I've removed a few sets in the past and they've always turned into bananas. I've used the cheap red plastic trim removal tools that come in a set and always feels like I'm missing something or not going about it the right way. I'm wanting to remove a nice set from a donor car and use to sort out the failing ones on my current daily - will be the first time I try to refit and any tips would be welcome! See below for state of the current parts that need replacing Thanks
There is a useful YouTube video which we have used successfully in the past. It may be exactly what you are doing but it may help. I’ll see if I can find it. Couldn’t find it but essentially I have found that you have to get the rear most clip undone as carefully as you possibly can and the work along the top edge first, all the way along. Then do the lower edge, down and out. You are right they bend very easily, they would be so much better without the metal strip in them.
unhook the seal all the way along the car by carefully pulling it down then away. use something thin, plastic and slightly wedge shaped to lever the rearmost clip off the T shaped pin on the car then just gradually work your way forwards. go one clip at a time, only lever enough to release from the clip then move to the next. when refitting drop it in at the front and wiggle about till it lines up, paying attention to the felt bits around the doors. with the clips, a normal set of pliers can be used to remove from car without damage. clamp either end and gently squeeze, they squick out and lift off the pegs on the shell you can straighten the gutters out if they;ve gone slightly banana shaped, just go easy and bend over something with a generous curve ideally to avoid kinking the metal inside. as long as they're mostly flat-ish though and all your clips are good they'll go back on fine
Update on this - managed to get both sides off without too much banana action. Still not sure on the best technique but seems to get easier once you've popped the trim off a couple of the clips. I had another shell without gutters on for reference so I taped a bit of string to it and marked the location of each clip. I then used this as a guide to mark the clip locations before trying to remove the gutters. For reference (approx measurements): From the corner of scuttle to first clip: 55m gaps between each following clip: 180mm 180mm 180mm 220mm 300mm 300mm 320mm 290mm 190mm I marked the locations with a sharpie so I knew where to lever. Getting the rear part of the rubber off first really helped - there's a locating pin on the body that clips into a recess/groove on the rubber. You have to pull this away / outwards: I then tried a couple of different trim removal tools at the widest one seemed to work best - the smaller ones weren't really strong enough. There's a hidden lip of the top of the rubber that you need to be careful to avoid too. I used a bit of soapy water to help slide the tool along. Technique was levering the rubber outwards and kind of upwards until the trim noticeably popped off the clips, using wide tool from the top and various other tools to jiggle / help. After about 3 or 4 clips I started to pull the rubber down and away from the wavy lip. This made it a lot easier to do the clip popping further along the car. Not deadly straight but fairly happy with the result so far. Will update when I get around to fitting on the other car. Thanks for the tips and advice!
New clips on ebay with added cheapness! I got a full fresh set for under a fiver to put my mind at rest about breaking some.
Yes, new clips are widely available as much as some popular suppliers would like you not to think. Vehicleclips.co.uk are very good
How do the clips from various sellers compare with OEM (old or new)? Also any tips for fitting to the car? I'm expecting it to require a bit more finesse than 'the same steps as removal but in reverse'
