10 replies to this topic

[82hle]

I bought some deluxe chrome sill trims for my car and can't seem to get them on without kinking.
I'm working out in direct sunlight so they should be relatively flexible.
The trims are supplied wound in a coil, and are wound the wrong way to the wheel arches. As I am fitting them along the arches they are kinking every 5" or so.
Any tips? Are there better ones out there? Have I been sold a pup?
Any advice appreciated.
Mart.

Edited by 82hle, 04 June 2010 - 10:58 AM.

[Tom Sanderson]

I had a similar problem, but i couldnt get it to bend outwards where the sill met the wheelarch, i used a heat gun to warm it up and and make it soft, it bent into shape then.

[mars red mike]

When I fitted it to mine a few years ago I stuck the coil in a bowl of boiling water straight out of the kettle and left in 5 or 10 mins to go soft. I found it safer using hot water has paint guns can easily blister the trim and the paint if you are paying attention.

mike

[minimanclive]

When I bought the trim for mine the seller recommended using a hair drier to soften the trim. I ran into a similar problem with the trim kinking. I'd started from the front on the passenger side, so then tried fitting the trim to the other side of the car starting from the back and it worked better on that side.

[surfblue63]

When this stuff used to come in a bag from you local car spares shop the hot water method was part of the instructions printed on the bag .

[josh370]

I bought the none deluxe stuff and it's basically bathroom trim, really *melon*.

anyway it's all kinked and snapped down the side of my car, plus it's got oversills so it wouldn't fit on the lip without mr hammer. Oh well lesson learnt, next time it'll look shexy

[Bean]

When I fitted it to mine a few years ago I stuck the coil in a bowl of boiling water straight out of the kettle and left in 5 or 10 mins to go soft. I found it safer using hot water has paint guns can easily blister the trim and the paint if you are paying attention.

mike

This is the method used to fit the chrome trim on Reggie - albeit a different style though. It just makes the strip more malleable

Depends how the trim is attached to the lip though - If it's self adhesive, it might be better to use a hair dryer - You don't want to wreck the glue?

[82hle]

Thanks for the input fellas.
let me check a couple of things - This stuff is in a roll but the roll is like 2 foot in diameter - bit too big to go in a bucket - here's then clincher - it is rolled the opposite way to the curve of the wheelarch - so it is a struggle all around the wheelarch, and the tight bends between sill and arch are relativelty easy by comparison.
Is there a supplier that sells the same thing but rolled in the same direction as the wheelarch? at least there would only be two difficult bits then.
I ended up losing my temper today and ripped the whole thing off. It's laying abandoned in a buckled mess on the grass.
Mart.

PS it's not self advesive.

Edited by 82hle, 04 June 2010 - 08:00 PM.

[Ethel]

It should be better the way it is as the radius between the arches and sill is tighter than round the arches. How about a dustbin lid to soak it in, or run it along the edge of a steel ruler and do a foot at a time with hot air.

[ReadySalted]

I did mine the other day, and as I sat there sweating my tits off for half hour, working myself into a state of morbid frustration, I wondered to myself how on earth the most simple job I've attempted on the car so far, could turn out to be the most complicated.

I soaked it in a washing up bowl full of boiling water, and becuase it wouldn't fit completely (like you say, the reel is too large to sit inside most buckets), I used a cloth soaked in the water to wrap around the trim for about 5 or 10 seconds, then worked it onto the seams. Mines kinked like crazy, ALTHOUGH, I have found that since we've had the sunny weather of late, it seems to hae sort of smoothed it's kinks out slightly. On one side I to cut about a cm section off it because there was a blob of molten metal/ filler or something which meant the trim wouldn't close down onto the seam.

I think I'll have another go at it in a few months with some deluxe stuff, and do it properly then.

EDIT:
I also found that the best method of fitting it to the seam was to first, open the trim up slightly by running some needle nose pliers, or a screwdriver down the inside of it, and then, to push it onto the seam, then sort of work your hands along the edge of the seam as you go as smoothly as possible. Every now and again, you'll have to open it up again with the pliers, from where it has split on one side trying the jam it onto the seam, but when that happens, just pull off the last few inches you've done, open it up again, and refit it. Once you get the knack it shouldn't take too long.
For me, I spent 10 minutes trying to get one wheel arch done and then thought sod it, and left it, then a few days later went back and spent about 20 minutes doing one side. The other side went on in about half the time; I think it's just getting the nack of it.

Edited by ReadySalted, 05 June 2010 - 11:25 AM.

[82hle]

Thanks for all the help guys, I went and bought a heat gun today, (I live right opposite a screwfix - that's handy!) and retrieved the cast off trim from the grass. I sort of pre-shaped it so it would fit better, and found that if done carefully, I could straighted some of the kinkage out. -Not perfect, but better. Anyhoo, one side is fitted now, and I'll have another go tomorrow on the other side - hopefully on that side I can manage not to put the kinks in in the first place.
Mart.