Greetings. My truck has been in the AZ sun for 15 years and the side body moulding is a mess. Its dried, cracked, and as water gets into it, the tape is rotting away and the molding is coming off in some places. I would like to take the moulding off completely but the grey paint stripe on the side, while still looks great, the paint under the molding is quite a bit darker since its been protected from the sun. So that is why I still have to have some kind of moulding/vinyl stripe in its place.

I have seen a few places that sell the body moulding in "pre cut" pieces. I have reason to believe that these pre cut pieces don't have the ends on them. The molding that is on my truck from the factory seem to have little black pieces on either end of each strip that cleans up where it was cut.

What are people doing to replace it, any good looking non OEM product or OEM kits that have these ends. Maybe even a vinyl/tape piece?

I re-taped with 3m body tape one of the pieces that was really coming off and the backside of the moulding was rotted and pitted. It doesnt resemble anything close to a smooth surface where the tape mounts. The process of taking an OEM body strip off was a hellish one. Some paint even came up so if I do take them off, I think I am going to need something to go in its place.

Thanks for any input. Pics of examples are always welcome.

 

i would just take them off and paint where the tape was i think that looks better than that crappy molding running down the side of the truck

 

Yeah. Ideally, that is what I would do but the paint underneath is either coming up with the tape or is 10 shades darker do to being protected from the sun for all these years.

Thanks for the reply.

 

I was wanting to replace mine at some point. They are gray and match the body color. The only ones I can find that are direct fit and OE style are in black only. Since my truck is black and silver, it will probably still look good.

Here it is at LMC. I think NPD has it too, but couldn't find it.

http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/fd/full.aspx?Page=31

 

just a thought... if you can carefully remove the strips you can buff the rest of the truck to fade in where the trim strips covered. I know it's a long pain in the **** process but your truck will definatly look better after your done. Buffing when done right can take years and years of fading and "dead paint" off the top and make it look new again. Maybe your truck isn't the prettiest and maybe it's not worth it but I just thought i would throw it out there...

 

Can I buff the paint to make it look faded like the paint that has not been covered by the moulding? The more I look at the moulding, the more It needs to come off. I have a friend that does wonders with a buffer. Maybe Ill give him some beer and pizza for his help.

Quite honestly, this is about the best condition mid 1990s F series I have seen so the moulding is really the eyesore. It's crooked chipping rotting. I can nice it would look with it off.

Thanks for the reply.

 

no no no no... you got it all wrong... your paint under the molding is still unfadded. you use the buffer to take the fad out of everything except what was under the molding. it looks good enough that you could probably get by with some claybar... I'm just saying make the rest of the truck look just as good as where your molding is covering.

Also DAMN that is a nice truck... how much do you want and where do you live?????? LOL (kinda joking but not really).

 

Hehe. I re-read what I had typed and I didnt type what I meant. Yeah. I was following you - only my 10th cup of coffee so I'm not thinking straight yet.

Yeah. Pull the old moulding off (which is a pain) then buff out the paint that was under the moulding so it matches the faded stuff. The paint on the truck is in wonderful condition but its amazing how it can fade and still look great.

Thanks for the comments. Quite honestly, I get quite a bit of comments on the truck when I am at the gas station, parking, etc. You especially don't see trucks like this in the midwest (where I live) without big rust holes in them. I have done a few things to make it look even better but most of the credit goes to the care the previous owner gave it.

Thanks again for the tips everyone.

 

yeah no kidding... i'm in iowa and you can look at the pics of my two... Typical midwest rust. I would love to have gotten my hands on a F250 PSD 4x4 5spd like yours! I'm sure there are some out there but not too many...

 

Yeah. I got pretty lucky. I just happened to stumble onto it.

I wanted a 97 f350 5 speed because of the D60 up front but I wanted a super cab. There never was such a truck as a supercab f350 and the crew cab wouldn't fit in my garage.

I had a short cab 350 5 speed PSD new in 1997 and always thought is was a great truck but now that I have kids I wanted an extended cab. So as luck has it I found a truck just like my old 350 but extended cab. Its a 250 with a dana 60 up front so it worked out well.

Anyway, thanks for the input. I know what my options are.

 

Thats the same color combo as my truck. I say just get new black molding. I think that with the two tone paint and the pin stripes etc, it looks better with the molding.

 

Man what a shiney truck. I want to put those mirrors on. I have these monkey bar towing mirrors that I don't really use.

I think as far as the moulding goes, it does look better on the 2 tones than the non 2 tones.

 

Thanks. There is nothing wrong with the mirrors you have. They are actually stronger than the ones I have. I will say the the plastic mirrors are more sporty and cleaner looking. The problem is that for your truck to have them you have to fill holes.

 

Yeah. They aren't too bad. My 97 had them. They are staying on because of the holes. I repainted the black parts and I like them better now.

 

if the molding is ok you can probably go to a local body shop and ask to buy some molding tape... I bought some a while back and stuck some moldings back on and they are staying just fine... This only works if the molding still looks good.