As the title states I need to remove the shifter trim the exact part I'm referring to is the piece that says P,R,N,D,S...reason why,I dropped a penny, it fell in between the shifter and when I went to pin it against the side and pick it up it slid under that trim piece. The surround is already off but that middle trim piece is still on.
Its frustrating because I can't shift past D with out a lot of force.

Any help be very much appreciated.

 

I am assuming from the pictures that you would have to push the grey clips in on either side (4 per side) to lift the silver piece up.

for my curiosity, how did you get the wood panel off? was it hard? does it eventually just pop off? I need to get under my ashtray as I used to put change in my ashtray and lost a few dollars through there and can't open my tray all the way anymore

 

just in case somebody else has this problem.
I actually found a great write up searching the Internet on how to remove the shifter for an auto(others are for a manual), clickity clack its at the bottom of the page.

To answer the second part, its pretty easy to pull up, 2 main points to start near the cigarette lighter and the opposite side just pull gently and it'll come off.

 

I did the exact same thing but i brought it to audi and they did it for about $100.