Captain_Slow

At some point the window seals were replaced. The installer doesn't appear to have used the dish-soap technique. It appears these were forced in with a struggle, and not much success.

Can I reuse these trims, or are the kinks likely permanent? I have a spare set of trims but they are glossy, the originals on the car are matte finish.

Jerry Feather

How long have the kinks been there? Doesn't that kind of answer your question? In other words, they are not likely to go away on their own, are they? I can't remember for sure, but I think some of those trims are made of plastic and some metal. Which is it for yours?

Kinks in plastic trim strips might be successfully worked out by machining some closely fitting tooling for the underside of the trim and then some careful application with a heat gun and perhaps a wood paddle to massage the kinks out. If it is metal trim (aluminum) I would also machine some tooling to match the underside of the trim and then carefully work the kinks out one at a time with a small hammer and then sand and finish the worked area. Then you are going to have to paint the trim.

So, the best solution is likely to just paint the glossy metal trim that you already have for replacement. There are some threads on here about painting this trim.

Captain_Slow

Hey Jerry,
I guess I didn't explain what I'm thinking very well. They sure won't get better in place. I will remove them and was wondering if applying heat, either by soaking in hot water or applying a heat gun will relax the kinks. Both the original ones and the second hand ones I picked up are plastic. I'm not even sure the originals are supposed to be matte finish - it could just be age and weathering. I'll remove the old and see what I can do to smooth them and then follow the dish soap method others have used with success.

I appreciate your input as you certainly have a LOT of experience working with plastics.

Jerry Feather

Jon, you might make the molds to match the under side of the trim with some hard wood and some high temp epoxy, rather than trying to machine something to match. The forms you make will do two things - - they will hold the plastic in the shape you want for the underside, which doesn't appear to be kinked, and they will protect that part of the molding from the heat you are going to apply to the kink. You ought to also protect the face of the trim away from the kink from the heat. Just heat the kink only, and carefully, then hold it into its desired position with something else the correct shape until cooled.

You also need to take these windows out of the car and then take the trim out of the rubber seals. When you get the trim straight, then put it back into the rubber seals before putting the windows back into the openings in the car. I'm not sure if soap will be needed if you do it this way. Be careful when taking the windows out of the car since the rubber seals are worth about twice what the glass is worth. Because of this, if it were to come down to destroying something to get the windows out, you should break the glass rather than cutting or tearing the rubber.