Trim removal help

[RyanG]

I want to clean up some paint on the rear of my car. And to make it nice I want to remove the chrome trim piece that goes over the rear buttress

I’m pretty sure I just pull it off but it’s pretty snug and before I really get after it I wanted to make sure. And maybe someone has some advice on how to keep from really screwing up the trim piece.

Appreciate any advice/help

I just finished up cleaning and painting the engine bay and trunk. My plan is to paint all the red to match the body. Slowly trying to cover all the residual old red paint.

 

[Dr.Jeff]

For the most part it does just pull off. However there are several "teeth" (barbs, or tits) on the sheet metal seam it goes over. Those teeth grab the trim and hold it secure. So as you remove it you'll find those spots will be difficult to get off. Here's an example of the teeth:

It also gets difficult when you get to the bends, as the trim curves.

Inside (under) the metal trim is a plastic liner:

The metal trim and plastic liner will probibly come off together. But if it seperates as you go along no big deal, the liner can just be pushed back inside after everything is off.

Try using a nylon trim removal tool to 'lever' it up from the bottom edge and gently work it up as you go along - lift it up a couple millimeters, move forward a bit, lift that the same, after a while go back and lift the beginning a couple more mm, move forward, etc, etc. Start at bottom ends and keep working around toward the center. In places I also used a piece of wood and a mallet to push the bottom edge up.

The trim is actually in two pieces with a seam in the middle (center of targa bar). There is a clip that covers the seam. Slide the clip to one side to open the seam.

 

[RyanG]

Thanks Jeff.

 

[Dr.Jeff]

I recently removed the trim from one of mine and the lower edges of that plastic liner were badly weathered. In some spots it has shrunken, others are cracked, all of it is very faded (all a function of the car living in a desert):

So I took the the pics to discuss the possibility of "trimming" the plastic liner. What I mean is to actually cut off those exposed edges of the plastic. Here's a rough test (I can go back and clean it up):

After removing that edge the remainder of the liner rests inside the metal trim. It is needed to hold the trim onto those teeth shown earlier. But the weathered edges don't show:

The final product would look like the trim is directly on the body without seeing the black line under it. I hadn't finished experimenting with it, so don't have any pics of the results. But I also have a better condition replacement liner if I don't like how it turns out.

 

[RyanG]

Jeff - it will be nice to see how it comes out. I did get the trim and plastic liner off. My liner isn’t so bad but has overspray on it. I’m guessing there isn’t an easy replacement for the plastic part? Anyway here’s where I’m at.

Hopefully the yellow I got matched will be a close match.

 

[Dr.Jeff]

As far as I know there isn't anything available to replace the plastic inner liner. Although you got me thinking; I wonder if some universal "edge trim" could be found in the correct dimensions? All it needs to do is fill the gap in between the body seam and the metal trim piece. However it does need to be the right thickness in order to hold it securely. I'm talking about this stuff:

It comes in various sizes, but all dimensions - the width inside (to fit the body seam), the thickness, the height, etc - would all need to be pretty close to exact.

Since your plastic piece is otherwise in good condition, first see how well the paint overspray cleans off so you can reuse your existing piece. I recently experimented with using brake fluid to remove paint from plastic. It had been suggested as effective without harming the plastic. It works fairly decently but you really need to soak (submerge) the plastic part in it, so for something as long as this liner I don't see a practical way to do that. I'm not sure what the best method would be. Sometimes old paint can be really tough to remove, other times it comes off easily. Hopefully yours is the later. I guess if all else fails then you can repaint it black again?

 

[RyanG]

Jeff - from the rubber trim that I’ve seen I suspect it would hard to find universal stuff that would be thin enough, but maybe some could be found that would work. I checked MWB and they actually have a set of the plastic inner pieces for about $50 for the pair. Not a terrible price for new parts. I was able to clean mine up by scuffing them with a scotch brite pad. The paint wasn’t sticking too great. I think they will look decent for now. Then I cleaned up the stainless with some acetone. I’ll put a picture up when I get the yellow done and remount the trim.

I think I read the same post about using brake fluid to clean plastic. I didn’t have much luck but I also didn’t soak the pieces. I have over spray that I need to clean off the plastic covers on each side of the engine bay. I think I might just paint them as I need to paint the engine cover as well and that way it will all match.

 

[Dr.Jeff]

from the rubber trim that I’ve seen I suspect it would hard to find universal stuff that would be thin enough

I agree completely.
Trimming back the original plastic as I described earlier isn't ideal. It will be a bit difficult to get a nice clean cut all along the edge. One reason I decided to try it is because I'm eliminating all of the black trim from the entire car - as part of my customization. So cutting that edge off hides the plastic liner completely, leaving only the "shiny" trim over the painted bodywork. Then all of the shiny stuff will also get a different treatment.

a set of the plastic inner pieces for about $50 for the pair. Not a terrible price for new parts

Are they new? He also sells a lot of used parts. Look in the description for the "U8" that everything seems to be. That indicates a used part in a "8 out of 10" condition.

Then I cleaned up the stainless with some acetone.

What's nice about the trim being stainless rather than chrome is it can be polished to bring it back to as high of a luster as you want, even if it is scratched or badly weathered.

I think I might just paint them as I need to paint the engine cover as well and that way it will all match.

As long as the existing paint is good enough to paint over, that's what I'd do. Mine were bad; the paint was flaking off, heavy splatter, multiple colors, etc. It would have still looked bad if I just tried to paint over it. And now there is still some of the old paint that did not come off so I'll have to paint them anyway. But I'm a bit concerned if new paint will stick after brake fluid has imbedded in the plastic pores.

 

[RyanG]

Good point about residual brake fluid. Depending on the plastic it might be difficult to get it all out which might cause headaches later for repainting.

 

[Dr.Jeff]

Out of curiosity I just looked. You are correct, the plastic liners at MWB are new, not used. That's a little surprising - I would think it is something that's hard to find. But if you got the paint off your old ones then I'd just use them. Very little of it shows. I debated about just leaving mine as is, but as I said I have another decent set so no loss in trying the modified version.