I'll give you my experience...
I wanted to keep my cladding to sell it as it is all in great shape (couple of nicks here and there) so I took it off without grabbing one end and ripping it off which can leave you with a bent, banana-looking piece.

I got a plastic spatula-looking thing and sharpened the blade of it carefully so it was fairly sharp. Then slowly worked it down the edges of the cladding and pried it off a little at a time.

This gave me great looking pieces to sell, but also left adhesive lines from hell! I had to use a 3M Adhesive Removal Wheel with my drill.... McGuire's Ultimate Rubbing Compound and whole LOT of elbow grease to get it all off and perfect looking. I probably spent more time than most doing it (about 7 hours of total time between two afternoons), but those trim pieces, especially the ones over the fenders, are going for high dollar now...

Example, on craigslist in NC there is a guy selling all 8 pieces off of his limited for $750.00. The dealers that can still GET the pieces new are asking $250.00 for the door pieces each and over $300 in some cases for the fender pieces each.

I love the look of mine without the cladding. Good luck!

James

 

Also plain floss works well if you can get it started right

 

I wonder if a high test fishing line pulled under it would work well. I'm already to declad mine when warm weather comes around.

 

Fishing line is to smooth, that's why the floss

 

Had used fishing line in the past. I tried it first... 10 lb test snapped quickly... went to 30 lb test and it worked OK, but left marks in the paint. Long "up and down" lines from the cutting motion. That's when I had to go to the other plastic tool.

James

 

I have a question about rust. My Ex has no rust on it now, and I am moving to Grand Rapids, MI in 6 months, where they use salt on the roads. Would taking off the cladding now help prevent salty water from getting between the steel and plastic helping to prevent it from rusting, or is it already sealed up really well?

 

It is not sealed up well at all in my opinion. I found lots of sand and dirt up under them that had been rubbing on the paint... it took some rubbing compound to buff the slight damage away. I can only imagine what could possibly happen with enough salt and chemical they put down on the roads caught up under the cladding over time.

It is up to you obviously, I'm sure that some who have lived in the northern climates for a long time will chime in with real world data.

James

 

Good to know. One thing that I know from living in the Mid-West for 22 years before living in Colorado for the last 10 is I HATE rust. I would like the sheetmetal to last as long at I hope my 7.3L will. I hate to ask this, but is there a picture write-up for removing? A link would be awesome!

 

None that I could find with write-up, but it is pretty easy. Here are some links with some good reading about it for you though:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...road-gunk.html

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...armor-off.html

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...f-reading.html

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...g-removed.html

James

 

Thanks James! This is going to be at the top of the list to tackle.

 

Not sealed well at all. Just a bunch of double sided tape.

You will need the rear XLT stone guards as well to fill the holes.

Here is what mine looked like after pulling the cladding. Everything else was good though.



After cladding removed w/ line-x stone guard.

 

Here is a picture of my Excursion. How do you remove the trim around the front wheels? Is it the same as the rear?

[IMG][/IMG]

 

Same way, its just double sided tape.

 

Don't forget that there are a couple of small bolts and some of those plastic "keepers" along the inner fender well and under the back 1/4 panel you need to remove. I removed mine carefully enough that I re-used them all. Some folks have broken them and had to go buy a couple more of them... but no big deal...

James

 

OK, I'll admit that I didn't read any of the responses but I'll tell you what...I'm GLAD mine is GONE! I still need the XLT stone guards in the tan color, but I think Monster looks better now than she ever has...even without the stone guards!