Since I read and asked questions on removing the side molding on 4th gen f-bods, I decided I would make a write-up on it.

What it is
Side molding refers to the strip of "rubber" that is stuck to the side of 4th gen f-bods, vetts, ect. that runs from the fender to the 1/4 pannel. Their goal is to prevent dents from other people, such as in parking lots when people slam their door against your car.
Their downside is they do not flow very well with the car. Removing them makes the car look cleaner, and makes detailing the car easier.

Here is a car with the side molding,


Here is a car with the side molding removed. This picture also shows the badge that says, "Firebird, Trans Am, or Formula" removed,


What you need
1. Goo Gone
2. Cotton *****
3. Light
What helps with the removal is to let your fingernails grow out a little bit. This way, you can get under the adhesive better. You will not receive any blisters this way, which is common if you use the "roll" method.

Another tip is to do this in warm weather. It was no warmer than 35*F here today. I used a kerosene salamander heater to warm a section of the car. When the car is warm, the moldings bend a little easier and it seems the adhesive comes off better.

If you use a heater, make sure you do not put the heater to close to the car, or let it run for extended amount of time on the car. The goal is to warm up the molding, not melt it to your car. I only ran the heater for maybe 5 minutes, about 4 feet away.

Remove the molding

My car before,




Start by the molding on the 1/4 panel. This is the smallest piece, and will be the easiest. I was able to get under the molding at the "sharp point" of it. I pulled it back, and once it was removed look for any signs of color differences.


If there are any signs of the paint under the molding different than the rest of the car, do not continue with this. Chances are, it will be the same under all the other moldings. If your car sits outside in the sun all the time, there would be a risk of the paint fading.

If there are no color fade, there might be a little of the adhesive left,


Use your finger to remove the bulk of the adhesive,


Now goto the fender and remove that molding. I found after you get the molding pulled back some, if you pull it up towards the sky it comes off easier. You can see in the picture when I pulled it up, it left no bulk adhesive behind.


Now continue to the door. The door is the longest, and the worst to remove. Try pulling the molding toward the sky once again. On the door, you will probably spend most of your time removing the adhesive.


Using my fingernail, I tried to get under the adhesive and pull it across. If you try to roll it across, you can develop blisters, which you will figure out as soon as you try it that way.


Remove anything left

After you get the white bulk of the adhesive off, you will notice little clear spots. This is the sticky part of the adhesive, this is where the Goo Gone, light, and cotton ***** come in handy. Looking down the car, I used a florescent droplight and could see the little "spots". Using the Goo Gone, I lightly rubbed these spots out.

You might notice a dirt and or polish/wax outline where the molding used to be. You will probably notice this as soon as you pulled the first bit of molding up. The Goo Gone will most likely remove most of these outlines.


After using Goo Gone to remove the "spots", you can still somewhat see the dirt/polish/wax outline. After you wash the car, they will no longer be a problem.


After results

At first, I thought it made the car look naked. But after about 10 minutes, I liked the outcome. My fingers are a little tired, but I believe it was worth it. As stated before, some people decide to remove the lettering as well. I do not plan on removing mine, but it appears the same process can be used to remove them as well.

 

good write-up

 

nice that looks a lot better in my opinion

 

Looks awesome. I've been planning on taking mine off for awhile, but I'm going to wait until the nicer weather gets here.

A little adice though, I would be very careful pulling the trim off liek that. I did this to my other car, and the paint pulled off with it

A more careful way to do it is to get a length of fishing line and run it behind the trim, in essence cutting the adhesive. It will mean more adhesive to clean up, but at least you won't ruin your paint by pulling it off.

 

I've heard about pulling the paint off the car, and I feared that. So that is why I decided to do the small piece first, and checked it for any problems.

 

if you need an all out write up to do this you may not be the person to do this. it is so easy except on your thumbs. looks awesome to

 

come on everybody. everyone that i read about who does this mod always complains about their fingers hurting and blistering. all ya gotta do is WEAR GLOVES! mine dont hurt at all, and actually sped up the process because the gloves were rubber and gripped well to the glue.

 

Now this guy is smart!!!

 

i would definitely put a hair dryer to the side molding before removing it. my fingers were fine and the molding came off very easy.

 

Post some more pics (especially of the whole car)!!! Now that I have seen this thread...I'm going to take mine off. Thanks for the write-up....I never would have thought it would look so good....and I NEVER would have thought I'd be doing it to my car!

 

hair dryer + 90 degree day makes removing molding VERY easy, I would also recommend using a claybar to remove some of the finer adhesive that is difficult to get off.

Also if you take a piece of floss or fishing line (works better because it wont break as easily as floss) and slid it under the molding that will make it easier to get off and usually leave more of the adhesive on the molding and not the car

 

Nice write up

 

I decided to do it to contribute to this site, since the topic comes up every now and then. I wanted to remove the molding so I figured it wouldn't hurt to do a writeup.

 

The reason my fingers were a little tired (no blisters or pain) is because I just did not just take off the molding. I removed the "Hurst Equipped" emblems (20X harder than the molding), this "dove" emblem on the rear of my car and added stainless stuff to the car.

 

I did have some fishing line, but I was afraid it might scratch it. Plus, as easy as the 1/4 pannel molding came off, I figured I did not need it.

 

I was going to get better pics but it was night when I got done with it. Then the next day we got snow.

 

I beat ya to it

 

I'm seriously considering this but I know the day I do it some Jack*ss is going to slam their door into my car..

 

Well today would be the best day for awhile to get full car pics, so this was the best I could get. Man I wish winter would get over with, I was only able to drive my car for a month before it went into storage.

 

I park way out.