Paint and Body Curling Door Trim

[General karthief]

Yes the back edge of my door trim is curling away from the door. I figuare I can't just dab some hot glue in there and clamp it down and think it's gonna stay. Or will it? Nahh, can't be that easy, I do want to keep it, it matches the 'patina' which really means I'm too cheap to paint it.
Take it off and apply some heat to it clamp it down to some wood or something and hope for the best?

 

[a91what]

I just used string to cut the old double sided tape away at the end of the trim. then I used a rag soaked in rubbing alcohol to clean both surfaces. apply new double sided tape (bit of a pita) and clamp the piece, apply heat for a few minutes and let set for about 30mins. good as new!

 

[hoopty5.0]

^ This, or if that doesn't work, I've heard removing the metal piece inside of it works too. My trim is peeling, but I've had my hands full with other projects.

 

[General karthief]

Didn't think there was a metal piece behind the door trim, it's the one that runs down the centre of the door.
It's pretty stiff, I just don't want to ruin it, like I said, it matches the rest of the car. Kinda fugly.

 

[jrichker]

I have successfully used Super Glue as long as the original foam tape hadn't deteriorated. If it just lost it's stickiness to the point of not holding things in place, the Super Glue worked very good. Just don't stick you fingers to the tube...

 

[Rjaaaaaa]

My panels were curling on both doors in the front, I removed the complete trim on both sides and cleaned the tape off. The trim has a thin piece of metal running the full length of the molding. The problem is that the plastic / rubber trim shrinks a little over time and pulls against the metal which didn't shrink so the material pulls and bends the metal piece. I tried everything while I had it off, I heated and clamped it to a board, bent it a little backwards and clamped it NO GOOD, still returned to the original curl. So I finally heated the end piece and separated the metal from the rubber material, let it cool and then superglued them back together. It stayed straight and I have reinstalled it back on the car and it looks great. Hope this helps someone else.

 

[General karthief]

My panels were curling on both doors in the front, I removed the complete trim on both sides and cleaned the tape off. The trim has a thin piece of metal running the full length of the molding. The problem is that the plastic / rubber trim shrinks a little over time and pulls against the metal which didn't shrink so the material pulls and bends the metal piece. I tried everything while I had it off, I heated and clamped it to a board, bent it a little backwards and clamped it NO GOOD, still returned to the original curl. So I finally heated the end piece and separated the metal from the rubber material, let it cool and then superglued them back together. It stayed straight and I have reinstalled it back on the car and it looks great. Hope this helps someone else.

It feels pretty stiff, cannot move it pushing by hand, I will remove the strip and see if I can duplicate what you did, the curling out is too trashy even for my car.

 

[Rjaaaaaa]

It feels pretty stiff, cannot move it pushing by hand, I will remove the strip and see if I can duplicate what you did, the curling out is too trashy even for my car.

Yea, I know what your saying, that's some tough stuff. That double faced tape is incredible too, and it's tough to clean off but you will see what happens when you separate the metal strip from the rubber. a little heat on the material will let it lay down flat, let it cool while clamped flat then you can reglue them back together. I heated the metal and pushed a knife behind the metal to separate it. I bought my 3m double sided tape at auto zone, 2 15' rolls did the job and a lot cheaper than buying it at a auto body shop, same tape.
Good luck

 

[Davedacarpainter]

What we've always done in the shop is to remove the metal upper and lower backing strips.

I use a plastic tool to remove mouldings so the paint won't get scratches.

Use one of those cheap HF butane torches and lightly heat up the strip. The glue holding it down will let go. Throw the metal strip away.

Use a little laquer thinner to wipe the residue off the back of the moulding.

I use a plastic adhesion promoter next before retaping the moulding. I like 3M's two sided tape.

When you go to put it back on the door, take a roll of 3/4" masking tape to lay a straight line on the door as a guide. The moulding will obviously be more flexible without the strip on it. You'll want the guide to make sure you put it back on straight.

BTW, I wouldn't try to restick the strip to the moulding. It'll end up doing the same thing even if you could get it back on their straight. Also, you won't be able to flatten it without removing the strip. It will curl back up.

 

[General karthief]

Damn thats a lotta work for a beater! I would like to get it back on straight, I will work on it this weekend, don't expect any pics though, ya'll kick me off for have'n an ugly 'stang.

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Damn thats a lotta work for a beater! I would like to get it back on straight, I will work on it this weekend, don't expect any pics though, ya'll kick me off for have'n an ugly 'stang.

It's really pretty quick and easy

 

[General karthief]

It's really pretty quick and easy

Thanks for the encouragement.
How many beers does it take to put door trim on straight?

 

[Rjaaaaaa]

When I took mine off it didn't matter about the paint because I was doing new paint. some say use heavy fishing string and drag it behind the molding.
I only loosened the metal strip about 5" back, just enough to straighten the end of the molding, them reglue.
it's pretty easy to align the molding on the car, put the two strips of tape down the full length of the molding but leave the covering on the back side of the tape, pull the first 1" of covering back and fold it at 90 degree angle one up and one down so that you can grab and pull them latter. take the molding and using masking tape, locate the molding on the car. Once you have it straight, start pulling the tape covering back and push the molding hard against the car, removing the masking tape as you go. This works really easy just don't go to fast so that you rip the tape covering and lose the end. Here is a video showing what I mean.
https://video.search.yahoo.com/sear...=b6aa3e7ce0ab67bfccec2c2ba6663e10&action=view
Hope this helps

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Thanks for the encouragement.
How many beers does it take to put door trim on straight?

As many as it takes, that's all you need to know soldier.....