Body Cladding (side)

Mine has been slightly falling off since I got the car 15 years ago.  Time to deal with it!



The FSM lets you know how many fasteners are in there, but how do those fasteners work?  Fortunately for us, the back side of one is visible at the end of the strip -



So if you pinch these things  you can push them out, right?  Well I pinched one and guess what happened -



The deteriorated plastic broke apart!  So these will eventually fall apart and need to be replaced.

BTW, the rest of the clips are hidden behind this plastic strip -



-and here's what the FSM has to say about removing it -





It looks like there is some kind of seal or double sided tape behind the plastic strip -

And here's the rocker panel molding -









I went to pull the front screw and guess what - not there!

edit - the screw is there, about an inch further to the outside of the vehicle from the holes pictured. I don't know what those holes are for, but the driver's side was the same and I have no reason to think it's ever been messed with. Go figure.




Here's the other side - note how the bracket that front screw goes into wraps under the rocker panel molding.  On the passenger side, it wasn't hooked up.  Somebody had this off and didn't put it back together right.  I guess there was body work done at some point.  



I took the bottom screws off, pulled the top edge up, and pulled the back clips.  Someone said the rear clips had to be folded in from the inside of the car, and they were right!  The FSM didn't mention that though, so I didn't do it, and broke three of the clips.

There's also a piece of tape covering a hole that has fallen off -





And now I've got to find a source for these fasteners - where can i get them?



I guess I also need to replace that small piece of tape under the rocker panel, and fine a source for the tape under the plastic strip inside the door.  Where does this stuff come from?

With a fastener in hour hand that you are trying to replace, try AuVeCo for those rascals. You get them through distributors. Last time I bought some (actually one-time-use 'fir tree' fasteners for the door trim of a Lincoln I used to own) I got them from https://www.dixied.com/. There are other distributors, I like Dixie because they have all the pictures of all the fasteners they have available.

Your general problem is that the old plastics are mad brittle, and not that the FSM writer was funnin' you.

I found a few possibilities for the fastener on the right, but didn't see anything for the fastener on the left. I really wish i had pinched those from the inside, I don't think they would have pulled out otherwise even if in perfect condition.

$69 minimum order is a little much! Maybe I can find a name for the fastener and source them elsewhere?

Got a couple free. I was surprised to see the one on the left has a round base, since all the ones I've been seeing on the web have square bases. It's also got a flat spot so it's "keyed."

I may end up trying to 3D print these. Seems easier to model these than to track down clips which may not exist anywhere anymore.

Victory on all fronts!

First let's look at that hole that had come uncovered.  It had some kind of sound insulation material on it, so I didn't want to replace it with a mere piece of tape which would also peel off in a few years.  I couldn't find a similar tape anyway, but thanks to Chad and Rock Auto I had something better -



I got six of Chad's Chevy with my last order so this didn't hurt my collection any.  

I trimmed it down a little and glued it on with headliner adhesive, plus it's also a magnet, so I don't think that hole is coming uncovered any time soon.  

I found these white clips on eBay and was able to make them work -





The base has to be trimmed down to fit into the slot on the body cladding.  Pull that foam insulator off first so it's not in the way, then put it on the bottom instead.  That space is taller on the white clip than on the original clip, but the insulator fills up the excess perfectly.





There's a little extra bracing between the two plastic plates that needs to be ground down too.

The body cladding has a couple foam pieces on it that may need to be glued back down.  This one was loose on mine -



Ready to install -



Start from the back and work to the front, being very careful to pop these in one at a time.  I broke five of mine the first time and learned my lesson the hard way.  Be gentle.

There are clips molded into the body cladding that snap in along the top and side of the door sill.  I didn't have any trouble with these, but it's always nice to know what you're dealing with in advance, so here's what they look like -








On to the door plastic trim piece -

Luckily that plastic strip at the bottom inside of the door doesn't have to come off.  It's just a rubber flap that you can pull up to get access to the clips for the exterior trim piece -



Push the clips out from the inside so you don't risk damaging your trim.  

I found out that most of my clips were the wrong kind, explaining why I had such big gaps between the trim and the door in a couple places.  

I found these yellow clips in a big grab bag of clips on eBay -





I think I needed seven and that's all the bag had, but some of the bigger push pins may work with the inner fender liner and the big plastic piece under the radiator; plus I got a trim removal tool I didn't have, so for $10 not a bad deal.  

It looked like I'd have to trim the base down again to push the clip all the way into it's slot -





But most of my clips ended up being out of alignment with their holes, and I had to pull them back out about 1/8", so now I'm not sure that I had to trim the base at all.

Ready to go on -



The yellow clips work, but not quite as well as the originals.  They don't hold the trim quite as tight.  Maybe they'd do better if that round part were cut off.  The finished result is a lot better than what I had though.  No one else will ever notice the difference, and I won't either unless I get down and push on it.  

The yellow clips are bigger than the stock clips though, and will push into the weatherstripping on the body cladding at the front and back of the door -



Plus they're yellow and really jump out where they're visible.  I'm going to try painting the one at the back of the door black, but I doubt it will hold up.  I wish I could find the originals, but I'm glad I at least found these.