Side moulding: leave off or re-glue/replace?

[datsa]

So, the BSM (body side molding) on one of my doors fell off when it was banged by someone trying to park. No damage to the door but the moulding is off. There is what appears to be some sort of tape beneath it (double-sided tape?).

I am trying to find out if I can simply re-glue or re-tape the moulding; there appears to be dried glue on the backside of the moulding.

The toyota shop manual says "do not re-use body moulding" which makes me wonder why not re-use?

On the other hand, do you think that these 6th Gen Corollas would look "better" if they didn't have any side moudling? That seems to be the trend over the last decade or so: either no moulding, or body moulding (and bumpers) that match the paint job of the rest of the car.

What do you guys (and gals) think?

[Ghostyman]

Reattaching it should be easy. I'd use a contact adhesive like Auto Goop or some silicon RTV.

That said, I vote for shaving it all.

[ericdude]

I've seen cars with the trim strips falling off and they do look pretty ratty. The trim strip
seems designed to protect the door (to a limit) if you open it into an obstacle like a post,
but with an older car, it's more the missing trim itself that you notice rather than the extra
scrapes/dents that not having it might generate.

Just one man's opinion.

[xxgmsmgxx89]

can u get a pic of what it looks like without BSM? i was thinking of de badging and removing the black moulding from my mint 1990 red DX. in my opinion, it does look better on some cars without BSM... :shrugs:

[TomsGT4]

Took mine off.
No dings from car doors in 3 years, but only park at the back of parking lots
Post pics of your AE92

Pros i found in taking them off:
- IMHO looks much better, when they are removed there is still a line in the body panels that keeps the original styling of the car
- glue starts coming undone after time, fall off
- they seem to weigh quite a bit (seriously, I was surprised)
- difficult to keep them looking as good as a painted surface

Cons:
- dumb-ass opens the car door & dings ya!
- work to clean up glue & clean up/paint after they are removed (not a huge deal for mine though).

[REN69]

I've found a few colored dings on my moldings in the last few years, good thing it was the molding and not the door.

But yeah, don't use glue or goopwhatever... 3M double sided tape or bust.

[datsa]

Originally Posted by TomsGT4

Took mine off.
No dings from car doors in 3 years, but only park at the back of parking lots
Post pics of your AE92

Seems nice. I like your front bumper; it matches my Corolla's color; I have the black bumpers. I'd swap out both my front and back bumpers if I could find them around here (shipping is prohibitively expensive). Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a bumper like that anywhere close by for an affordable price.

[REN69]

It's cali man! land of the AE92s, I'm surprised you "can't find" a bumper for your car... check the junkyards already.