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Stainless Door Trim

4/10/2011 to 4/12/2011

Stainless trim=something else to worry about

We had a 85° day so I got the car out to wash it for the first time this spring.  Every time I was the car the trim pops off at the front of the door.  This time I noticed the loose trim is damaging the paint.  That will NOT do.  I wrapped a small tool in duct tape and popped the trip the rest of the way off.
These clips are the culprits.  One was missing and another was mangled.  Lucky for me I purchased some extras on e-Bay.  In the picture a tired clip is on the left and a new on on the right.  The longer "fingers" go under the angled bottom edge of the trim while the short fingers are supposed to trap the lip on the other side of the trim  They don't fit very well and probably never did.

The clips are starting to rust so I strung them on a wire for painting.  Once the paint was dry I tweaked them carefully to fit better in the trip.  The clip seems to rely on the pressure against the door to fit.  They don't "snap" into the trip at all.  I broke the questionable clip at this point so I used two new ones.
My initial attempt involved putting the clips in the trip and trying to fit it on the door as a unit.  That resulted in clips all over the floor.  I figured out that I could get two clips started then slip the next one in.  That took three hands but allowed me to work my way along the strip snapping as I went.  I could not take pictures of this stage but the results were good.  I am worried about the state of the other clips since these were starting to rust.  It was sufficiently a PITA that I do not want to pull the trim for no reason though.  Something else to worry about.