Anyone taken that black molding off of the side of the 86-88 cars? Im just curious what it looks like, cause I really think that it looks bad on em, and I was wondering if it looks like the 89+ ones when it is off, or if there is a dent in the side of the car

 

A dent, fill em in or get em painted

 

That's what it looks like. Definitely want to get it painted after you do that.

PaulC

 

damn a second PaulC on here

But his car is cooler looking than mine..... for now. At least mine wont be yellow jk

 

well, me not knowin anyone who has done this.. but when u take it off, do u gotta rip it off or carefully pull it off? just wonderin... its almost starting to hang off the door and i put some double sided tape between the ding and the dong to keep it together... after reading this thread, im actually deciding to just rip the **** off... and about gettin it painted... would i be able to just go to some paint place and pick it up n do it myself or would i have to go to a paint shop?

 

Easy day as long as you are careful so you can reuse the clips and molding. The pieces with the side lights in them have triangular snaps on them that go through the body. Square hole in the body. You can squeeze them together from the inside of the trunk, fender if you can get at them and then carefully pull the molding out. The rest of the molding has body clips that gets squeezed together on the horizontal axis, so you need access from inside the vehicle. You can remove the molding by carefully pulling it back. Sometimes the plastic clip will separate from the molding and all you'll have left is the clip or half a clip in the body which you can then pry out with a screwdriver or something that won't scratch the body. Most of the door moldings have those 5 body clips and then have the double sided tape that holds it on horizontally. Pulled plenty of molding especially the 89-91 to convert the 88 molding over.
If you intend on reusing the clips, be careful as Mazda wants an arm and a leg for them. The good part is if you become proficient in getting them off, they use the same ones from 86-91.
Ralf

 

Has anybody got any pics of the dents filled in or converted from pre 88 to 89-91?

 

Heres one with it filled I think it looks great.

 

Who's car is that? Do you know what was used as filler, Bondo or glass?


I like the sides filled in. That will be a mod my 86 will definitely sport. Now, if I can just figure out a way to smooth out the front nose piece. I wonder if you could cut the molding that sticks out and fill it until smooth. Hmm.....

Has anybody done this to their front end, besides buying a whole different nose piece?

 

I have a brand new high dollar paint job (see sig.). I can't tell you the number of idiots car doors that molding has stopped in less than a year! It's saved my car from MANY parking lot dings. Think twice before removing it.

Todd

 

i removed those ugly mouldings and had it filled with marglass (its a bondo type substance that holds like fiberglass.) i got a full body kit for my car so the whole thing is molded together. i personally think it looks alot better than the mouldings but it pays when i get a door ding.