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The engine is running again, the interior is stripped, the body is rust busted, and the sound deadener mats have been installed. Carpet just got here and paint is going on the car today. Pretty much everything is coming together.
Except for the belt molding on the driver and passenger side windows. Mine are cracked and torn and I need find a replacement - especially since I broke the clips and bent the heck out of them while removing them. The problem is that I can't find it anywhere for a reasonable price. The 5th gen belt moldings are like $20 a pop. I can't find the 91 belt molding for less than $70 a pop and I'm not convinced that the site selling them actually has them (looks kinda sketch). Does anyone know where I can get these? These are a relatively high failure rate part so there's gotta be something I'm missing.
Side Note 1: Does anyone have a video of how to remove these without breaking the clips or bending the heck out of the molding piece?
Side Note 2: What are these really called? The documentation I've seen calls them belt molding but I've also heard things like run wipers or lower window moldings. If 'Belt Molding' isn't the legit technical name for these, what is?
they are pretty easy to remove. Mirror needs to come off., window down, interior panel removed.
After you take the mirror off you will see one screw on a clip. The rest just pops up. i tiny flat screwdriver and a curved hook tool helps with the clips to relaease the lock tab.
if you have removed these many times you dont need take interior panel off. But if you are a NEWBIE Please take it off, then you can see what the clip is and where it is etc....that is how you save these and when you go to a junkyard and see really nice garaged cars, you can get these home without mangling them and bending them.
I know them by belt molding, in the automotive body world that's what they're called. I had mine repainted (whole car was repainted), well all but the top little rubber lip. I wasn't sure they would hold the paint in the first place so I was lazy with the prep for them honestly, just sanded them down a little. Ten years later the clear is coming off, but havin the same problem with the rest of the parts the painter used the cheap clear on.
bheinen74 can you post a video or some pics. I took a look at the thread below and the pics for actually removing the belt molding don't really tell you much. Somehow you pry the belt molding up high up off of the door panel, without bending it, to get access to some plastic, then kinda shove your screwdriver in?
I just tried every variation I can think on three doors (with windows and internal panels removed). One that I pulled from the junkyard and the two on my car. I was only able to get one clip off without breaking it. Even then there are minor bends on the internal side of the belt molding. I'm looking at this clip and I literally dont see how you can remove it without plastically deforming the metal in the molding. There's a hook that locks into the door frame and needs to be pried out from the top. The top is covered by the belt molding, the belt molding is held in place by two hooks, one on both the internal and external side of the belt molding. The internal hook is relatively exposed and has a larger tab on the end that you can push down on to in theory release the inside of the belt molding but it takes a large amount of force to get enough clearance and the space you have to work with is hella small and awkwardly angled. Even the internal hook is relatively nested and you'd need to slide a very thin piece of metal underneath the belt molding and just kinda get lucky and catch the much smaller release tab for that hook. This is awful.
Has anyone fabricated a belt molding? Maybe use some extruded rubber edge trim and glue it in place with a mild heat sensitive epoxy? It might not look stock but it'll wipe the damn window and seal the top of the window port (I'm pretty sure the belt molding just does those two things). And it sure as hell won't give you fits if you need to remove it... https://www.trimlok.com/rubber-extru.../neoprene-epdm
If the first link in your last post didn't get you there, then you need a body man's touch (it'll only take a few years to acquire this skill ). When I did mine on my hatch I broke all of the clips, obviously I opted to break the clips and save the moldings. At that time I believed it to be border line impossible to get the clips off intact, since then I've seen what an experienced auto body tech can do. Not sure about now, but ten years ago you could still buy the clips from honda.
02-24-2019, 08:27 AM
Belt Moldings are a Pain
). When I did mine on my hatch I broke all of the clips, obviously I opted to break the clips and save the moldings. At that time I believed it to be border line impossible to get the clips off intact, since then I've seen what an experienced auto body tech can do. Not sure about now, but ten years ago you could still buy the clips from honda.
