shaved my door moldings

[Jngrbrdman]

All I can say is that it looks much better. Those things are useless anyway. Every door ding I have ever gotten is way above those things. This car doesn't have too many dings, but the two I do have are above the moldings. One is actually in the molding as well as being above it, so a lot of good they did.

Anyway, they are just taped on with mounting tape. I used a heat gun and they popped right off. I followed up with the heat gun and took the rest of the tape off and then used an adhesive remover to wipe up the rest of the residue. A quick clay job and a fast polishing of the area left it ready for a coat of wax and it was done. The whole job probably took me an hour or so, but I wasn't in a hurry and was just taking my time. It was a very worthwhile project.

Here are some pictures with the moldings and some without them just as a point of reference for anyone with a Corolla who needs encouragement. The pictures are in different lighting, but you'll get the idea. It is a way easy job and it really does help clean up the appearance of the car in my opinion.

 

[audiboy]

It looks very good. I like the look of a clean door with no moldings. The moldings that were on there didn't really seem to go with the lines of the car either. Definitely an improvement IMO.

 

[Beemerboy]

I didn't know those where glued on...my father in law has one of those cars, and I have done the detail...car looks a lot cleaner...and I agree they service no purpose

 

[budman3]

I didn't know those where glued on...my father in law has one of those cars, and I have done the detail...car looks a lot cleaner...and I agree they service no purpose

My girlfriend has the same car (LE) and the dings are about 50/50. Half are above (2-3) and half are right on the moldings. I wouldn't have thought that they would have been that easy to remove nor look the way it does now. Looking good.

 

[Bellydawg]

Looks great. I did that to my 2002 Mazda Protege5 right after I bought it. I agree that most cars look cleaner without the moldings.

 

[Jngrbrdman]

I was just glad there were no clips. I wanted to do this to my Integra, but there were clips. I had thought about doing it to my Subaru, but someone told me those had clips too. So this has been the first car I have wanted to do it on where the side moldings weren't somehow recessed into the door or mounted with clips that would leave holes. I'm really happy with how it turned out though. In a sea of Corollas on the road, anything that can help distinguish mine from the rest will do nothing but help. If nothing else then I'll be able to find it in the parking lot easier. lol

 

[GearHead_1]

I too think it looks better. The moldings do add some structural rigidity to the doors sheet metal. Stand outside and shut the door firmly, do you see it flex? I would be curious to know.

I saw some information on this along time ago (years ago) when GM took some of the styling creases out of their trucks doors sheet metal. They had to add a molding to keep the rattles out of the door. By the way I'm not saying yours does this.

 

[Jngrbrdman]

That is a valid point. I slammed the door a few times and heard no difference. The door didn't flex at all and there wasn't any movement in the sheet metal. I think they were purely cosmetic.