Ah i know, i know. You guys break your molding clips and you bend your moldings. right?
Seems to me that your doing it the hard way. let me show you a step by step on how to remove these bad boys. Ill also help you guys out on how to restore them to the way they looked 20 years ago.

will be updated as frequently as i can.

Tools needed:
Flat head, Needle nose pliers, 10mm socket, ratchet, latex gloves

before:


Step 1:
locate the 10mm plastic nut that retains your door molding to the car. Should be on inner side towards the edge of the door. I found that most of these nuts are hand tight, yet having a 10mm should help you out, if for any reason the nut does not budge........most likely it'll break off(rusted together)



step 2:
remove the 4 plastic nuts, keep them away in a safe place for future use.

Step 3:
To make things easier for you I would suggest that you start with removing the first quarter molding on the fenders. VERY EASY to remove!
So you start by slightly prying at the quarter moldings....Then you will begin to apply pressure while sliding out each molding towards the front of the car. You will make the molding slide out of its clips! ONCE AGAIN SLIDE OUT.

The clips should not break! they will stay in the fenders!

Step 4:

There are 2 types of holes in the fenders and in the doors of the cars, Square like holes and some rectangle like holes.

rectangle like holes:
Easiest way to remove the clips is by rotating the clip by 180 degrees in any direction and slide them out!
(rectangular as pictured)




Square like holes:
You will use your flat head screw driver and press down on the clip arm, while pressing down on the clip arm you will attempt to push it out of the hole.

while you push down on the clip it will slide out! just be very slow on this procedure, its very easy to break these clips.

Step 5:
You may begin to remove the moldings by lifting at the part closest to the edge of the door(where you removed the 10mm nut)


while you begin to lift(make sure the stud is above the door to prevent gouges) slide out the molding towards the front of the car!

Begin with the front 2 doors, then rear 2 doors, all facing to the front!

They will slide out!

When you are successful enough to slide these moldings out you will see that each door molding will leave behind its plastic retaining housing for the clip.

read step 4 to remove these clips again.

The retaining clips, should just slide back into the molding by rotating it in place.


Step 6:
Last moldings to go are the rear quarter moldings. Maybe the hardest part of the task, These are not held with the basic clip, but rounded off divets? They need to be squished and removed from the inner wheel well.

You will use the needle nose pliers from the inner wheel well by lifting the car in the air and getting a slight grip with the pliers while push outward.

They should slide out, each molding has 2 clips, needs to be done twice! these are very sensitive and will break, very brittle plastic.

After these moldings are removed you will be done! :D arent you happy that you were able to remove these moldings without breaking clips????

after!



Next will be prepping and painting these moldings!

 

damn it. where was this thread when i removed my door trim?! what do you do when the plastic nut snaps off? i've been thinking of ways to re secure that part.

 

well if the nut breaks off then the molding wont stick well. Id either buy a new molding(junkyard) or stick it on with double sided tape.


I also think you can just heat up that broken stud and pull it out, and secure another in its place

 

Just a note as well, A couple of moldings that i've removed have had factory double sided tape (as well as the clips) on the front doors. If that's the case, then your farked.

I literally grabbed one end of it and reefed it off the door, lol. The molding now looks like ----> )

 

Gah where were you 2 months ago, when I broke every single molding? I have maybe 3 good clips from my sedan

 

I dont break my molding clips...
you know why?

 

i forgot to add that ;/. I noticed the double sided tape more towards the crease of the door. I don't break clips either!


btw my moldings never got bent. all you need to do is slide it out, while pulling it up just a tad bit. Ill get more detailed later. Promise
will update later today :D

 

Because they fell off ages ago?

 

oh ya. you dont have any CLIPS! and moldings :D

 

I hate that all pics from diys disappear.

 

It still reads pretty intuitively, what step are you having trouble with?