GT Door molding restoration - suggestions needed

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KansasPaul

5 Year Member

Oct 9, 2018

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Kansas

Oct 9, 2018

#1

• Oct 9, 2018

• #1

My parents purchased a new GT convertible in 1990 - its been garaged its entire life. Currently has less than 50K miles on it and it will be coming home to me. My issue is that the side molding shows a few minor scuffs and the color does not match the rest of the car. My question is regarding the best process to restore the door moldings. The car is white as are the moldings - not certain if these can be painted? Anny other suggestions? Unfortunately this lets down the overall look of the exterior.

I appreciate any and all input

 

Steel1

Mustang Master

Aug 18, 2017

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Connecticut

Oct 9, 2018

#2

• Oct 9, 2018

• #2

They can Definitely be prepped and painted, color matching could be a challenge.

 

billison

I like tinted tail

15 Year Member

Feb 27, 2006

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stl

Oct 10, 2018

#3

• Oct 10, 2018

• #3

Oxford white is likely the white they used.

If it’s just the door moldings, I’d stop by a shop and get a quote. Can’t imagine it’d be too crazy high.

That said, you can scuff and paint them.

 

Blown88GT

Founding Member

Nov 13, 1999

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Palm Beach Gardens, FL

Oct 10, 2018

#4

• Oct 10, 2018

• #4

KansasPaul said:

My parents purchased a new GT convertible in 1990 - its been garaged its entire life. Currently has less than 50K miles on it and it will be coming home to me. My issue is that the side molding shows a few minor scuffs and the color does not match the rest of the car. My question is regarding the best process to restore the door moldings. The car is white as are the moldings - not certain if these can be painted? Anny other suggestions? Unfortunately this lets down the overall look of the exterior.

I appreciate any and all input

Click to expand...

The body side moldings color changed over the years. Originally they were orange. All were a decal except for the doors which was a molded-in orange. Only found this out when started to remove them & there was nothing to remove from the doors. I had someone install a 3M body stripe around the entire car. It completely covered the orange on the doors. Only the center portion was orange, the outer edges were body color.

Yes, they can be painted, but the paint is a flexible type, the same as the GT aero flares.
Lots of pics can be found by searching Google.

 

BlakeusMaximus

Still got to try a little lube on my speedo head

5 Year Member

Jul 12, 2017

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Oct 11, 2018

#5

• Oct 11, 2018

• #5

I believe the moldings have aluminum strips in them and if you remove them they probably won’t go back on correctly. They will be shaped like a banana, and removing them from the car with 30 year old double sided tape will be tough without damaging them. If it were me, I would do a nice tape job around them and just prep and paint them on the car.

 

billison

I like tinted tail

15 Year Member

Feb 27, 2006

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stl

Oct 11, 2018

#6

• Oct 11, 2018

• #6

I would avoid removing them like the plague

 

BlakeusMaximus

Still got to try a little lube on my speedo head

5 Year Member

Jul 12, 2017

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Oct 11, 2018

#7

• Oct 11, 2018

• #7

Yeah don’t take em off. Trust us

 

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Davedacarpainter

Chicks can make things hard if they’re inspired...

SN Certified Technician

Nov 28, 2015

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Discordia

Oct 11, 2018

#8

• Oct 11, 2018

• #8

Bah, take them off.

If your careful, just pull the moldings off, they’ll still stay fairly flat. Just use a decent plastic scraper and slowly work your way down the mounding. Harbor Freight has some neat little plastic scraper sets.

If they are already curling at the end you don’t necessarily need to remove the metal strip from the back. Just heat the last few inches and pull the strip back.

Let the molding lay flat then and glue the strip back down. The metal will need to be trimmed a little due to the shrinking of the plastic.

Paint them like any plastic part.

Use a good double sided tape on the fixed molding and put it back on.

 

Reactions: General karthief