Steve Addy
Top Post Dawg
I noticed some time ago that the B3V driver side door belt moldings were not in the greatest shape. These are the rubber covered metal strips that ride at the top of the door and also provide the window scraper function.
When they start to look puffy you know there's an issue under the rubber that's not going to go away. Mine were looking puffy at the rear of the driver door and the front of the rear door, so right close together.
Kind of hard to tell in this photo but under the rubber there's some rust going on.
First thing I did was remove the rear door exterior corner triangle by removing the inside corner cover and then the phillips screw and clip behind that. Once those are out the plastic cover on the outside swings open like the little hinged lid. From there it's easy to nurse it out. Next I removed the molding by gently pulling up on the end of it (not the rusted end) until it pulled loose and I could nurse it off the full length of the door. The rusted bit was not very cooperative at coming off.
The underside had some minor surface rust and some residue on it that needed to be cleaned off.
The nice thing about doing this job is that you get to clean, polish and wax the paint under the trim so that it doesn't start to rust...more.
Once you have the flange cleaned and waxed (or other coating) you can gently install the replacement seal. I start at the front aligning the front edge and then gently pressing the seal into place from front to back.
Here we have a replacement rear seal installed.
And here we have the front and rear replacement belt molding seals installed:
I managed to do the front one without having to fully remove the mirror. I did have to detach it from the door frame but I was able to hang it above the work while I cleaned and installed the new seal.
These photos show us what was going on under the rubber coating..
The reason I bring this up is twofold. First, if these start to rust at both ends then it's difficult to find something to grab on to in order to get them off. Second, the corrosion inside can work its way to the door itself and if it was let go long enough might start rust on the door too, which would not be good.
Steve
When they start to look puffy you know there's an issue under the rubber that's not going to go away. Mine were looking puffy at the rear of the driver door and the front of the rear door, so right close together.
Kind of hard to tell in this photo but under the rubber there's some rust going on.
First thing I did was remove the rear door exterior corner triangle by removing the inside corner cover and then the phillips screw and clip behind that. Once those are out the plastic cover on the outside swings open like the little hinged lid. From there it's easy to nurse it out. Next I removed the molding by gently pulling up on the end of it (not the rusted end) until it pulled loose and I could nurse it off the full length of the door. The rusted bit was not very cooperative at coming off.
The underside had some minor surface rust and some residue on it that needed to be cleaned off.
The nice thing about doing this job is that you get to clean, polish and wax the paint under the trim so that it doesn't start to rust...more.
Once you have the flange cleaned and waxed (or other coating) you can gently install the replacement seal. I start at the front aligning the front edge and then gently pressing the seal into place from front to back.
Here we have a replacement rear seal installed.
And here we have the front and rear replacement belt molding seals installed:
I managed to do the front one without having to fully remove the mirror. I did have to detach it from the door frame but I was able to hang it above the work while I cleaned and installed the new seal.
These photos show us what was going on under the rubber coating..
The reason I bring this up is twofold. First, if these start to rust at both ends then it's difficult to find something to grab on to in order to get them off. Second, the corrosion inside can work its way to the door itself and if it was let go long enough might start rust on the door too, which would not be good.
Steve
