Has anyone had any experience removing the dealer intalled wheel well and door edge guards?
They were already installed when I bought my car. The door ones have fallen off, taking a bit of paint with them. I’m going to use some Goof-Off to remove the remaining glue residue.
After 25 years, what are chances of cleanily removing the ones on the wheel well edges? I’ve always thought they were fugly, but wasn’t sure about possible damage to the paint underneath if I removed them… I’m thinking a liberal use of a hair dryer and a slow peel back? Maybe using some dental floss like with emblems? Or should I just leave well enough alone, and deal with them when I someday/maybe get a full paint job?
The dealer optional wheel well edge guards are held on by the three splash guard plastic screws. There is no 3m grey double sided tape on them. If yours are like the ones on my CRX (not Honda / Acura oem but installed by the dealer) they are edge guards stuck on with the 3M tape. The down side to either is the paint under them will be pristine due to the guard blocking the uv damage that the rest of your car has endured over the years.
If they are held on by 3m tape use a hair dryer ( not a heat gun) and go be gone, goof off or bug and tar remover to remove the residue.
[QUOTE=2ndJenn;2327031]The dealer optional wheel well edge guards are held on by the three splash guard plastic screws. There is no 3m grey double sided tape on them. If yours are like the ones on my CRX (not Honda / Acura oem but installed by the dealer) they are edge guards stuck on with the 3M tape. The down side to either is the paint under them will be pristine due to the guard blocking the uv damage that the rest of your car has endured over the years.
If they are held on by 3m tape use a hair dryer ( not a heat gun) and go be gone, goof off or bug and tar remover to remove the residue.[/QUOTE]
Thanks a lot for the info. Interesting that the dealer would install non-OEM. I wonder if they passed the savings along to us . . .
It took me about an hour to remove the trim. I didn’t need to use a hair dryer. The sun seemed to warm up things up enough to allow me to slowly and gently simply peel back the trim and adhesive tape. A micro-fibre cloth, some WD-40 and Goo-Gone took care of the residue, with a guitar pick serving to dig off some of the tougher bits. There is a VERY slight color difference where the trim was (car is red) but a polish should make it more or less invisible.