Body cladding on 92 Loyale

[GJTaranto]

What holds the body cladding on around the windows on the upper part of the car? Bottom part of the car?

 

Can it be removed without damaging the cladding or the car and be reinstalled regularly?

 

I washed my loyale for the first time since I got it last Sunday night and I could not get it clean, everytime I sprayed with the high pressure nozzle near this cladding, a bunch of dirt and debris that was stuck under it would blast up and cover a part of the car I just cleaned.

 

I am hoping I can remove it, clean the car, then reinstall it.

[GJTaranto]

Bump, would appreciate any input from anyone who has removed and installed body trim from this year. I want to clean my car!

[Gloyale]

The trim that goes along the top, over the rain gutter, can be "rolled" off pretty easy, just don't bend it and it will clip right back on.

 

As far as the lower trim that runs along the side of the car, it is difficult. If you remove the inner fender well, you can get to the back side of the clips and pinch them. They will then pop out. This works for the fender trim. Unfortunatley to do this for the whole car you'd have to remove all the door panels and interior panels along the side of cargo area. If you just pry the trim from the outside the clips will break, they have to be pinched from the back.

[thealleyboy]

You might want to consider eliminating some/all of the trim. The rain gutter trim especially. Those are very difficult to remove without damaging, and are completely unneccesary.

 

Besides giving the car a different (and arguably "cleaner") look, removing the trim will eliminate potential rust spots in the areas where the mouldings are attached. On Loyales, this makes even more sense, since the car is already stripped down to begin with.

The main problem in doing this is to blend all the body color so the paint beneath the old trim matches the rest of the car. If the paint is original, rubbing/polishing compound is usually all you make the color uniform.

As mentioned above, the lower trim on the newer EA82's is held on with clips (older ones are glued). Unfortunately, this leaves some small holes that have to be dealt with. One easy solution is small push-on rubber plugs. They can even be painted to match the car.

If you do remove all the trim, take a good look at your Loy before putting it all back. You might be surprised at how good these cars look without all the outdated wide body mouldings.

good luck, John