View Full Version : Removing door guards/rubbing strips
Hello from the new bloke.
I'm planning on removing the door guards, they were put on the car by the previous owner, and I'm not keen on them. I've been told it's as simple as melting the adhesive pads with a hairdrier, and peeling them off.
Was just wondering if anyone had tried something like this, and had any tips...
Cheers,
Adam
Pete_slim
10-12-2002, 14:22
Adam,
had to check your profile to find out that you drive a Beezer, and in response to your query... I dont know, although Im sure that somebody will no doubt know what to do. (but a hairdryer is usually the safest thing when its not raining (rather than a heat gun of course).:D
What I will do is say welcome to the site. We're all friendly here...
:cheers:
do it very slowly as you can liftt the laquer off your paint and thatll mean a respray! enough said.
Lucky_32
10-12-2002, 21:23
I'd say it will be similar to taking the badges of the rear.
Hairdryer, plus tar remover ( It softens the glue i think).
Take it very slowly though.
If they are stubborn t may be easier to get them started using a scalpel between the trim an sticky tab(!!) leaving the sticky stuff still on the door and remove the stick tab residue with tar remover (Coma - cream or Autoglym -liquid) - that's what i did with my badges.
Or a year of winter conditions if my old Renault 5 was anything to go by ;)
If you are not sure PM me
:cheers:
the mk2 ibiza's have them with sponge backing which is soft and quite easy to remove use a hair dryer as said before but don't do it out side yer house where all the neighbourhood can see,i got some weird looks i can tell ya,one part had been super glued on by previous owner so i bought someloctite detach from a pound shop,takes a couple of applications but came off after a while,try it inside the door first to see if it reacts with the paint first:cheers: and welcome
Nice one.
Cheers for the advice, I'll let you know how it goes. Think I'll wait until I'm visiting my old man in Wales, and do it in the garage to avoid the strange looks while using the hairdrier!
Then again, I could just tell people I was drying the car... :p
Thanks again,
Adam
OK, I'm back with an update.
I TRIED, AND WISH I'D NEVER STARTED!!!
Spent about 3 hours on Saturday, removing the little piece on the front wing, and the strip on the drivers door. The front wing piece went smoothly, removed all the adhesive with Autoglym Intensive Tar Remover, and thought great, I'll crack on with the drivers door. Pulled it off, left all the paint on there, and also a hell of a lot of the foam backed adhesive stuff. So, needless to say, it looked sh*t.
It took me about 1hr 30mins to remove approximately 12-18". At this point my patience wore thin, and the sun was out, so I decided that I'd put the strip back on, as there was also the issue of a difference in the colour of the paint.
To cut a long story short, the strip is back on but I'm not happy with it. It's straight, but no longer perfectly flush like the rest on the car. I have now decided that it all has to come off, a section at a time, and be completed before GTi International. My question is this. How come the paint appeared to be lighter underneath the strip? With like a white haze to it? Does anybody agree with my theory on good old T-Cut making it blend in? :confused:
If after removing all of the adhesive etc it doesn't look right, I think I'll just buy a whole new set of strips and replace them...
There, that's my rant over. If anybody has any words of wisdom, please direct them to me, I need help (psychological, I think)...
Cheers,
Adam
P.S. If it ain't broke, don't try and fix it...
Paint fades but it makes more sense that it would be darker under the strip if fading occured. What's happened is that the adhesive has 'stained' the paint - like when you put blu-tac on the wall and it leaves a dark oily mark. Try some good polish and paint care stuff like Swissol or Meguiars or whatever else somebody else might recommend here.
OK, It's all off now, and the paint is still on. However, the white haze is still really visible (to me anyway). I used Autoglym Paintwork Restorer, which removed the water damage, but didn't blend the colour in at all.
I'm taking the car to GTi International, so if any of you are around on the Sunday you'll be able to see it, just try not to point and laugh... :redface:
As you can tell, this has been the bane of my life for the last 6 weeks, and as it stands I feel that the only solution is to get the areas resprayed (along with the skirts and valances...).
Ho hum, you learn by your mistakes...
adam,what year and colour is your car mate?
mine was an early kiwi yellow one and it did fade,but it wasn't that noticeable to others till i pionted it out,i think the paint on the earlier models was a bit cack to say the least(pre 1996).
elbow grease is the only way unless you want to/have to repaint it:( good luck
She's a 98 model in "Natural Copper". Figured that elbow grease would be the harder yet much cheaper option. Think I'll try T-Cut next...