was able to ease off the bottom portion by just canting it too and fro until the finger released. New cover installs over the old lock.
When I bought my keyless cover, it was on the metal sub-surface, the tumbler encasement. Is yours not the same? If so, you can clearly see those 'fingers' I was talking about. These pieces do separate. Is your cover only a thin piece of plastic, or does it have the tumbler encasement (metal) as well? That allen didn't help me install/remove, by the way....good luck.

[BimmerM]

Yup, I know it's latched on top and bottom and I tried to unlatch it from the small access hole on the door but couldn't get the top to unlatch.

On my M3 the whole thing just slide right out along with the locking mechanism.

I guess I can try unlatching it again without removing the whole lock. I want to try to keep the OEM cover in good shape in case I ever sell the car in the future.

Thanks for the suggestions. If anyone else has any other ideas on removing it, please let me know.