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Anyone have any luck DIY refinishing peeling roof strips? Don't flame me, but I was curious if I could just clean off the peeling clear coat and then reclearcoat them. Either that or just buy new ones, they aren't expensive and I've actually reinstalled them before on my w202...
I was pondering peeling off the clear coat (no idea if they will clean up easily - suspect I could clean them on the car with a powered pressure spray) and then vinyl wrapping them.
When I mentioned the peeling to my dealer the answer was the standard BS we have never heard of that before and in any event the trim is not covered by warranty.
I noticed mine peeling. At first I thought it was a clear film I forgot to take off. Turns out I was wrong. Kind of bad since the car only has about 25,000 miles on it (its been 4 years though).
Anyway, I was going to get all my chrome trim re-wrapped this weekend from matte black to gloss black and I am having them wrap the roof rails gloss black on top of the trim since I never use the roof system.
I knew someone who had them refinished only to peel again a few months later. I never had this issue yet, but I would probably look into wrapping it maybe?
Ugh, just started to happen on the driver side (you know so now it affects me) going to look for a solution also. I would love to color match those to the color of the car, but they could never get the white color perfect
Did a tester on my passenger side wrapped with Matte Black vinyl and I hated it.
If you are going to wrap it. You should try to color match your factory paint with gloss vinyl. Looks so much better.
I just ordered 2 new ones. I plan on keeping these nice and prevent them from peeling again, the factory clear coat on these is extremely thin and weak! The plastic trim somehow absorbs a ton of heat and cooks itself.
I applied some 303 Aerospace Protectant and waxed over it. So far so good.
Did a tester on my passenger side wrapped with Matte Black vinyl and I hated it.
If you are going to wrap it. You should try to color match your factory paint with gloss vinyl. Looks so much better.
I just ordered 2 new ones. I plan on keeping these nice and prevent them from peeling again, the factory clear coat on these is extremely thin and weak! The plastic trim somehow absorbs a ton of heat and cooks itself.
I applied some 303 Aerospace Protectant and waxed over it. So far so good.
Ok so as promised here are the pic (sorry didn't get before ones).
My peeling was roughly at the beginning stages. Just the driver's side was showing peel, passenger side nothing yet.
I have attached three pics.
Pic #1
Within the circle you can see toward the right side (side closest to roof) that it was peeling underneath. These pictures are literally inches away. My installer told me that it would show through, but he put a test strip on and I told him its fine go ahead, its only going to peel and get worse if I don't stop it now.
Pic #2 (self expalnatory)
Pic #3
This pic is from a normal height of looking at the car. As you can see, you literally cant tell.
I don't know how much this cost by itself, but my guy is awesome, probably charged me around $40 to do both sides in gloss black and is worth it since it wont peel anymore. He also did my window trim and trunk strip. I also added a gloss black spoiler I was able to pick up for free. Here's some pics.
Trunk
Side windows
And last pic is of the front, Grill is plastidipped, LED and front lip are wrapped in a (to me) very nice carbon fiber wrap. Looks damn close to the real thing. PS, I recently had a fix it ticket for the front plate, so I just but some nuts and bolts to hold it in place, got it signed off, plates are coming off again.
Looks good to me. How long do you suppose the wrap will last? I'm thinking of doing the same, including the trim and trunk strip. Btw can anyone recommend a wrap shop on Los Angeles?
Looks good to me. How long do you suppose the wrap will last? I'm thinking of doing the same, including the trim and trunk strip. Btw can anyone recommend a wrap shop on Los Angeles?
I actually had the windows and trunk strip re-wrapped. The original was matte black, I wanted gloss black. I have had the wrap on for 4 years now, and it had held up. It did not even remotely need changing, still looked as good as the first day I did it. I expect it to last.
Also, my guy is in Los Angeles area. Out in Alhambra actually. PM me if you want details. He also re-plastidipped my trunk star emblem because I did a really poor job on it.
Originally Posted by m a x i m u s
Also, I would think they could wrap the roof strips and then just cut out the little openings, no?
Yes, they could cut it out easily, but I asked them not to because it overall looks cleaner and most of the peeling was occurring around the roof rack openings. Also, I never have used my roof rack and in all honesty never plan on using them so I told them to wrap directly over it.
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