side strip

side strip

that one side strip alone the car...i dont know they name of it *darn* but how do i take that off? some of my friends say taht it might be screwed in and if i remove it or shave it off there will be holes.....is this true? and if not how do i take it off with out straching my car?

VERY Carefully!!!

Assuming it's not screwed in you can remove it the same way you would any other badging... Soak it in dishwashing soap for 15 mins or so and then use a thin flat edge (credit card or similar) to slide underneath it and pry it off. Getting the adhesive off the door is the hard part, I used "flux off" for the badging on the trunk and had really good results. Have some fine cut polish handy just in case....

I would DEFINITELY recommend checking with your dealer first to see if this stuff is screwed on or not.

The bump gaurds are not screwed in, they are only glued. For something like that I would use a hair dryer and fishing line to cut through the glue and pull off the trim. Then just use some goo gone or similar stuff to get the glue off.

u can roll off tha glue wit your fingers like i did but it took me forever to do one door cuz i didnt use a hair dryer :!:

hmmmm you guys have any pic's of there side strip shaved? i wanna see how itll look...if not its koo...ill try using the fishing line method, cuz if it gets stuck on a screw ill find out weather or not it has screws, thanks for the tips

here is a pic of Rainmaker's ride with side strip or molding removed.

you can surely take it off, the best bet is to use the credit card method and no you wont have any screws or holes to cover up....one of my friends took it off his 2003 corolla S and it came out fine....you shouldn't have a problem...

It is called "body-side molding". I duno why you guys wana take it off. It is suppose to provide protection for your car.

Personally speaking, out of all the cars out there THESE are one of the better looking ones.

If one has "Black" body-side molding, which comes with a CE, then I can understand why one would want to take it off. But even then one could get it painted to match the colour of the car.

I agree

I would rather keep it on then have damage to my door/s. If someone scratches it or opens their door on it, at least I can replace that instead of the whole door.

I think a lot of people just wanna do cheap (inexpensive) mods to be different, but I think the side moulding is nice.

yeah your right, i don think taking off that side piece makes much of a difference....im gonna just leave that piece on there to make it easier

I'm also keeping it. Mom convinced me that if I ever got a door ding, I would want it. So..

too late for me I took it off my CE

What is the main purpose of taking the side moldings off?? Do those things really keep the car from being dented in from the car parked next to yours at the grocery store??

The moldings do help stop dents (they have for me a number of times). Some people feel the car looks better without them (myself included).

:? I guess it does look better, but if it helps the car from being dented, i think i want it to stay in. But it's easier to wax and wash the car without the side molding thing. :? Decisions, decisions. . .

i think someone mentioned on VVTI.net that you can get painted side molding replacements from the dealership for 15-20 bucks...

hey did anyone else notice that after you take off your side moldings, sometimes when you close your door it sounds hollow? My car does it does anyone elses? Oh and if anyone has a red CE i will sell you my red side moldings, you'd have to get new adhesive though.

mine doesnt sound hollow when I close tha door......its just nearly tha same as if tha side moldings were still there

I like the look with it on

I like it off cuz I have a CE

I am thinking of doing this, because the door looks like it pops out more than the side molding does. If someone parked next to you banged their door on your door, it looks like they would still knock the upper section of the door. Someone plese correct me if I'm wrong... :?

Yeah that makes sense with that whole bumping door and it would hit the top over the side mold thing. I think it does too. Some doors are higher (like those big Yukons) and some doors are lower (like sport cars). So either way you'll get hit.

doesn't it seem that the side molds on the CE (the black ones) wouldn't get hurt as much as the ones on the S or LE. Like if someone bumped thier doors on a CE, the side molding would bounce it back, but if the door hit a LE or an S that it would take some paint off of the side mold and do nothing. Like i dunno if u know what i am talking about, but i think that the side molding on the CE is better than the ones on the LE or S.

U think that the side molding on a CE looks bad on the Blue colloras, have you seen the side moldings on a Silver CE??? it looks REALLY ugly. B/c of the side moldings and no power locks & windows was the main reason i didn't get the CE, but the CE is so much cheaper!

actually it is a lot more than that... the black ones that come standard with the CE are more than 15-20$.

If you guys dont like it...get it painted. Its a lot cheaper than getting 'painted side moldings' from the dealership.

i cant wait for spring time i am gonna remove all my siding strips and my toyota and corolla s badges off the back. if you seen my site i have japanese tags on the side of the car towards the front, i am also gonna put some more japanese tags on the front of my new altis grille which i am picking up tomorrow. what do you think of that?
i seen a lot of people putting that TRD badge on the front, which is cool also.
check out that side tag i am talkin about on my site.

how do you take off the water marks that have build up between the moulding and the door??

coz my friend took off his and there were some water marks and some dirt that stuck?

Watermarks? You mean like the sticky gummy stuff?

I used Goo-Gone to get rid of the sticky stuff, and then I waxed the area. Can't even tell the moldings were ever there. I do get that hollow sound when I close the door a lot..scared me the 1st time.

Yeah I used goo-gone, claybar and wax