HOW-TO: Shave Side-Moldings/MS3 Emblem

[prmspen]

I did this yesterday. Just parked it in the sun for a couple of hours, then pulled them off slowly. After a wash and a wax, you'd never know they were there.

 

[jezterr]

wow. that's a lot of work to get rid of the side moldings.

i just grabbed one end and pulled them off.

 

[karl hungus]

did mine today too. credit card near the pointy ends to start off and then pull away. wish i had done it earlier - looks awesome.

 

[MS309MGM]

Thanks for the how to.

This will definitely help me.

 

[meicalnissyen]

Hey guys I previously made a how to, to remove the side moldings way back when for the protege5, and figured I'd do it again for the Mazdaspeed3/Mazda3.

Here we go!

What you will need:

1 x 3M Adhesive Remover
1 x Bondo Putty Knife
1 x Paper Towel Roll
4 x Kitchen Garbage bags
1 x Awesome Meguiars Car Wax (Love the smell)
1 x Roll of Painters Tape
1 x Bottle of Windex

Note in this picture I forgot a couple things I have on the list, however, it does give you a good idea of what the 3M adhesive remover looks like, as well as the putty knife. I bought the 3M stuff in the paint section of a local automotive parts store, next to the rice parts aisle, lol.


First thing you want to do is take your 3M adhesive remover and make a small punture in it, so you can sprinkle the stuff, instead of pour it all over your car.

Now, you will need to run a length of painters tape along the bottom edge of your door guard. When you put it on, however, you want to leave the bottom edge of it not stuck against the car. Then take one of your garbage bags and rip it down along the seam on both sides, so you have a straight edge, and slide the edge up into the bottom edge of the tape, hanging it down like a curtain over your rocker panel/side skirts. The reason for this is so you don't let the adhesive remover drip down into the seam of your side skirts, possibly loosening them, as they are also held on by adhesive along the edges. Then, put about four inches of tape along the top edge of the door guard, at the tapered portion, so you have something to rest the putty knife on, when pulling up the guard.

Next, sprinkle your 3m adhesive remover along the top of the guard, letting it run down into the door guard, seaping into the double sided tape. I let the 3m stuff work for about 3 minutes before I started working on it again. Take your putty knife, and clean off any plastic burrs, that might cause small scratches in your clear. Then, take the tip of the knife and slip it up under the tapered edge of the door guard, and pull up the first inch, just enough to give you a handle to grab. Then, without the putty knife, grab the edge you pulled up, and pull it the rest of the way, pealing it off the car.

Majority of the doublesided tape should come off. My car was only a month old just about, when I did this, but it worked just as well on my protege5 when I had it for 6 months, before trying this. This is what wil be left behind.

Using your fingernail, scrape away the large excess adhesive, then, 8" sections at a time, take a square folded peice of paper towel, and sprinkle along 8" of remaining adhesive, wiping excess remover on your towel, then in small circles, 'wax off' the adhesive. If you work in 8" sections or smaller, with the remover, it should come away having done this routine once or twice.

Your tape may leave some adhesive behind, so I just used windex to do the final clean up.

All you have left to do is wax the panel, so the drying behavior matches the rest of the car, and there will be no trace it was ever there. You can apply this same tactic to the rear Mazdaspeed3 emblem. Unfortunately the Mazda3 emblem has holes behind it, so don't try this, with the Mazda3 emblem.

WOW and OMG !!!!

or you could lift the tapered end of each strip with a thumbnail and peel them off.

I laid them out on saran wrap and could reinstall any time

took 2 minutes. seriously

the clay bar and wax to the molding area took way more time.

This is a bad write up

 

[zoomdoom]

WOW and OMG !!!!

or you could lift the tapered end of each strip with a thumbnail and peel them off.

I laid them out on saran wrap and could reinstall any time

took 2 minutes. seriously

the clay bar and wax to the molding area took way more time.

This is a bad write up

Yeah it took me like as much time as grabing the end and pullin um off. I didnt use any adhesive remover just a zip tie on a couple of the strips.

 

[SDSpeed3]

Hair dryer and fishing line.

 

[tuOdekcalB]

yup, you just grab the end and pull takes like 2 mins if that and pretty much all the glue comes off with the molding.

 

[Saskatchewan17]

Saskatchewan17's How to on removing side moldings:

Grip and rip!

You'll get results like this:

(that one spot is wax I didn't take off right haha)

 

[SallySpeed3]

I also tried the "Grip and Rip" method and ended up spending approx. 2 hours removing alllll of the adhesive that was left on my car. "Goof Off" is a must if you do this little project. Also patience.

 

[meicalnissyen]

I also tried the "Grip and Rip" method and ended up spending approx. 2 hours removing alllll of the adhesive that was left on my car. "Goof Off" is a must if you do this little project. Also patience.

Wierd,

was it really hot or cold when you did it?

mebbe different adhesive tape on some years..... but not likely

 

[SallySpeed3]

It was maybe 70 degrees when i did it. I also have almost 30K miles on my car, so don't know if that had anything to do with it. Oh well, it was a sucky 2 hours, but worth it.

 

[GoSpeed3]

gonna look great when someone elses door comes into contact with youre own.

 

[bigcc63]

mine are coming off this coming weekend. Left my car out on the in sun recently and i snagged an end with my shorts and its coming off. I think the 100 degree weather helped the glue melt or something, lol.........

 

[sunrun176]

gonna look great when someone else's door comes into contact with your own.

Respectfully, the side moldings do almost nothing to protect against dings from idiots opening their door(s) too wide into your door (you know who you are, miss "I'm short, so I have to compensate by driving a big, white pick-up that I can't see out of because of the raised suspension and giant tires and when I get out I hit peoples' doors because I have to brace myself as I get down 'cuz I'm short".. If only I'd got your license plate.. :mad; they're too low to help in most cases, especially considering the number of SUVs on the road and their collective average height.

As an aside, about the best defense is to park waaay out in the lot away from everyone else, which also has the benefit of some extra exercise. Parking like a jackass (a.k.a. parking in two spots by straddling the line) just invites people to do something mean and spiteful, even if you do it waaay out in the lot away from everyone else. (I know from experience, which is why I don't do that anymore.)

The only thing better than waaay out there is to find a spot waaay out there that has some extra space on the end (e.g. \ \ \x\| or |/x/ / / where '|' is a curb, pillar or painted boundary with no room for a whole car), and park on the 'x' but pull in straight instead of at an angle. That way, even if the lot fills up, your door isn't right next to someone else's and you're not inconveniencing anyone either.

Sorry.. a bit off track there.. Anyway, since the moldings don't really prevent door dings, and if one likes the way it looks with them off, it seems to me like a nice, simple mod.

 

[SallySpeed3]

I agree, I always park as far away as possible from other cars. Drives my wife crazy, especially when we're food shopping but I dont care.

 

[skallen]

I don't really mind the side moldings...However, after seeing everyone's cars after they were pulled off, I might give it a go..I'll grip and rip it I think...If that doesn't work out so well, then I have a crappy cleanup job. But I think it will be worth it

 

[SallySpeed3]

Lol, good luck! I'm sure its pretty cold up there in canada so the grip and rip might not work out so well, but let us know!

 

[sunrun176]

Actually, I'd think it would be easier in cold weather than in warm. Adhesive generally tends to be softer and more likely to leave residue when warm, in my experience anyway.

(dunno)

 

[mauvehead]

Just took my door moldings off with the pull method. No chemicals. The rear MS3 emblem cracked in half while trying to remove it. it's not like the moldings and won't likely come off as cleanly without some chemicals. I had to spend 20 minutes on the MS3 badge.