Trunk Edge Chrome Trim Strip

[matth825]

Has anyone has success in removing and re-attaching the plastic chrome trim strip along the bottom of the trunk lid without destroying it? The adhesive on the left and right edges of mine is starting to let go causing the strip to lift up. It looks very difficult to remove without ruining it entirely. What do most people do when this happens? Is it best to just ditch the strip?


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[87gtVIC]

Ditch it. Once it starts bending the thin plastic coating also starts lifting off the surface of the trim.

You can try to introduce some gentle heat and use some fishing line and saw your way through. Masking tape applied to the surrounding paint can help protect it from marring.

Remove all old adhesive and reapply new high strength tape after letting the trim relax flat out in the sun.

[matth825]

Thanks! I like that fishing line idea.

What would you recommend for tape to reattach it?


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[87gtVIC]

Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/3M-3614-15/dp...69509009&psc=1


Just make sure all old stuff is cleaned off and that the trim is flat. Lay it out in the sun on a nice hot day. When reattaching dont try and stretch the molding out from the center to the ends so hard. This will likely make it lift at the ends again. Want to just put it into place gently and firmly set it onto the trunk if that makes any sense.


I personally like the look of them. I wish they (or something close) were readily available.

[matth825]

Perfect! Thanks for the installation tips. I’m glad I’ll be able to save the piece…I like the way it looks too. Hunted around on eBay hoping to find a NOS/good used one but no such luck.?


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[87gtVIC]

I think this is the part number: E5AZ-5442512-A

Good luck on the reinstall. Like to hear how the whole things goes for you.

[matth825]

Trunk Edge Chrome Trim Strip

Thanks for the part number! Good to have just in case.

I’ll let you know how it goes as well post some pictures. If the tape gets here by the weekend I’ll be working on it. I was inspecting it again last night…found it’s lifting in the center too. I recently moved the car to a different garage which gets much hotter. The trunk lid is only about 8 inches off of the door that gets beat on all day by the sun. Definitely not doing it any favors!


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[matth825]

Got the trim strip removed without much issue. The fishing line worked well. Things went south however once I tried to clean the old adhesive from the back of the trim strip. I was gently heating it to aid in removal. This worked well except that it caused the thin chrome coating to completely lift off and disintegrate. The strip is beyond saving unfortunately. Good news is the look of the trunk lid without it is growing on me.

I’ll post some pictures tomorrow once I remove the remainder of the adhesive from the car.


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[Mainemantom]

Actually the base model,police and taxi did not have that strip. In my opinion it looks better without it.

[matth825]

Trunk Edge Chrome Trim Strip

Actually the base model,police and taxi did not have that strip. In my opinion it looks better without it.

I didn’t think I would like it better without the strip. The strip worked well with the whole overly chrome motif of the car. Now that it’s gone the rear of the car looks much cleaner. The bumper still provides plenty of chrome to satisfy

It did kind of stink to ditch it because it was original but given the state of the adhesive it was destined to come off at some point. Better it be in my garage than on the road.

I’ll get a picture posted tomorrow. I ended up being busy today and didn’t get any garage time.


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[87gtVIC]

Bummer the coating started to delaminate on you. Kinda what happened to mine when I removed it.

[matth825]

Finally got a chance to clean the residual adhesive off. Things took an interesting turn. Looks like the adhesive damaged the paint. The paint actually started to rub off when I was removing the adhesive residue. There are a couple small spots where it actually went down to the primer! I used turtle wax adhesive remover which I have used on other cars before with no issues. Very weird! Needless to say I stopped messing with it and will leave it alone until by paint guy can take a look.






Other than this happening I’m liking the look without the strip.


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[Arquemann]

Maybe try one of those fudge looking adhesive removal wheels for a powerdrill? Pretty inexpensive online and to my experience has worked very well every time.
I managed to rub through some paint when I was cleaning up the door edges with some mild silicon remover, kinda baffled me.

[sly]

It's old single stage (and probably acrylic) paint. It's not as easy to get adhesives off of it as newer multi-stage clear coat type paints.
+1 get a paint guy to check it out.

[matth825]

I had no idea it was single stage. I wonder when Ford switched over to two stage with these.

Thanks for the tip on the remover wheel. My friend has a car with some decals that need removing so I’ll pick one up and give it a go with his car.

Called my paint/bodywork guy. He’s going to attempt to fix it when I bring him the car to have my new fenders installed. If it’s not fixable he said he should be able to repaint that section and blend it with the rest of the trunk lid.


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