Newbie question ... but where can I buy those "push snap" plastic screws that hold the cooling plate down and is used to hold down nearly every part of the car?

And what is the correct term for these plastic clips/screws?

 

the dealer or any parts store.

 

Did a bit more research and found that they are typically called "push rivets" or "push retainers".

http://www.clipsandfasteners.com/Pus..._com_s/154.htm

 

expensive a lot of places. Go to a body shop. most keep em on hand and will barely charge you anything

 

any parts store should have em. maybe even like Lowes or something too.
Honestly, i would just go to the dealer and buy a bunch of em so you have spares. I used to do that on my Hondas because the whole car was held together by them and most of the time you had to break em to get em off.

 

Is there seriously any way to get these off without killing the things? I have yet to go it. I could somewhat on my old Sunfire with some needle nose pliers but trying to remove the shield on this car I had to beat the crap out of them to get them out to the point where they really aren't usable anymore.

 

yes, just takes patience (which i dont have most of the time)
There are all diff kinds of them, but I found most of them can be gotten out with a very thin flat head and kinda going around the rim to pop it out, or using 2 flatheads works too.

 

They do make tools. come in handy if you do it a lot.

Something like this for the clips your talking about


Something like these for others (such as the ones on your bumper)