Driver's side door trim

[gba88]

I've been trying to straighten a piece of unpainted door trim from a 99 for about 2 days now with very limited success....well, say temporary success -the plastic's "memory" keeps returning the piece to the warped condition. The piece has a concave bend in it, so the 2 ends want to "peel up" when it's on the door.

I've tried hot water, a heat gun, manually bending it....it's just that during the cooling process it SLOWY goes back to it's warped shape. Before I went to bed last night I bent it literally in half about 30 times(about 3 times, 10 times each time) while it was cool. It has only *slightly* returned to the warped shape but I'm afraid once it's on the door and is exposed to higher temperatures again it will revert the whole way back.

I'm getting really disgusted with the whole thing because I spent about 2 hours removing the glue & tape from the door, and probably a few hours messing around with the trim! And this is ONLY DOOR TRIM!

Oh yeah, anyone have an idea of what this piece would be from a dealer assuming I can't repair it? (guessing at least $40). Thanks if anyone can help!

-paul

[Professor Bobo]

what molding is it? The black rubber with the red stripe? If so I have have a set, but missing the passenger/front one. Let me know if you're interested... you can have it.

[gba88]

Thanks for the offer, but this is the later type that doesn't have the stripe :( but yeah, it's the black rubbery type that is not painted. I called a dealer yesterday and they said that the single piece would be $30........I was actually a little shocked (I thought it would be at least $45 or so).

Anyway, I told the guy I had one I was just going to try to straighten out(after waiting 17 minutes for them to look it up!). I *think* I have mine to a usable state now. I found that by bending it when it was _cold_ that it affected the plastic's memory better. So right now, when it heats up(left in the sun for a few hours) it bends the correct way, and the ends adhere to the door, and when it cools down the ends *slightly*(say 1/8th") bend outwards.

I think I'm just going to slap it on there today and see what happens. The 3M tape seems to be pretty strong so maybe I'll get lucky :) Thanks a LOT for the offer though!!

-paul

[RWB214]

Theres an article about this in the october issue of family handyman magazine if you can get a hold of one.