Plastic Cladding Removal

[Caretaker]

My wife's 03 Vibe looks like crap. The paint job was the worst in automotive history (white). I was thinking of permanently removing the upper cladding sections on the doors and having the car repainted. Has anyone ever removed the cladding? I'm assuming there are anchor clips to keep the cladding on the door. If so, I'm also assuming the clips are anchored to the sheet metal. If I remove the clips, I'm then assuming I would simply need to putty up a small hole before the car is repainted. Oh, and why remove the cladding? It looks like crap too, and is faling off anyway. Thoughts? Issues?

[keithvibe]

yea they are clipped in. You would have hole left behind that would need filling would be interesting to see a vibe with out all the plastic crap on it

[RIT]

The fenders are not complete without the cladding. There may be pictures on the NUMMI site that will illustrate. Don't even think about having a complete car without the cladding. It will look horrible.

[breezd]

Quote, originally posted by RIT »The fenders are not complete without the cladding. There may be pictures on the NUMMI site that will illustrate. Don't even think about having a complete car without the cladding. It will look horrible.There are no pictures on the NUMMI site that show a vibe without the cladding...I agree that it would look horrible and incomplete without the cladding.If you dislike the cladding so much, go monotone and get the cladding painted to match the body. And if the cladding is falling off, then get the replacement clips so it doesn't fall off!

[ColonelPanic]

If you think you can fill in these gaps, then by all means. That's gonna take a truckload of bondo to smooth out. Best to get whatever is wrong with your cladding fixed.

[RIT]

Thanks - that's how i remember the fenders from the factory tour. Can't imagine why they built the car like that, but they obviously wanted the cladding to be permanent.

[altimar]

Quote, originally posted by Caretaker »I was thinking of permanently removing the upper cladding sections on the doors and having the car repainted.Guys, I think he means just the protective strips in the middle of the doors. If so, there was another thread where somebody said he took them off and the rear ones were simply adhered on, but the fronts also had two or three holes for the clips.

[Caretaker]

no, I meant the door panels below, certainly not the parts leading to the bumpers. Nevertheless, I can see from your great picture that there are too many undulations to consider what I wanted to do. Thanks for posting it. I'll just drive the car over a cliff instead

[ColonelPanic]

Quote, originally posted by Caretaker » Thanks for posting it. I'll just drive the car over a cliff instead Now, no Vibes deserve that except for the one I had!