['ol Pinion head]

My son bought a really clean XJ series Cherokee that I found for him. It has some dead clearcoat & we are about to have the roof, header panel, top of doors & hood refinished/ shot w clearcoat.

Have owned several older versions of these in the 90's (I loved them, great all purpose vehicles). As this one is of the later generation, it has these these 3" wide long door protection moldings the length pf the doors. They are a dark argent gray color & a few of them are beginning to peel off the doors. There is some form of adhesive that holds them on. Trying to figure out the best way to attack refinishing & reattaching them. Would it be best to remove the entire molding, then strip the back by hand, then media blast, prep, paint, clearcoat, then reattach? What adhesive? Would like to do this once. The finish of the paint on the lower 3/4 of the body on this vehicle is really clean & we've thought of reattaching these moldings, then taping off the sheetmetal & scuffing them, then refinishing on the vehicle. Any advice appreciated.

[mudslinger]

The moldings are held on with double sided tape.
You would need to remove them from vehicle for replacement of the tape.
It's a lot of work cleaning and removing the old tape from them and the tape that is stuck to the body.
Depending on the vehicle model some are non painted textured and some are smooth and painted.

If they are non painted textured they don't paint over very well.
Also even tho you thought you did everything right as far as removing, cleaning and retaping them, there is a very good chance they will come loose again in a short time.

They do make after market adhesive moldings that come in a cut to fit roll, I have seen some as wide as 4".
If it was me I would ditch the old ones.


Bill

['ol Pinion head]

Thanks Mudslinger. Ended up removing the worst of the loose door side moldings. Cleaned the old tape residue off with a razor blade a few rubs with the wirebrush on the bench grinder. Going to work on the mating surface of the door in the AM. Am going to repaint the wheel opening molding pieces as well. Really want to keep the vehicle looking stock, not interested in the aftermarket wheel openings with the "buttons". Is there any kind of of plastic prep that will promote a good bond for the color coat?

[mudslinger]

BASF/ RM AM865 plastic adhesive promoter comes in a rattle can is what we use
Also there are products from SEM and Bulldog that come in a rattle can.
A good auto body supply store will carry most of these

Bill