4000 side molding

[Matt Daniels]

I must mention that this car was repainted by the PO. So it is entirely
possible that the adhesive I'm dealing with is not the OEM stuff, and
may be a little more industrial strength. The stuff that is on the car
is black, about 1/8" thick, in about 1/2 " wide strips on top and
bottom, and is very dry and hard. And it smells like rubber when it
starts to burn. :-)

Matt

Matt Daniels wrote:
> 
> Oh boy, talk about Pandora's box!
> 
> I decided "what the hell" the other day and just ripped off the drivers
> side molding, thinking a little time with a hair dryer, scraper, and a
> lot of WD-40 would do the trick. About 20 minutes later I decided I
> needed a heat gun and other assorted goodies, so went to Home Depot, and
> got myself a little more in debt.
> 
> Heat gun + WD-40 + razor blades + elbow grease = the adhesive from the
> small strips on either side of the doors is gone. But not without a few
> scraps and heat burns, but no exposed metal. Oh well, the body is far
> from perfect and I could live with those, plus I may repaint the beast
> sometime in the future. The process did make me decide to try out the
> little rubber wheel that was mentioned, picked one up at a local auto
> body supply store and it worked well on small stuff and for getting rid
> of the pin stripes I've always hated.
> 
> Then I decided to do the drivers side door. The bottom strip of adhesive
> was easy to heat a bit then slice off with the razor blade without a
> scratch - just a little left over for the rubber wheel to tackle. The
> top strip was not as easy, since it is right on the little lip in the
> sheet metal, the razor blade couldn't take it off cleanly. The adhesive
> was dry as a rock and after a couple of hours I was about to give up.
> 
> Then I got the brilliant idea to use a rust stripper wheel I have, and
> well, now I'm repairing the small patches of rust on the door since I'm
> going to be repainting it anyway. :-) At least the adhesive is gone (on
> the front door), I just have to finish sanding tomorrow and get it
> primered.
> 
> So, I don't really want to go through this same process on the rear door
> (and passengers side). Is there some sort of chemical I can buy that
> will really soften up this adhesive to make it easier to remove? There
> has to be some process that makes this easier.
> 
> BTW, as far as I can tell, the doors sound the same when I close them.
> But then again my car isn't exactly a perfect example to begin with.
> 
> Thanks for the help so far.
> 
> Matt Daniels
> 
> Stephen Bigelow wrote:
> >
> > Heat gun and/or acetone will make a huge mess, BTDT removing "smear of
> > toothpaste" stripes from a recent ($600 safetied!)Chev purchase.
> >
> > Body shop supply companys sell a drill mounted rubber wheel that made
> > _amazingly_ quick work of removing the remander. It was $20CDN, and left the
> > paint unscathed.
> >
> > > The leading edge of that strip lifted off the door gradually on my first
> > > 4Kq and then, one day, when I opened the door the lifting edge dug into
> > the
> > > paint on the fender quarter panel, and I couldn't open the door to get
> > > out.  Well, I got out and then I ripped that piece of %&*#@! off.  The
> > > adhesive mess underneath came off with some rubbing one day later on when
> > > the sun had been on the door for awhile.  A heat gun might aid in removal.