Im so happy that I just found out that there is no holes on the back side of the side moldings........so I took mine off and looks great.....has anyone else done this?????And dont take the ones off the back of the trunk because all of them have holes....I found that one out the hard way

 

no....hadn't done this.....how are they held on? sticky tape?

 

I did that mod on my 00 ES about ohhhhh 8 months ago...looks much much better i have to agree. Much cleaner look. BTW you can ask the dealer to take them off before you buy the car if anyone is about to buy a protege.

 

yeah yeah, how are they held on, im greatly intrigued

 

Check my sig.

And I also discovered the alignment holes behind the rear emblems. But I took care of them.

 

so wat, pop them off and clean up thetape?

 

okay.....I looked at your sig.....it says they are SHAVED.....to me that doesn't tell me anything other than you removed them.....not how they are held on....and what you did to clean up any adhesive....it that is in fact how they are on there. would either of you mind being a little more specific on how you went about removing them and what you used for the clean up?

 

WD-40 will remove the sticky tape. I used a heat gun to heat up the tape and remove it.

 

They are only stuck on with adhesive. We just peeled them off with some line and then cleaned up the remaining adhesive.

 

thank you VERY much

 

All that is on the back side is sticky tape.....when I pulled mine off all the sticky tape came off with the molding because my car is so new....also be very careful not to scratch your paint.....

 

And make sure you have plenty of time to do it. It takes a while, and it isn't that easy to get the adhesive off. Also, make sure you wash your car good when you are done doing it, because the adhesive removers might discolor the paint a little if you don't clean it.

 

Also if you use a heat gun or a hair dryer to heat the sticky tape it will peel right off the car with no damage. I took all the dealer badging off my car the first day it was home.

Hope this helps!!!

 

I've got a couple pics of my car with the moulding removed. I think it looks so much cleaner now. I just used a heat gun then peeled it off and the adhesive stayed with the moulding. Then all I had to do was polish it to remove the faint outline of the moulding... I sugest if you want to do this do it when your car is really new... mine was only 3 months old when I did it, and there was one heck of an outline where the moulding was.
Here are the pics. http://photos.yahoo.com/ricewagon25

Mark

 

Just did mine today. A heat gun is definitely the best way to go about this. Trying to clean off the adhesive is a pain in the ***, even with bug and tar remover. A hair dryer helps, but it doesn't get all of the adhesive off.