Body Trim Fitting, Blood Pressure Rising!

[Jean_quemener 0]

Last part of my car to finish of now and im having a little trouble, i just need to fit the rear arches and door pieces but am having a spot of trouble, i have all the clips ect which i bought as a kit from a pug dealer are the black clips that also hold on the trim inserts meant to be able to clip back on the pop rivets that are in the body work or best drilling them out to start again, they are relay tight to get onto the pop rivets when the plastic trim is on, are these black plastic clips ment to be helping to hold on the door and arches piece on or is it just the metal clips doing all the work, im sorry i dont have any pics to help explain my problem

thank jean

[toddydal 1]

the little black clips just slide onto the rivots and the red trim clips on the black clip

[Jean_quemener 0]

so the black clips are not meant to be holding the body trim on at all just the metal trim inserts and the metal wiggly clips hold on the body trim by them selfs?

[Paintguy 0]

I know exactly what you mean, and the clips can be rather hard to slide over the rivets, especially if the car's been resprayed and there's a build up of paint on them. They do indeed hold the trims in place, with the red inserts clipped onto them as mentioned above, so you really can't do without them unless you start to bodge things and stick / bond the plastic trims on instead.

 

Try cleaning the paint off the rivets, or warm the clips up a bit to soften them and they should go on a bit easier (pop them in some hot water for a bit).

[Jean_quemener 0]

yeah i have just had my car resprayed, i cleaned up the rivets and all i can get them on but they just come popping off, had a though and was just wondering if anyone used self tappers instead of the rivets or is this not a good idea?

[timmsy19 3]

you really do that use the rivits and black clips.

 

also on the same topic dont forget to put pu all the black clips on the right way round or the trim wont slide on. unless that was just me being a numpty when i did mine

 

tbh i left the metal clips off as the black ones seem to work just fine well have doen for the last 2 months

[Jean_quemener 0]

ok well i will try the warming the clips up see if that helps, i will let you all know how i get on next time its not bloody raining!

thanks for all your help

[jimistdt 1]

Jean, I dont mean to sound patronising, but you know the clips SLIDE onto the rivets poking through the holes, and it is important to make sure the black trim is evenly spaced from each end of the door.

 

Jimi

[toddydal 1]

yes slide them on,,,,,dont push them on,even with paint on they should still slide on easy,like said above make sure the holes on the plastic trim are in the center of the rivots,youve got the clips the right way round have you ?

[Jean_quemener 0]

thanks for all the help lads had a go today and the hot water trick worked a treat, but there is a new problem now the door pieces are not even straight they are bowed to f**k so they dont even fit flush with the door, any ideas guys im getting to the end of my wits with this car guys, a mate said maybe try to sort them out with a hair dryer ?

Edited August 12, 2008 by Jean_quemener

[Jean_quemener 0]

just had another idea do you think placing them in boiling hot water would return them in the rite shape, if they where even in the rite shape in the first place, only thing is i have had them sprayed the same colour as the car so would putting them in boiling water ruin the paint?

[toddydal 1]

how have the trims got distorted in the 1st place

[Jean_quemener 0]

well they have been sat in the back of the pug so maybe heat from the sun but im not sure kinda at a loss hear just dont want to hear the words, you need tog et new ones

[CaptainP 2]

On my old GTI the rivet heads had warn down to nothing on one side - I screwed self tapers in, red trim on - job was done. On the CTI when I put new trim on I had the problem where the black clips kept popping off. No matter what I tried on them they would hold for a bit then pop off. Not really wanting to do a quick bodge job with the self tapers on this one, I rummaged through my pots of "goodies" from various GTI's and managed to make a decent set - I can sympathise with you Jean, my gf heard me swearing at it from the kitchen

[Jean_quemener 0]

i suppose i just have to look at it one way at least im gonna be laughing about it once the cars done haha

Edited August 12, 2008 by Jean_quemener

[jimistdt 1]

I knew I should have taken pics when I did it, but I didnt. I'll do me best with words...

 

Right we'll start at the beginning, take everything off the door first then have a look at the door. The metal U-clip fix on the top row of rivets, slide them down onto the rivet with the straight edge against the car and the opening pointing upwards, do them all, I cant remember how many there is 3-4. then when you've done that you need the black plastic panel check you've got it the right way up by checking the panel behind the wheel. Slide the lips on the back of the thing down onto the clips, making sure its even spaced from each end. Then it should be reasonably straight and firmly fixed now, if its not you havent done it right.

 

Now the plastic fixers should slide onto the rivets through the holes without too much difficulty. Notice on the side profile of the clips are slightly different at the top and bottom, make sure they are the same all the way along. Once they're in, the insert should just clip onto the fixing and have a nice cup of tea.

 

Best of luck.

[Paintguy 0]

how have the trims got distorted in the 1st place

Baked too long / too hot at a guess.

 

Warming them up might help you to straighten them out, but as you suggest, you'll have to be careful as it will also soften the paint.

[Jean_quemener 0]

just though i would let you boys know every thing is back on track, used a heat gun and BOOM! back into shape, and now cracking on with the car all boby work should be done by tomorrow just leave the clutch and she on the road cant wait