[Mixmode]

Unfortunately for me, this was the last door I did. Had it been the first, I would have quit and left the others alone.

Apparently the car has had some work done on it before because when I pulled up this molding I could see a noticable difference in 'levels' of the clear coat. As if whoever did the previous paint work left the molding on.

So now I am stuck with the decision of forking out $$$ to get the door fixed by a legit shop or put all of the molding back on. Especially after washing it with ease (moldings are notorious rag catchers!) Appearance wise, I REALLY like it without... but not worth shelling out half a grand (minimum) to fix it. Unless I can come across a steal of a deal to do the work I'll have to throw the moldings back on. Booo!

The job itself was very easy. I only used a 1/2 can of WD-40 & my heat gun but needless to say I was devistated...

A shot in the dark but I am gonna go buy a Dual Action Polisher from Harbor Freight to see if I can cut it down and blend it in. All the body shops I spoke to and sent photos to said the door will require a full repaint and blending to the rest of the car.

 

[VA_rider]

holy crap that sucks. The car looks great without the molding though.

 

[trip3ace]

That sucks man. Yea i just got side swipped on my driver fender and a few scratches on the driver door and all the body shops said in order to get our metallic paint to match they have to paint the whole side of the car basically. Damn metallic paint.

 

[DESIREE]

That kinda looks like mine did before I went at it with Prep All Wax and Grease Remover and my thumbnail.
Before "Prep All" :

After "Prep All" and thumbnail:

 

[CPT_SRTOCHO]

Wow you got ghost moldings. Ghost flames are old. I see a new trend starting.

 

[Mixmode]

Yeah mine looked like Desiree's as well till I got all the residue off. In the perfect sunlight I can see a very faint ghost line on the other 3 doors but it's far from noticeable.

 

[frank6060]

The reason I kept my molding on is it had a nasty scratch by drivers door handle when I bought it. The dealer just repainted the upper half so I doubt it would match. Might as well try some rubbing or polishing compound, by hand first, you may get an acceptable result.

 

[therealfleen]

Fortunately, the FIRST door I started on looked like that Mix so I put it back on and left it all on. Sorry for your troubles man.

 

[MADDOG]

If it's just a small paint depth issue, it will even out with a bit of UV on the area that was just un-covered. This is not unusual.

A good cut and buff of the clearcoat will also help.

Just a word of advice...don't use WD-40 as an adhesive remover. It's silicone based and you are gonna play hell trying to wax over that area now.

 

[pioneer]

500 bucks to fix 1 door is outrageous,....

 

[Jim910]

From what I can see in your photos the ghost molding looks similar to what I had when I removed the wings on my rear trunk lid. My Porter Cable DA polisher removed the ghost wings very easily. More than likely you will be able to easily fix it with a DA polisher and a good swirl mark removing polish.

 

[petecullenz]

Should be sorted easily. Your lucky. My doors had been reprinted by the previous owner but the idiot that did it only sprayed up to the door trim and not the whole panel so mine looks MUCH worse. Plus the other side blistered when it came off. Both sides have to be resprayed on my car..!!!!

 

[Mixmode]

If it's just a small paint depth issue, it will even out with a bit of UV on the area that was just un-covered. This is not unusual.

A good cut and buff of the clearcoat will also help.

Just a word of advice...don't use WD-40 as an adhesive remover. It's silicone based and you are gonna play hell trying to wax over that area now.

I used WD-40 based on Freebird's recommendation (I think that's his name, the guy with the badass yellow SB I think). I washed the area and polished it without problem though.

500 bucks to fix 1 door is outrageous,....

Agreed. One shop said $900. I laughed and hung up the phone.

From what I can see in your photos the ghost molding looks similar to what I had when I removed the wings on my rear trunk lid. My Porter Cable DA polisher removed the ghost wings very easily. More than likely you will be able to easily fix it with a DA polisher and a good swirl mark removing polish.

Be assured that one door is beyond 'ghosting'. There is a well defined difference in levels of clear coat. With that said, I plan to do buy a DA polisher to try and cut it down some and blend it in.

If that doesn't work, I'll probably plastidip the moldings in black & gloss them before reapplying.

 

[therealfleen]

That may look sexy, indeed.....

 

[CNISTER]

OUCH, you told me about it but I never really got to look at the pics till now. That sucks, and the price to fix that sounds ridiculous!

 

[Mixmode]

OUCH, you told me about it but I never really got to look at the pics till now. That sucks, and the price to fix that sounds ridiculous!

I know, right? Granted I didnt take a car in for a visual. I emailed a few shops some really hi-res photos though.

I just got back from Wally World where I picked up a can of black plasti, glossifier & 3M tape so I can dip & gloss them this evening and hopefully apply them tomorrow and a day before MSHS. I hope it turns out ok...

 

[samuraiakita]

I still have my moldings at the moment but after reading this thread I went and had a real close up look at my doors and realised that whoever owned the car before me was a complete muppet!!!!

Along the lower edge of the LH front door there is a paint run like you would never believe, just below the molding looks like Mix's pictures. The LH rear door has clearly been messed up to, they appear to have used a black paint without the crystal in it. Daredn't look at the RH side..........

Off to the body shop this morning to see how much to have some correction carried out, as a few stonechips, scuffs etc need doing to

 

[samuraiakita]

To respray both LH doors, front bumper, front half of roof due to stonechips and scuffs on rear bumper including all over body polish £425

 

[dipset300]

This is why I have not tried to take mine off even though I love the "shaved" look. Thinking about using plastidip to cover the chrome trim to black to match carbon parts.

 

[03JGMonte]

A good wetsand and buff will solve the issue I had to do it on my fender when I put srt emblems on, body shops get lazy and don't remove pieces there paid to take off before paint, which is why I can't remove my side molding