Has anyone removed these and attempted to re-install them? I am preparing the car for paint and the shop told me that if I remove them, they can't guarantee they will stay on once they put them back on. Does anyone know where I can source out new ones? Any pics of the car WITHOUT the molding on? (I MAY just leave them off)

Thank in advance

 

I dont see why they wouldnt stay on as long as the area is clean and degreased. Also, should only need to use double sided tape to reinstall them. Make sure the original double sided tape is all removed and the molding is clean and degreased.

There a alot of people that take the molding off and leave it off. It does look a little better IMO. The only bad part about it is the molding "look" is on the front and rear bumper covers. So, you really should make the decision to keep them or not before it gets painted so then the body shop can either paint those areas on the bumper the body color or black, like the moldings.

 

 

 

 

My vote: No mouldings. ask if you need more pictures.

 

The car looks better with moldings.

I use a 3M double sided tape to hold my moldings on.

 

"ask if you need more pictures." ROFLMAO

I removed the mouldings from my 80 (has the thinner mouldings, and no "bumper line"), then stripped them and re-attached them later. Pic in my sig was before they were re-attached.

Mine were very old, and dried, and non-glossy. I washed them, soaked them in tire silicone, scrubbed them with fine steel wool to strip the oxydation.

I made sure I scraped off every scrap of old adhesive, and then prepped the bonding side with brake cleaner before applying 3M Molding and Trim tape. Car had zero wax at the time I put them on.
After using the tape to mount them, I ran an invisible tiny bead of black silicone behind the trim, along the top of the tape, to seal out sun and crud.

Almost six years later, still solid as a rock. But the car is garaged most of the time.

New ones, when findable, are shockingly expensive. Would have cost me almost as much to replace all the trim, as the paint job cost.

As you might have guessed, I'll work pretty hard to save money.

 

Yep she definitely looks better with the side moldings.



You can replace them after painting with 3 MM double sticky tape, they will be good for another 25 years. I buy my tape at WalMart, about half the price of the Autozone/Advanced Auto/etc stuff.

If some of your trim pieces are broken you can pick up used replacements for a very reasonable price, thanks to our friends like Jim who take them off.

There's some posts on the details if you do a search.

 

It looks decent without the moldings if you paint over the trim on the bumper covers to match your paint. It would probably look pretty good if there were no moldings at all on the car. Otherwise, like Ray points out, it looks good with proper moldings. It especially looks good on Forumla White for the nice contrast. If you decide to have them reattached, see if you can have the paint shop spray the moldings with a nice semi gloss or gloss black. That will look real nice

 

It is easy to replace them after painting.

But if you plan to leave them off the car, I would paint the bumpers completely in one colour.

 

those side rubbers are easy to take off, if you want to resuse them just don't yank or pull them off, becuase what happens is they will get a curve and have a tendency to streach out...When you get to remove them use a heat gun to soften the glue on the back or a blow dryer, this is only if you want salvage the old molds...If not just yank them off and buy new ones through mazdatrix.com

good luck...But if i were you i would just get the paint job and not ut them back on gives the car a cleaner look more smoother look...like the pics up there

 

I just reinstalled mine using the 3M tape made for that purpose. Worked great.

 

yeah i think its what on there when you buy new mouldings. i dont know why body shops always say it'll fall off, they always do, and it never happens

 

Car looks primitive and ugly IMO "without" the side moldings. If your 7 is an 81 or later 1st gen, it looks like a 79-80 model with the moldings removed IMO.

 

Same as Kentetsu, 3M tape. Of course careful removal and hours of cleaning the back with a heat gun were required to reuse. I also bought body trim paint in a can (lacquer - dries really fast) to paint them. Been on over 1 year so far, no sign of loosening. Most bodyshops will tell you they have bad luck reattaching - I would guess that is because they cant afford the prep time.

Scott

 

So, you're saying it improves the look?

 

+1 for the no mouldings, i think it loos nicer and cleaner, with that said, i don't mind the looks of them with the mouldings neither but i prefer no mouldings. and the ones that are in the bumpers i really like those, i left mine black, it goes with my blue car and black trim.