i took off the plastic pieces on the doors and the pin stripe sticker thing that goes around the whole truck? it is coming off in several spots and the plastic pieces are all faded and look horrible. would the truck look wierd with out these on it? does anyone have any pics of their truck with out these on it? seems like to me that it would look too empty and boring...opinions?

here is what it looks like now:


the plastic pieces look like they are just put on with double sided tape...is that all that holds them on or is there holes in the body with clips in it? also, with that strip, what would i use to get it off? just very carefully with a razor blade? and the previous owner took it off the hood already (and good thing they did, it would have looked stupid) but i can still see where it used to be...the paint is like raised up where it is, what can i do to get that out? rubbing compound? or will that take off my clear coat? Thanks for any help.

 

My 98 does not have the stripe or the plastic dent guards. I had a 94 Ranger that I removed the pinstripe on. It was a PITA to get off but I liked it better without. I think it will look great with both of the items your talking about removed. Makes the truck look smooth, and doesn't catch your eye and cut the truck into sections if that makes sense. What I used to remove the pinstripe was some goo gone, and used a credit card. Most of it peeled up without the credit card though. A lot of guys recommended using a hair dryer but mine wasn't bad enough.

 

get some goo gone adhesive remover from walmart and go to town on those door moldings, and if there is any residue from the sticker, you can use the goo gone on that too, but it took me about a hour on each door to take my door moldings off, but i love how they aren't on there anymore, it looks nicer

 

ok so there isnt any holes in the body with clips holding it on is there? i dont want to take it off and find holes in my doors.

 

not on my 01 there wasn't just double sided adhesive strips

 

im pretty sur eits just adhesive, thats how my 95 is

 

ok well im right in the middle of you two so i think i should be good. haha i will probably take them off soon then. it is starting to bend outwards at the end and its all faded and looks horrible. then i just gotta take off that pin striping stuff


does anyone know how to get that "raised" part where the stripes used to be off? im gonna try the rubbing compound in a little part first i guess and make sure it doesnt make it look worse.

 

Rubbing compound is too harsh for any clearcoat paint. It will fog it.

 

hmmm...ok well what should i do to get the raised part out of it then? i have seen a kit from mothers that takes out the "orange peel" would this work?

 

My Truck doesn't have any of those items and I like the way it looks, take a look at my gallery. After using the goo gone stuff make sure that you wash your car and put a new coat of wax on because not only will that stuff take off the goo, but the wax also. As for the raised part, I would check first before doing anything to it how noticeable it is. If it is a darker coat of red than the rest of your car (it most likely will be since that part of the paint has not been exposed to the sun) try using a product like Meguiars Color-X on your whole car to try get your car to match the more original paint color.

For some reason I doubt it is that raised up and if it is, it is probably very very very small. It seems like it would be one of those fixes such as an orange peel fix where you would have to wet sand the area and then use a rotary on it. I don't recommend doing that unless you really really know what you are doing.

If you can somehow find a small area that has peeled off and test some color x on the area and see if it matches well, then you could peel them off, but if it doesn't I would suggest just leaving them on, and do not use rubbing compound.


good luck!

 

where did the gallery links go on our posts?

 

From your other post you also have clearcoat failure on your truck. I would keep that in mind when deciding whether to remove the strips from the doors. There is a possibility that some of the clear could come off with the tape.

 

It will look much better without the strip & moldings. However, no guarantee on if your paint will look shadowed or not under the stripping and partial moldings. How much sun has the truck seen?

 

i will take a picture of the part that is raised tonight so yall can see it. i think im gonna take it off anyways and im sure i will get it painted soon enough...