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Just the other day I stopped to see a friend that owns a body shop whom also has Corvettes and asked him about this cause i want to repaint the molding on my '80. He has a tool that slips under there and pops the molding off the clips that hold it. Couldn't do it that day cause he left it at home.
My buddies dad took mine off for that exact reason, to reapaint it. Also the car was being repainted. Be aware that likely many of the plastic clips that hold the molding on will break, which are as I was told impossible to replace with the glass in. I took my car to a glass shop for them to put the new clips in, and they said the glass had to come out. I took it to the shop because I knew the clips wouldn't be easy, and I didnt' want to take a chance on cracking the glass because I knew the glass was expensive. I think I wound up paying around $200 to have the glass removed, and install the clips and moulding.
You do need the special tool that slips under the molding from the
glass side. The tool can be purchased from an auto paint supply
store or from an internet tool supplier like Tool Source.
If you have never used one before, I would take the
car to a glass shop and have them remove the molding.
I have the tool and have successfully removed the molding on
some corvettes. Yet when I went to remove the molding on
my 1980 I broke some of the clips. I then purchased the clips
from a GM dealer and had a glass installer come to my house to
remove the window, install the clips and reinstall the window.
He charged $80 in the summer of 2007.
I just took mine off tonight. I used the specialty tool designed for this job. I was well worth the 12 bucks. it only took me five minutes and did not break any clips. I am glad that i did not use a screwdriver.