Shaving Mz3 Sides

[rayarnold]

I'm debating whether or not to remove the side molding/badges from my sedan. I've seen pics of the copper red mica with clean sides and it looks really nice, but I'm worried about dings from other car doors. Has anyone that has removed the molding noticed any dings in the area around where the molding was? I know this is kind of a dumb question, but my last car was so banged up from people slamming their SUV doors into the sides of my car. Actually, that would be another good question: are the side moldings too low to protect my car from SUV doors hitting it?

[laraw]

Do it. The door moldings on our cars are situated far too low to protect against 95% of door dings. I got a few ABOVE the moldings when I first got my car and it convinced me that they were not worth it.

Smooooth. ;)

http://www.larawdesigns.com/Mazda3/July1308/6.jpg

[mazdaspeedster3]

Yes, loss of those is a nice look.

[wagoncrew]

post more pics i wanna see how it looks

[laraw]

Here are a bunch from this past weekend...

http://www.larawdesigns.com/Mazda3/UMMMJuly1920/Riverside%20Mental%20Hospital/8.jpg

http://www.larawdesigns.com/Mazda3/UMMMJuly1920/Riverside%20Mental%20Hospital/12.jpg

http://www.larawdesigns.com/Mazda3/UMMMJuly1920/Riverside%20Mental%20Hospital/1.jpg

http://www.larawdesigns.com/Mazda3/UMMMJuly1920/Meet%20Photos/24.jpg

http://www.larawdesigns.com/Mazda3/UMMMJuly1920/Meet%20Photos/39.jpg

http://www.larawdesigns.com/Mazda3/UMMMJuly1920/Meet%20Photos/41.jpg

[AndrewSquared]

This has convinced me at least, I'm pulling mine off this weekend, right before I give my baby a wash.

By the way, I love that color of blue.

[laraw]

Why thank ya. :)

Another one to convince (pre-lip though)...

http://www.larawdesigns.com/Mazda3/July1308/1.jpg

[Akaveli]

wanna trade cars LaraW??? (glare)

[laraw]

Thanks but no thanks... I <3 my car. :D :D

xD

[wagoncrew]

yea im doing that to for sure? easy enough to do right?

[bjjer]

The mouldings look better off on the sedan than the hatch. thats why I still have them on my speed but took them off on my 07 3i.

[skylar2ups]

Are they hard to take off? Like the tape or however they are put on.

[zoom_craigy_zoo]

No, it is not hard to take them off. Wait for a nice hot day, take some fishing string or dental floss.... slip it over the edge, run it through slowly until you can get your finger underneath the lip. Then, simply pull. SLOWLY. The slower you go, the more adhesive comes off the door with the molding. If some stays on there, no worries, just rub it off with your fingers. Make sure to clean it up afterwards, and apply some wax as well, for good measure.

[skylar2ups]

Thanks they are coming off tomorrow!

[AndrewSquared]

No, it is not hard to take them off. Wait for a nice hot day, take some fishing string or dental floss.... slip it over the edge, run it through slowly until you can get your finger underneath the lip. Then, simply pull. SLOWLY. The slower you go, the more adhesive comes off the door with the molding. If some stays on there, no worries, just rub it off with your fingers. Make sure to clean it up afterwards, and apply some wax as well, for good measure.

Man, do I wish I had read this before I did mine yesterday. It was a hot day, but I didn't pull slowly, I just ripped those jokers off as soon as I got my fingers under it. So much of that adhesive was left on my car, it took about an hour and half to two hours to get the rest off. There's even still a tad bit left on that I'm going to rub away when I get home from work.

Take his advice, PULL SLOW!

[mazdaspeedster3]

Or you can use a blow dryer to warm them up and loosen up the adhesive (heat gun is best if you have one). There is a U tube video on how to do this. It is funny!

[wagoncrew]

should i do it to my wagon? anyone know how it looks on the hatch?

[skylar2ups]

I saw a five door, I think it was an 08, yesterday that had it off I didn't like it, it didn't look bad but it just looked unfinished and too long... it was just odd it also had a aftermarket paint job and was pink so that might have been why.

[skylar2ups]

I just took mine off.
I think it looks amazing.

I took pictures I hadn't wash'd her yet so you might be able to see where they came off.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e337/skylar2ups/mazda002.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e337/skylar2ups/mazda001.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e337/skylar2ups/mazda004.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e337/skylar2ups/mazda005.jpg

It was SOOOO easy to take off there was nothing left for me to clean up.
I used a hair dryer and let it sit at the start for about 2 minutes it came off in about 30 sec. I started at the back on the back door starting from the point is easy my car looks so good I love it.

[AndrewSquared]

So, as I promised in another thread, here are the post-rain driven pictures of my car with the side moldings taken off.

Sorry about the darkness, it's the perfect time of night to be a PITA for taking pictures, too bright for the flash to do much, but too dark to not be able to use it. As you can see, I washed my car yesterday, and as the rule goes, it pissed rain today (almost every day in Florida). So it's a tad dirty now, but hopefully this should give other hatchback owners an idea to how it looks. I'm pretty happy with it myself.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a219/ghosting/IMG_1010.jpg

On, second thought, two of the pictures were too dark to tell anything at all. So I'll just post them tommorrow.

[iAmLoSt]

I was thinking about doing this myself, probably the first "mod" I'll be doing to my 06 Mz3. I got the car with several dings above the moldings, so I don't think they are doing much.

BTW, laraw, you have the cleanest 3 I have seen to this date, I'm absolutely in love with your car.

[:: Gusto ::]

damn laraW all over it w/ the pics of yoru nice shiney car.. when are we doing my photo-shoot?

[altspace]

Lookin' great! So glad they did not put those on the 8.

[laraw]

I was thinking about doing this myself, probably the first "mod" I'll be doing to my 06 Mz3. I got the car with several dings above the moldings, so I don't think they are doing much.

BTW, laraw, you have the cleanest 3 I have seen to this date, I'm absolutely in love with your car.

Well thank you so much. =) =)

[AndrewSquared]

Okay, got some good non-rain day-time photos of the car, and it dosen't even look that dirty having been in three days of rain/wet streets. Now you can clearly see a hatchback with no side molding

On a unrelated note, any chance of having .jpg attachment size increased to 2.0 MB from 1.95 MB. One of my photos was exactly 1.96 MB and I had to resize it to upload as a thumbnail and be courteous. Too much work!

[laraw]

That looks great... but take off the 2.3 badges (or move them to be even with the sidemarkers)... they look odd since they are kind of floating there now.

[AndrewSquared]

Didn't even think of that. I'll take a look into it tommorrow. If they're just held on with adhessive will be easy to remove. If I decide to put them back on, what would be a good product to use?

[skylar2ups]

It does look good!

[laraw]

Didn't even think of that. I'll take a look into it tommorrow. If they're just held on with adhessive will be easy to remove. If I decide to put them back on, what would be a good product to use?

If you heat them up and pull them off carefully, leaving the adhesive intact on the 2.3 badges it would be easy enough just to reuse it. Otherwise, 3M molding adhesive (sold at any auto store) will do the trick. :)

[sl0wthe0ry]

lara is teh pic whore. ha!

[laraw]

Hahaha... yeah I am. =P

[skylar2ups]

I would be too that 3 is HOT!

[laraw]

Well thank you. =)