Greetings comrades, I’ve had an annoying rattle when I close the doors and it’s coming from the exterior door trim that’s starting to come apart. Turns out the metal clips that attach the bottom of the panel are completely rusted apart. This has been a CO it’s whole life but who knows. Anyway I took the panel off and am wondering a few things.
- Should I repaint the panel? And rocker panel trim? It’s chipping
-Should I just wrap the trim pieces? If anyone has done this please attach pics
- what’s the best way to take this rediculouzly sturdy adhesive off?
I saw a thread for someone that removed the trim on a LC. Then had LinerX cover the tab holes with foil tape and spray it black from the trim line to the bottom of the door.. It looked great! You couldn't tell where the tab holes were in the doors. I think they offer different colors too.
3m adhesive removing wheel will take off the adhesive. I had the same problem on my lx. You will not find the clips new. May find some pieces on ebay. Every door will be in the same conditition. Horrible design from Lexus. I salvaged some clips from somebody who was parting out a truck. I also had to make some new ones out of sheetemetal. I was able to get the bends close enough and spray painted them. The little plastic clips can be found online and are not expensive. Can't say they will last forever but 6 months later and some new 3m trim tape, they don't seem like they are going anywhere.
Some manufacturers just use 3M tape to install trims and never seem to have problems. I did install one front fender trim on my previous LX with just two sided tape and never fell off
