Drip Rail Trim Disaster - What are my options

[Crazy Larry]

My passenger side drip rail moulding (front section) came loose and doubled over today. Don't ask me how, because they might disable my R3V account. Suffice to say it was an avoidable error. Some of you have already guessed.

The piece twisted and bent at about the half mark of the horizontal part. i tried banging it back into shape with a hammer and screwdriver, but that worked about as well as you would imagine. The bend is out but the twist is still bad enough that I can't get the trim to go back on the drip rail.

So what are my options? I see a replacement on ebay for $140 + $145 shipping. Is there anything I can do with the exisiting piece? I wasn thinking about cutting out the section with the twist and trying to put something in there. One thing I have in my favor is that I had covered the trim in black vinyl and like that look, so I could cover any seams. Anyone have a piece laying around that is also damages that could donate (for $) a graft?

Anyway, I will await some suggestions before cutting. I'll try to post a picture from my phone.

[Crazy Larry]

Here’s the damage:

[roguetoaster]

Measure the damaged area and see if another factory joint cover at the rear turn down section will satisfactorily cover the area if you cut some out. I scabbed in a missing section of gutter rail on my touring, added a join and you'd never notice it. Clearly, if you go with a new section you'd need two join covers.

[Lippy]

Ah, that sucks. Sorry to hear.

[82eye]

Measure the damaged area and see if another factory joint cover at the rear turn down section will satisfactorily cover the area if you cut some out. I scabbed in a missing section of gutter rail on my touring, added a join and you'd never notice it. Clearly, if you go with a new section you'd need two join covers.

get those joint clips if they are available. i waited 2 yrs to get one, and they are specific to each side.

[varg]

I lost one, years back. For some reason it wasn't tight to the A pillar drip rail and it would pop up from time to time, I'm guessing that's what happened to yours. I pinched it tighter and used some adhesive on it but it still came off on the highway one day and landed who knows where. Before my car got hit my biggest pet peeve about its appearance was the missing rail trim on one side. The replacement I sourced was removed haphazardly and is wavy, very hard to straighten. Yours may be easier to straighten out given the smaller affected area with patience and plastic tools.

If by trim clips you mean these clips:
51131884465
51131884466
51131953067
51131953068
You could certainly cover a small joint with them, but they clamp to the trim not the drip rail so a fair amount of overlap is needed to keep them secure. I need to get my hands on a couple so I can CAD some forming tools to make them for when they inevitably get lost or go NLA... My car is missing them. When the drip rail trim goes NLA we're all screwed on that, they would be a very difficult part to manufacture.

[AWDBOB]

I sent this ad to my brother- he's outside of philly and has a drip molding for ya

[Crazy Larry]

I sent this ad to my brother- he's outside of philly and has a drip molding for ya

Thanks! I believe he’s been in touch.

[McGyver]

Looks like Crazy Larry is at it again!

[Crazy Larry]

found a replacement moulding for a decent price. Lesson learned. No more carwashes. :|

[roguetoaster]

found a replacement moulding for a decent price. Lesson learned. No more carwashes. :|

They work well if you want to do prep sanding for your car.