Plastic Trim

[StrmsekS3]

Alrite lads, seeking some advice here

My plastic door trim and also the rear/front bumper trim is looking awful its a light great colour as in its faded ive tried back to black etc thats no use so basically im wondering what some of you have done to keep yours nice??
paint it? matt black?
or replace for new? any idea how much they are and how the hell do they come off?

gonna get a lcr splitter and get that on as that will improve look a bit.

all help much appricated - this is a forum to be proud of

 

[tompearson]

If you are talking about the plastic strip on the bottom of the door then I have just asked Audi about these as mine is falling off (although still looks pretty good otherwise). They want a massive £130 a pop from the dealer I tried. Given all I need are the fixings (not included anyway) and the white strip the grey plastic clips on to, I have yet to take them up on this. [Should anyone have these parts available please PM me]. Tried a some local breakers and they thought that I should be able to get a whole door for less if I can find one.

To get them door trim off you need to take the door card out and unscrew the 7 or so screws that run along the bottom of the door (1 outside the card at each end, and the rest behind the door card)

Just to check though, you do know these parts aren't black to start with?

 

[lloydsta101]

I thought these were supposed to be Grey anyway? Don't think I've ever seen them in Black?

 

[TDIQ]

If you're on about the black trim on the outside of the car then I recall someone on a detailing forum using black shoe polish and apparently it worked.

I don't know if anyone else tried it, but it might be worth asking in the detailing forum for a product that could also work.

 

[Sean_S3]

Mine were looking tired so i had them painted black to match the car, looks really good. For the 4 door moldings and rear bumper centre sprayed it cost me £100.

 

[voorhees]

Alrite lads, seeking some advice here

My plastic door trim and also the rear/front bumper trim is looking awful its a light great colour as in its faded ive tried back to black etc

the grey bit in the centre ?

 

[StrmsekS3]

Yeah well i kinda thought they should be grey but i was trolling through the photos here of some superb looking cars and in the pics alot look much darker i.e black.

just wondered if ppl had been spraying them. i have a silver S3 so not sure if black will look ok any opinion?

tom i kinda thought the dealer would want crazy money so thats out!!

yeah voorhees your look pretty similar but the grey isnt uniform on mine im pretty sure it has faded

 

[voorhees]

yeah voorhees your look pretty similar but the grey isnt uniform on mine im pretty sure it has faded

depends if its been cleaned by someone with a brillo rather than a detailer

I think it gets painted grey iirc

 

[TDIQ]

Surely you could colour code it yourself so it'd be the same colour as your car? Guess all the spray paints and stuff would be about twenty quid or so though. Does anyone know if anyone's done this to the trim on the sides and front and rear of the car?

 

[voorhees]

Surely you could colour code it yourself so it'd be the same colour as your car? Guess all the spray paints and stuff would be about twenty quid or so though. Does anyone know if anyone's done this to the trim on the sides and front and rear of the car?

yes they have

 

[jimbobery]

I did mine, picked a grey I liked from the colour charts at my firends paintshop and they sprayed them and coated them in matt laquer so they didn't look painted. They are really easy to get off...
-Door trim: open the door and at the bottom there are some rubber grommits, pop them off and shine in a torch and you'll see one small screw per hole. Its really easy to loose these in the bottom of the door once undone so it requires some patience and a magnetic screw driver to get them back if you drop them. Once undone, slide the trim towards the rear of the car.
-Rear side trim: open the door, slide the trim towards the front of the car, no screws, just slide
Front and Rear bumper inserts: I had the bumpers of at the time (which also isn't difficult to do), but the inserts have no screws, just clips that slide into the bumper. Stick your head under the rear bumper and you'll see them. The rear one should be able to be removed by jacking up and without taking the bumper off, but the front needs to come off (there are other threads about detailing this).

I chose a slightly darker grey than the original colour and was very pleased with the matt laquer, if it was normal laquer I think it would've been obvious I'd had them painted: http://audi-sport.net/vb/showthread.php?t=74628

 

[1animal1]

yep they are painted grey from the factory..... you need to look after them like you do the bodywork.... detare, clay, prep layer, wax/acrylic sealant, unless someone has infact made a mess of them

 

[Ian W]

My rear bumper insert is a mess, tried a few things on it but nothing has worked yet. Might bring out the clay bar on it then.

 

[StrmsekS3]

Cheers for the advice guys gonna have a go with a clay bar and see what thats like didnt realise they were painted thought it was faded through sunlight!!! ill see where i get!

anyone know if alumimium mirrors on a silver car would be worth the trouble??