I'm in the market for a C5 and to me the car looks better without the body side moldings. Has anyone removed the moldings from their car ? Are the panels drilled to keep them in place or are they attached with adhesive ? I hope this isnt an issue that was addressed in this forum before, I tried a search for previous posts on this topic but found nothing.

Thanks.

B

 

There easy to remove. I used fishing line and wd40 for a lube. The line will cut the 3m tape that they are being held on with. I took the rest of the tape off by using a microfiber towel and detail spray. Took about an hour or so. Looks alot better when off.

 

Some have used a hairdryer to aid in warming up the double-sided tape. Take your time and don't rush it and they will come off in perfect condition, in case you have a paint edge and need to replace them

 

I removed mine with a heat gun(dont hold it too close) and some fishing line, real easy. I agree with you, I love the smooth line of the C5

 

search under my name for previous posts, i did a small write up post when i took mine off about a month ago...

looks much better without them IMO

pm me if you can't find it...

 

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-g...e-weekend.html


here is my post, pm me if you have any questions...

 

i used 3M adhesive remover, safe for the paint

 

oh yeah forgot about the wifes hair dryer that i used.

 

Thanks to all for the replies and thank you tommie for the link .

 

Gee's, here I was thinking of finding a body side molding for my vert. I really like em.? Rob

 

Fishing line and a hair dryer will get them off. Just be careful and go slow - I heard of a couple of instances where some paint came up with the molding (but that is very rare). You also might notice some paint color differences between the rest of the door and where the BSMs were due to fading.

 

 

I'm with you, bro. Don't have any problem with them, personally. To each his own, I guess.

 

no problem, pm me if you have any other questions, this was very easy for me to do, and I relly like the looks afterward...

 

Fishing line does the trick when you pull it back and forth in long strokes the friction cuts thru the two sided tape that holds it on .If the car has been re painted you might want to leave them alone . It could turn real ugly on you real fast.

 

So I wasn't going to remove the BSMs on my recent 1998 Pewter purchase (with only 40,000 mi), but whoever backed into my car today and scraped 2 ft of paint off my left side BSM, kind of decided that for me.

Anyways...I read all your helpful tips and did it right after reading. I have one alteration to the fishing line tip - which is good - but only needed to get it started a few inches.

I found that after you heat up several inches, cut it with the fishing line, and can get an clean, soft rag under the starting edge, all you need to do is apply slight lift pressure as it heats, to remove the rest of the strip. Heat a minute, pull...heat up, pull...heat up, pull....and so on. The tape will separate and leave half the residue behind. (And it's only a top/bottom tape job - not solid coverage underneath.) So as you are pulling, aim the heat inside the gap under the BSM, so it warms top and bottom at the same time evenly, before adding lift pressure. This allows you to use the BSM for leverage, but STILL be patient and only pull a couple inches at a time until you can heat some more.

Then use a nice soft glove (I had a clean pair of leather gardening gloves) and "roll" the remaining tape off the car with slight pressure. All you will have remaining then, is a slight edge residue of dirt with maybe a tiny bit of strip adhesive.

For a cleaner, I used the same GOOF OFF HD that I just used to clean my air bag cover to newness (another great thread), and wiped it with a clean rag, letting the GOOF OFF HD do its thing with little to no pressure.

Finally, wash off the strip area with some gentle soapy water, rinse and wax the strip for new protection.

Viola!

Done and beautiful. One side only took me about 30 minutes.

 

Yawn... never discussed before.. Eva!

Yes, much better without.

frank