Has anyone been able to remove the front mat locators that are fitted into the main carpet?

I thought that they were screwed into the carpet by the dealer pre-delivery when they fitted the mats.

It looks to me as though they are factory fitted with some sort of retainer on the inside of the main carpet.

Any (sensible) suggestions on how to remove them?

mine just screw in and out

Mine also just unscrew from the carpet.

Just tried to make sure, if you pull them with a little bit of force and twist they come straight out

Edited 23 October, 201213 yr by JohnSTV6

Yep, unscrew while pulling hard enough to lift carpet up a bit.

They are tapered and wider at the top of the screw thread

so you'll need to pull to get the thread to bite so you can unscrew.

I thought there were two different types, factory fit (probably fixed to the back of the carpet?? and dealer fit which screw in as suggested.

Neither are factory fit. First generation ones had a twist and fit connector, the later mats push to fit over the locator.

Both are fitted in the same way, by a plastic taper into the factory carpet. As said, pull up the connector so that carpet rises with it, then pull and unscrew at the same time. If you don't do that, you end up just endlessly untwisting the locator thinking it'll never come free!

Neither are factory fit.

Both my Octavia's (vRS & Scout) came from the factory with fitted carpet mats...