Remove side moldings?

[Blandnuts]

I'm sanding down my hood, fender and possibly my bumper tonight. I was thinking about taking off the moldings on the fender so I can get a better sand/prime coat on it. Should I just use a hair dryer and some fishing line? Also, did anyone repaint their car and toss the moldings all together? I'm debating if I should toss them or try and paint them the same color as the car. The only problem I see is the lining of the front bumper to the fender will look odd without the molding.

Your thoughts?



Fred

 

[Daggar]

I tossed all of the side rubber moldings. I kept the pieces on the front of the fenders and the rear of quarter panels where it meets with the bumper moldings. The rubber pieces don't take painting well (although there are ways to prep them so that they will). The very front and back pieces are hard plastic though and not rubber. They paint great. No reason to get rid of them. Oh... and it looks fine with or without the rubber side moldings. Just depends on which way you tend to like it best.

Forgive the image quality below. The site is real picky about image size.

 

[sn9550]

I used a heat gun and some MIG welding wire. It's easier to do when it's warmer. I did mine in January (no heat in the garage) so I had to heat them numerous times.

 

[stang22]

Body shops use a tool, but you can use a wide paint scrapper and a hammer. That works just as well. Also, before you put them back on, remove the small metal strips from the back-side of the molding. This will make it a lot easier to install and will keep it nice and flat.

Tim

 

[Blandnuts]

Well, I didn't have any tools at my rents house to take them off, so I just painted around them. I guess I'll decided later when the cars is ready to be wet sanded if I'm going to ditch them or paint them.

Anyways, with about 3 to 4 hours into the job I only finished the hood and a fender. Alittle bit of that time was spent fixing the fender to hang flush with the door. Can't wait to start hitting door jams and hard to get places .

Thanks for the help.



Fred

 

[Blandnuts]

I tossed all of the side rubber moldings. I kept the pieces on the front of the fenders and the rear of quarter panels where it meets with the bumper moldings. The rubber pieces don't take painting well (although there are ways to prep them so that they will). The very front and back pieces are hard plastic though and not rubber. They paint great. No reason to get rid of them. Oh... and it looks fine with or without the rubber side moldings. Just depends on which way you tend to like it best.

Forgive the image quality below. The site is real picky about image size.

Now that doesn't look bad, but yours is a 4-eyed . Looks nice though

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

I used a steak knife...lol

The '79-82 cars can really get away with not having the door molding, because the body actually matches what the molding is shaped like, so it just flows and looks right. I'm not putting them on my car either, only the ones that go on the ends of the fenders that touch the bumpers.

 

[PNY PWR]

The farthest forward and rear bolt on and are plastic like said above. The other are rubber and stuck on. Above mentioned methods work well for removal. It is best to remove the metal backing before reinstalling so they will not be wavy.

Good Luck

 

[dvs bullet]

Make sure that if you are going to paint them the same colour as the car that like the others said you take off the metal strips, also make sure that the body shop strips them and apints them with a flex agent added to the paint or the paint wil crack and chip off with the expanding and contracting of the material. I had mine done that way, they turned out great