Removing Door Bumper

[Nic_A31]

I need to remove those rubber things that go on the outside of the doors.

Is it safe to just peel them off slowly or will it damage the paint?

Reason I wanna remove is they're turning yellow and extremely dirty and can't be cleaned.

Tips?

Pointers?

Full video walkthrough with pictures, music and boobs to keep me interested ?

Cheers

Nic

[Dan_J]

heat gun and plastic scraper/spatula to remove bump strips

i did it with a hair dryer and scraper on the ke70

[toffy]

best with a metal string/guitar string/window take outerer , but a thin spatchuler and some heat (and some care) and a bottle/drum of wax and grease remover to get rid of the glue left over then some cut and polish to try and make the paint not look so mis-matched will do the trick

[Dan_J]

yea finishing line, just tie it off too wood off cuts you use as handles

[SirRacer]

I did mine when i was paneling my car for paint. Im not sure id do it on a car that you were going to keep without touching the paint.The reason for this is that they get stiff and break and getting them off can be horribly hard. The glue is also bloody thick.

For me i got a paint scraper and got them off then used the paint scraper to get rid of most of the glue(it left a few scratches). I then tried thinners and this would have taken months so i sanded the glue off instead.

If you do remove them, just be carefull and allow a few hours to do it.

[Mr Eps]

DUDE !!!!

NO!!!!!!!

please tell me you HAVENT taken them off..

sorry i dont come here that often!

they go yellow same as headlights... even brown.

if you want to get them back to BRAND NEW COLOUR

get some SIFA steel wool from bunnings, about $3 worth - wet it... and scrub it all off.

it literally comes back to brand new white. don't pull it off... it's old nerdy jap crap!!! YOU NEED IT!!!! haha

[Mr Eps]

when i was 19 and first got my cefiro back in 2004 the first things i ever did was take the original window sheilds off..

...and the mud guards..

and replaced my bumpers with a wonder bodykit

...then years later found out how rare the "front lip" was...

...looking back i would have kept it stock bodied... with the guards... with the lip...

and just had it lowwwwwwwwwww...

but seriously. dont pull it off PLEASE

just use the steel wool method - on second thought - wet sanding will probably give similar outcome

[Nic_A31]

Bumping up an old topic here.

I did this to one door tonight.

Reason I did ONE door was because that door was Series 2 (black bumper, below the groove in the door), and the car is a Series 1 (body colored bumper, above the groove).

Pics of before and shitty quality pic of after.

Attracts less attention now.

Anyway, THE METHOD, in case anybody else digs this thread up in 20 years time and wants to know.

-HEAT! (I set up my 2x 500W work light about 1ft away from the car)

-Peel off the bumper, slowly.

-Apply shitloads of "Bug-Off" / Tar Remover. (Apparently can also use wax and grease remover)

-Scrape through the gluey shit with a razor blades.

-Don't try to take it all off in one run. I did 10-15 runs per working section (about 100mm)

-When it's down to less than 0.5mm or so, you can either scrape with your finger nail, maybe try steel wool, or in my case, just gently keep scraping with a razor blade, keeping the blade as flat to the panel as possible and applying even, easy pressure.

-Give it a quick clean with a hardcore foaming degreaser, so it removes all the dirt that lines the edges of where the bumper once was,

Rinse with water, and polish.

Amazingly enough, I can't notice a color difference between the exposed paint and what was underneath the bumper.

No sign of it EVER being there.

The only f**k up I made, was breaching the clear coat a couple of times with the razor, but that's easily fixed.

One door down, 3 to go.

Edited August 22, 2011 by Nic_A31

[NA_Goodness]

Still looks like a heap of shit

[Dan_J]

never noticed the s2 bottom bump strips before, they look like poo so well done removing it

the middle bump strip is the only exceptable one i'm still on the fence

[Nic_A31]

Had both better and worse luck with the front.

I didn't breach the clear coat, at all. But there is a noticeable color difference....well not soo much the color, but the clear coat.

I'm at a cross-roads. Don't know weather I want to chuck that chrome lining back on when I've finished all 4, or keep them aside for the other Ceffy, OR sell them.

[toffy]

looks heaps cleaner without the old man style chrome door liners . With the colour diference , it MIGHT help if you face it back a little with some 2000 wet and dry

[Even_Flow]

To avoid scraping your clearcoat, you could use a plastic applicator to scrape.. If you use a heat gun/hair dryer and consentrate the heat to behind the moulding, that will help also. Just dont hold it close or for a long extended amount of time. Thats what we use at work, always does the trick... The reason for a difference in colour could be the door/s where painted before and they just masked off the rubber moulding.. Or it could be the lack of sun its seen, meaning the door's paint has broken down quicker. Try a cut n polish, it 'might' fix it or at least make it less noticable..

If you wet rub it with some 2000, it will only fix it if it hasn't been painted before. (Meanin the clours are different and no polish will fix that)

Hope that helps too.