Question About Fox Paint Prep

**coralcoupe1993** · 11-29-2008, 07:35 PM

93 LX Notch. Should I take the plastic strips off of the sides before paint, prep?

What did you do?

**fastfox91** · 11-29-2008, 07:53 PM

if the moldings arent pulling away from the car dont pull them off cause they go down hill fast in the process. just my .02 good luck with the car though

**silvernotch** · 11-29-2008, 07:56 PM

I had everything off mine,but you have to decide how far you want to go.The first week of June will be here sooner than you think..

**PSPstang** · 11-29-2008, 07:59 PM

personally to do it right i would remove all the mouldings.
i did my capri that way years ago.

the front fender and rear quarter next to bumpers unbolt.
the rest will come off with a heat gun and piano wire.

**coralcoupe1993** · 11-29-2008, 08:18 PM

They are freaking perfect. Not even thinking about pulling away. hummm...

**Silverhatch** · 11-29-2008, 08:40 PM

If you can sand it well enough without removing them, leave them be and save yourself a HUGE headache. I replaced mine, but installed them before final paint. You don't want to buy new ones, if you screw up the old ones taking them off. I'm not sure if FORD still sells them. I think mine were NOS.

Guess the car won out?!?

**PaxtonShelby** · 11-29-2008, 09:24 PM

Depending on the color of the car, I like the look of the stock black moldings if they're in really nice shape - like on my red '90 LX the black moldings look really sharp. Are yours already body color? If they're still black, have they been armour-alled a bunch of times - if so would that make them harder to clean / prep prior to paint? Post up some before pics so we can see what's up.

Take it from me - you could paint 10 cars for the price of a kitchen re-do...been there done that!!

Good luck with the spraying!!

**DING** · 12-03-2008, 12:42 PM

Originally Posted by coralcoupe1993

They are freaking perfect. Not even thinking about pulling away. hummm...

I would leave them on if they are in good shape. If you pull them off and reuse them you will have to remove the metal strip with the adhesive on it. Then your F'd. The mouldings will shrink up a little.

I have done it both ways. Leave them on if they are good. Good Luck

**Rodeheaver's** · 12-03-2008, 04:01 PM

they have a metal strip in them and if you bend it, your kinda screwed, if you bend em to far taking them off you will need new ones..

**yeahloh95** · 12-03-2008, 05:26 PM

i would leave them on,if they are in as good a shape as they sound ,it will be a pain to get them back on and still look good

**wick** · 12-03-2008, 10:20 PM

Yeah, leave them on. My buddys shrank an inch on his GT.

**jaa55** · 12-03-2008, 10:55 PM

i say take them off, i can tell you from experience my cars was painted with alot of stuff left on the it and masked off. now the paint is peeling around the pieces that werent removed. just use a heat gun and take them off

**How Much?** · 12-04-2008, 12:11 AM

Dont sweat it, you can remove the door molding and the Other moldings buy peeling them up!!!!,,,,, when they come off warped, all you do is take a small flat head screw driver and get under the metal strip on the back side of the molding, at the edge and lift it up with the screwdriver and the aid of a heat gun !!!!!!!!!BE CAREFUL!!!!! dont apply too much heat or you will burn the molding, even practice on a old one just to see how easy this really is,,, then wrap the metal strip in a pair of baby vice grips and pull while applying steady pressure and heat, the metal strip will pull out of the molding slicker then S@%t!!!! Then just lay molding on a flat surface untill your ready to paint it/car....Reattach with some thin 3m molding tape and VIOLA!!!! instant sweet ass molding..... and when reinstalling on the car be careful and take measurements BEFORE you remove it, use masking tape as a guide!!!!! WORKS AWESOME done about 5 cars this way and no one ever knew....passed this trick on to Libb88 and did one at his house....ask him...he will vouch for this....

**coralcoupe1993** · 12-05-2008, 05:32 PM

Originally Posted by How Much?

Dont sweat it, you can remove the door molding and the Other moldings buy peeling them up!!!!,,,,, when they come off warped, all you do is take a small flat head screw driver and get under the metal strip on the back side of the molding, at the edge and lift it up with the screwdriver and the aid of a heat gun !!!!!!!!!BE CAREFUL!!!!! dont apply too much heat or you will burn the molding, even practice on a old one just to see how easy this really is,,, then wrap the metal strip in a pair of baby vice grips and pull while applying steady pressure and heat, the metal strip will pull out of the molding slicker then S@%t!!!! Then just lay molding on a flat surface untill your ready to paint it/car....Reattach with some thin 3m molding tape and VIOLA!!!! instant sweet ass molding..... and when reinstalling on the car be careful and take measurements BEFORE you remove it, use masking tape as a guide!!!!! WORKS AWESOME done about 5 cars this way and no one ever knew....passed this trick on to Libb88 and did one at his house....ask him...he will vouch for this....

AWESOME! Thanks!