Problem with sidemolding?
 

I was watching my friend the other day and he was trying to take off the sidemolding on his P5. He took off that small 6in. section on the front and got all the adhesive off. The paint under the molding was a different color from the rest of the body. He washed that area a couple of times but it looks like a pinstripe kinda. His P5 is before the 2002.5 and its silver. I have a blue one and I really like the look of the shaved moldings but I don't want pinstripes going across my car. Did anyone with a midnight blue P5 before the 2002.5 changes shave their sidemoldings? If so, how did it turn out?

Take it to the dealer if it is still under warranty
The color should not fade that fast. Needless to say I would complain till they either repainted or paid for new moldings or materials to reattach them.

Sorry I think I explained something wrong about my situation. The paint didnt fade under the sidemolding. When he took off that section, it was a completly different color which gave it that pinstripe look. Maybe mazda used 2 different colors when painting they painted over the car with the sidemolding on? I dunno but sorry for the misunderstanding

What color is it, then? Not a different shade of silver?

If it really is a completely different color (like red or something), then that car was re-painted, and he's got a HUGE lawsuit on his hands if he was not informed of this when he purchased his NEW car - this should NOT be the case! Not ever!

~HH

Oh no I didnt mean different shade like that. He has a silver car and its a different shade of silver.

Then the car has faded, and the portion under the moulding has not.

Common - in fact, this is just the way automotive paint is. One reason some people hate bras - the paint underneath doesn't weather like the rest of the car.

Things might get better if he just leaves the molding off for a few weeks. But for now, not much you can do.

~HH

Its not the car that is the lighter shade. The paint thats under the molding is lighter in color. I don't think the paint would fade under the molding and not all around the car.

Okay - this is getting really strange then.

I can think of only a few reasons why this would be:

1. Maybe no clearcoat under the moulding. Perhaps the clear coat is sprayed with the molding already on the car. Perhaps.

2. Maybe he got the "paint protection" package when the car was bought - again, this would not be applied under the moulding, but I'm not sure if that or the clearcoat would cause the paint to be darker than under the molding.

3. Maybe some other kind of finish product that was used on the car gave it a "darker" appearance.

4. Perhaps whatever solvent he used to remove the adhesive began eating the paint or clear a bit, or the rubbing caused a dulling of the paint (which would make it look lighter, I believe).

I would try a FULL detail of the exterior as a good first step. I mean, strip the old wax (you can use dish soap for this), wash real well, use a clay bar, wax, polish - the whole 9 yards. Then see if that made a difference.

Other than that, I'm a bit stumped. Maybe a call to a local body shop could shed some light on why this is the case.

~HH

alright thanks for all the suggestions! I was thinking about just taking off the small portion on my car and see if i'm in the same situation as him. If it looks like his, I could always put it back on with some double sided tape correct?
anyways thanks!

If you take a little bit of Dual action Meguiars and a power buffer and hit the spot and the rest of the panel you should be able to polish that bad boy up again, Hell try that color polish that there selling now it may work I thinks its from turtle wax.

As for any type of clear or sealer being on top of the moldings you would have noticed by the chipping of the stuff from the body panel and that of the molding peice.
If not maybe you could start a new trend of side stripes! lol

i dunno about removing the side moldings because they are there to do something.... poeple here in LA don't give a S*it about other peoples cars and I've seen this fat ass lady get out of her car and bang + scratch her door into my friend's new car, if there was a side molding there it would have protected it (dunno why none of the toyota cars have side moldings)..... anyways needless to say the lady got into lots of sh*t caused she happened to do that right in our face.... dumb f*ck

but side moldings do protect your door from dents and scratches and I've noticed that on my P5 there are places on the side molding where the paint has been scratched but the door didn't get any damage.