If I do keep it I have a buy one new piece. I photoshopped one of the pieces onto that picture. I guess from little bits of gas dripping on that little piece below the gas door removed the tape. It fell off sometime when I was driving. The paint isn't damaged at all, so it looks like gas does remove the tape fine, and doesn't damage the paint I know there is a special remover for the 3M tape that was used to stick the strips to the car, so I'll probably do the right way and go buy some of it.

 

Mine's bright yellow. Trim strips removed, then the car was painted.

 

The car looks older w/out the side strips, imo. Have you thought about painting the trim the same color as the car?

 

Yeah, I have wondered about this also since my rex needs some new paint (cracking and oxydized) and one of the trim pieces (driver's side rear piece) is coming off. Why not paint the trim the same color as the body?? With some flexy added, paint can be very pliable. I painted the black rubber bumper on my lamented 1984 Celica GTS black, and it never chiped or cracked because the paint had some flexy added.

 

look good without them, now you need to paint the bumpers lines

 

i personaly like them. it gives the car a bit of demention. when i paint my car. im going red above the trim and black below the trim.

i think it looks bad *** like that.

 

Demention?












Dimension


----------------------- End Spell Checker ------------------------

 

I think my car looks better without it IMO .

~T.J.

 

mines all been filled in.. i think i went a lil overboard with it, i dont think i wouldnt bother with it next time, but i like it.



my front and rear bumpers are filled in too, but there the metal ones..

 

where can you get glue to re attach the pieces

my rex lost the same piece

BTW I like the side stripping

 

I say loose the trim, or atleast go back with something a little smaller.

Later
Randy

 

I am the only one that voted it doesn't matter. I don't think your car is ugly, I just think it is a personal choice. Actually before I read everything and checked out attached pictures, I was set to keep mine on. Now I don't know what I am going to do. Eville140, your car looks awesome. mines the same color, only stock paint. I think I may pull them now.

 

3m makes a double sided tape just for reataching trim like this, it works great.

 

Just removed mine shaved another 7lbs.

 

I got rid of mine and I love them gone.

GET RID OF THE STUPID BLACK TRIM!!!

 

Everytime I see your car, its in a different stage of painting, lol. Are these older pictures, or are you posting them as you do it? I remember a while back I saw one where it was all sanded, and I think one where it was primered, and now one with paint on it, I wanna see the finished project man, lol. I wish I could afford to fix the body on my car and get it painted .

~T.J.

 

It is an ongoing thing, that is the latest picture. Removed the side moldings and filled the side lights. Painted the car a 03 honda civic color..close to the stock color but with a little more flake.

Later
Randy

 

*cough* anyone else wanna vote?

 

The trim IS functional. It's placement is well thought out (at least on my SA) and it DOES protect against the parking-lot dings that are a bane on our existence. Yes, the cars look better without it, but only until you get that first nice dent from some idiot's door, then you're parking out in the back forty to avoid getting dinged (which still doesn't work, you still get dinged by other people trying to protect THEIR cars). Ultimately, the choice is up to you, but my own feeling is that a nice, original, unmolested SA is a thing to be preserved.

 

Basically, an Rx with no side trim tells the whole world it wasn't cared for well enough to still have the factory paint job on it. It only looks good without it on VERY nice/(expensive)body mods, or paint jobs w/other exterior mods...

 

or that it still has the factory paint, the owner just didn't like the side stripping... you can remove it without ruining the paint. I think that's kind of an ignorant comment, as there are many cars out there that are babied, but their owners just prefer the look without the trim.

there's a thing called being an individual, and not doing what everyone else thinks is right.

 

I take very good care of my ride AND I still have the side trim but I will be removing them for the next paint job I do. Besides, how many 21 year old cars you know of that have original paint? My `82 DID have the original paint when I bought it three years ago and it had been babied and garaged but it was sun faded and needed help. But thanks for pointing out the inadequasies of those without their side trim........ and your ignorance.



BTW I will hold on to my trim in case I decide it looked better with it on!

Toughguy

 

The "Grand Plan" for my Rx, is, someday, to strip off all the side moldings, but only on the rear half of the fender, door, and the front part of the rear quarter panel, leaving the moldings, (and side lights), intact, so as not to ruin the lines of the bumpers. Fill in and smooth over the indent, then paint the entire car a true, triple-coat black pearl... *droooooooooolllllllll*

 

wow toughguy, I love your car! I never thought orange would look good on an RX-7, but aparently it does! Anyways, I personally like the trim. My car is a red '85, so that might make a difference.

 

loose it, heat gun and a scraper works wonders. i tried soakin it in gas and it took forever. but the heat gun was great 20 minute job.