Just bought a C5 and want to safely remove the body side molding w/o leaving residue/paint damage.
hairdryer and pull slowly? ideas?
Thanks, Dave

 

Hair dryer/heat gun, fishing line/dental floss, and a lot of patience!

Do a search, there have been reams written on this subject.

 

There are several posts about this. When I removed the ones on my car, I tried the heat gun, heavy guage fishing line route first. That didn't work too well since the fishing line kept breaking, and I was afraid I would damage the paint with a heat gun. I ended up using stuff I got at Home Depot called Motsenbackers Adhesive remover. It was in the paint section. I put a bunch of it on the BSM, and slowly pulled it away from the side of the car. As I did this, I took a wood shingle tip, like on the siding of a house, and cut away at the adhesive strip. You could probably use a plastic putty knife, but be careful to keep it away from the car, and not touch the paint. Then, when the molding was off, I used the adhesive remover, and a rag, and my fingers to remove the remainder of the adhesive on the car. The adhesive is a thick, really strong double sided tape. The adhesive remover did not damage the paint at all. You can see the photos in my profile in one of my photo albums. Wash and wax the car after you are finished. It looks so much better without these BSM's.

Dental floss, or fishing line keeps breaking BTW. I got the heaviest fishing line I could find at Dick's sporting goods, and it really didn't do too well. It was something like 50lb. test too.

 

3M Wax and Adhesive remover sprayed down behind the mouldings. Let it sit and work on the tape for a couple minutes and you can almost pull them off with your hands.

 

A heat gun and cinnamon dental floss worked for me. I like cinnamon and most of it was re-usable.

Apply heat in long strokes to warm up a foot or so at a time, then work the floss/fishing line beneath in a sawing motion. The residual double sided tape can be removed by rubbing with your fingers/thumbs. The blisters will heal in a coupe of weeks.

Clean with a citrus based product, denatured alcohol or even WD40. Followup with polish and/or wax. If you do it right, the body side moldings will come off w/o damage and someone will buy them from you.

Keep your fingers crossed that your car has never had any previous body work. Some have found out the hard way after removing the moldings. Then they have to replace them and/or repaint the door(s).