How To: Remove Lower Window Trim

[strickland]

For future DIYers, I am documenting the process of carefully pulling & replacing the lower window trim… it is a job that requires patience, a plastic trim tool or thin flathead screwdriver, a delicate hand, and more patience.

My passenger window trim was black when I bought it. The rest of the windows had chrome (polished aluminum). I can’t figure out why this happened. The door VIN matches the car. Anyway, it’s been on my list of small restoration jobs for the last 5 years.

After a few delicate attempts with junkyard donors, I am finally attempting the maneuver on my own car.

Step 1: Remove the side mirror. First, remove interior tweeter / triangle of plastic. Delicate! Be gentle! Loosen the 2 bolts that hold the mirror onto the car. I believe they were 8mm.

Steps 2-10 are ultimately one long, slow process. Basically the trim lifts straight up, but it’s not that simple. Gently work your plastic trim tool between the door and the trim. Twist your tool to use it as a lever. (It will feel like you’re making zero progress. ) Slide the tool a few inches, twist, repeat. Work the tool front to back, back to front, repeat, repeat, and repeat again.

Take breaks for cursing and pacing to blow off steam. It’s important to stay calm.

A youtube tutorial suggested wrapping a flathead screwdriver in a blue shop towel. This method works ok if you don’t care about your paint. My tool of choice was the wide plastic trim tool.

I took some slow breaths and worked back and forth along the length of the trim. I learned from guinea pig tests at the junkyard — one premature, overly-eager push will result in a bent trim.

….Take another break and stretch so that you don’t get impatient and rush it.




You can see the placement of the clips here. 8! Any one of them could mess up your trim.

[strickland]

Next step on my car’s journey is to strip the black paint from the chrome. Some of you may want to pull your chrome off to paint it black. In that case, SA229 book recommends SEM Products Trim Black with an etching primer (for the aluminum).

I know a lot of people prefer to black out their chrome. Today, I’m removing the black.

This was my paint removal setup, far from my car. A squirrel came by to investigate.


This process is messy but effective. Glob it on, wait, wipe, repeat. It doesn’t take long for that paint to bubble off the chrome.







It takes a few coats. But damn it looks good. The aluminum is basically preserved under the black for 30 years.

[Chilezen]

Nice, thanks! Is the removal process necessary to replace the rubber seal against the outside of the window?

[strickland]

I’m actually not sure! Maybe someone else can speak to that.

In my case, I’m lucky that the rubber is OK. I was afraid the rubber would come out with the trim but it did not.

[cory58]

Thanks for taking the time to post this here!

[strickland]

Update: putting it back on was fairly easy. Almost too easy…

My mistake (so maybe you won’t repeat it) was to snap it back on quickly, without carefully checking the alignment. It went on pretty well, but it needed to slide about 1/4” forward. The solution? Repeat the removal process!