03 Vibe - exterior door panel reinstall?

[eideteker]

Yes, I'm a noob...yes, I searched. Now that we've gotten that out of the way - the plastic molding at the bottom of the driver's door came loose and I removed it completely to try to reposition and reinstall it. I take it all the way off and find that half of the little square holes (for lack of a better term?) go one way and half go the other way. Is there a secret yogi trick to getting this thing on easily?

[BlueCrush]

Quote, originally posted by eideteker »Yes, I'm a noob...yes, I searched. Now that we've gotten that out of the way - the plastic molding at the bottom of the driver's door came loose and I removed it completely to try to reposition and reinstall it. I take it all the way off and find that half of the little square holes (for lack of a better term?) go one way and half go the other way. Is there a secret yogi trick to getting this thing on easily?You have to put an ad on Craigslist for a Ninja. Cause, only Ninja's can do this.You're welcome.

[eideteker]

I was afraid of this...the Vibe sits in the garage with a panel missing and my wife is going to kill me! Can anyone lend me a ninja for a moment or two?

[eideteker]

I ordered the horribly overpriced fasteners from the local GM dealer...$4.80 apiece x 9

[star_deceiver]

Quote, originally posted by eideteker »...$4.80 apiece x 9 OUCH!!!

[eideteker]

Yep...might as well do it right though.

[09vGT]

Duct tape! It fixes everything!

[Empire1300]

I am having a similar issue with door panel molding. Passenger front side door was open curb side when everyone got in. The extra weight caused the door to push down onto the curb. The door molding got caught and tore away from the sheet metal part of the door when it was closed. I've had this happen in many other cars, but there was just sheet metal piece of the door which was much more sturdy than this plastic strip with little one-way push in retainers.... (designfail?)Anyways, this can be fixed if none of your clips are broken. If the heads of the clips came off the molding but are still stuck in the door, you can extract them with a little delicate work. Or if you are like me you can break all of them and track down new ones. To extract you can take two flat head precision (jeweler) screwdrivers and squeeze underneath the plastic washer. There are two little tabs that you can compress and that will release the barbs on the inside of the door holding the clip on. Be careful not to tear your little latex-like gasket that gives you a waterproof seal. From what I can tell Au-Ve-Co part 15695 is the nylon clips should you buy them. A box of 25 sells for $14 or so plus shipping.... I am probably going to improvise some kind of double sided tape on the top edge of the molding to seal it to the door. The clips come from Au-Ve-Co with a sealing gasket/washer piece on them. I will confirm that they work when I get mine in the mail and install them. I will try and post a pic too.

[eideteker]

Where were you a month ago? Those clips look like they're just the thing, and they are a lot cheaper. Here's to future forum searchers finding this thread.