03-05 chrome window sill trim?

ha, I've been california dreamin since a kid, my wife though, maybe not so much :tongue:

got it all back togeather & drove it home. looks good. def needs to be polished to be perfect but it came out nice. this is something you could do yourself if your handy with spraying... may be best to do one door at a time if you don't have the time to do it all in one day. I took a few pictures so I could show what needs to be done...



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It looks very nice, you must be happy you did it.
Did you sandpaper the trims or something else too?
I know it is a pain to take out the two rear windows, but what about the side window trims? Do they bend easily you think?
 
yeah, they look new & help make the whole fx look more new, doesn't change the look of the fx other than removing the blemish of the faded missmatching trim, it just looks the way it should with nice black trim, looks permanently detailed & I can wax it with the rest of the body with no future fading or mismatching issues


I sanded everything & then used a clear bonding agent called bulldog... this would be a bad place for primer beecause of the sharp tape line needed at the rubber weatherstrip that is attached to the moldings at the bottoms of the windows... that edge is razor sharp & raised. the rubber needs to be taped off. since these needed to be wetsanded & polished after paint that sharp line would have probably winded up showing primer at that edge... by leaving the underlying black intact even if that whole edge winds up with the paint polished off it still looks perfect.

0ne thing I can say about these trims is if there sprayed less than perfect it will look tacky & cheap. these need to be flat & smooth, any texture or significant orange peel or dust or fisheyes or any blemishes at all & it'll look crappy. wetsanding & polishing these let me get an almost flat as glass finish. a grille or even wheels won't look horrible if the paint is not perfect, but here it will look horrible.


I guess the real bottom line to me posting this here is to show that, yes, these trims can be painted & yes it can look even better than just replacing the faded trim & is a more permanent & better looking solution than even replacing the faded trim with new... I'll put up a guide, even if some can not do this themselves, at least they would be able to show a local bodyshop that A, it can be done & B, this is how to do it..., I'll keep that guide short & sweet so it can be printed out in just one or 2 pages or so & then presented as instructions for what it is you want to have done...
 
That looks awesome John!! Great work once again. Question tho, would it be cost efficient for a member to paint it rather than buying the trim from the dealer or anywhere cheaper?
 
hard to say. if you had to buy 8 (2 each door, upper & lower only) moldings & install, might cost you more than having these professionally painted. afterwards you'd still have the problems of 1, there going to fade again & 2, there will still be the missmatched purply looking hue on the mirrors & qtr glass trim, so to me I think this is a better solution, professionally done expect anywhere from $500-$800 for a perfect job, assuming you can find someone with that ability at least.

also, as far as removing all the trim, I have only replaced one or 2 upper moldings & they come off all bent out of shape, BUT I really wasn't trying to preserve them either, so I can't say for sure it can't be done really... I know raymond bought a used set so I guess it is possible, but don't know how perfect they winded up being. I chose not to take a chance. next time I need to remove one of these I'll try & see how clean they can be removed
 
Wow, they came out really good. Your FX looks brand new. That right up would be nice. Good idea to take to the body shop.
 
I think that could work, be tidious work though & still might need at least some dissasembly, then that def wouldn't work on the purpley bluish mirrors either, but other than the mirrors vinyl could work I think...
 
make sense i forgot about the mirrors , i think it would be too much hassle around the bends and the vinyl might bubble, i think painting would be the best and efficient way to take care of the fading trim
 
I just spoke to raymond & confirmed that the used moldings he bought were indeed ripply too, & he agrees too that there is no way to remove the upper trims without ruining them.there just too thin & there stuck on there real good, so removing them for paint is not an option, they have to be done on the car...
 
Ur not talking about the pillars right? Chrome pillars over-do it making it look ghetto-ish. almost like an Escalade..i guess ur talking about the outlining trim of the side windows am i correct?
 
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