black plastic trim
Thread Starter
|
1st Gear
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 7
black plastic trim
on the doors and along the seals there is black trim on my red a4 can it all be removed or do i have to paint it all ?? thanks for any help its a 1998 pre facelift if that means anything to the answer
2nd Gear
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 1,272
From: Minnesota
It's red under the plastic. The entire body is painted before any trim goes on. And if you painted that plastic, I can't imagine it lasting at all. That all comes off. In fact most of us have changed those rubber trim pieces at the bottom of the doors...often. The steel strip in them rusts and they just pull away from the door.
You can remove it if you want, but there will be work involved. The trim pieces in the first picture you posted are commonly referred to as "lower mouldings." There will be red paint under them, but they're mounted to the body with clips that attach to metal pegs welded to the door skins. If you remove the mouldings you'll also need to grind the pegs off, do a little body work, and re-spray the door skins.
The trim piece in the second picture is held on by double sided tape. You can remove it just by peeling it off and using some goo gone on the tape adhesive residue. There will also be red paint under that.
If you want to paint all that stuff red, you can definitely do that too. Judging from the first pic, your lower mouldings look like they're in pretty rough shape though. Very common, they break and fall off all the time. I'd pick up a new set and spray those before you install them.
The trim piece in the second picture is held on by double sided tape. You can remove it just by peeling it off and using some goo gone on the tape adhesive residue. There will also be red paint under that.
If you want to paint all that stuff red, you can definitely do that too. Judging from the first pic, your lower mouldings look like they're in pretty rough shape though. Very common, they break and fall off all the time. I'd pick up a new set and spray those before you install them.
2nd Gear
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 1,272
From: Minnesota
Like CCA4 said, if you remove them, you'll have to grind down the mounting pins that stick out of the sheet metal, then do some body work to smooth it all down again. Look at a 96/97. In those early years they didn't have the mouldings.
Moderator
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 2,380
it looks amazing for sure, add some s4 skirts. I just took my s4 lower trim off to shave them actualy. Its silver but id be willing to part with it. Its not rubber like the A4 its plastic and looks much better