Door Edge Guards Installed By Dealer?

[cduluk]

Hey guys,

I spent a little time in my Lexus dealer today while they were failing a repair on my Rx400h, and spent some time in the showroom. They had two '12 RX350's however on one of them, it had some sort of "door edge guards" which caught my eye... just take a look (they're hard to see in the last pic).

Upon closer inspection, i realized these weren't "rubbery" like one would expect, but absolutely rock hard, painted metal. I opened the doors, tried to see if the strips had any "give" to them, but they seemed to have been welded/epoxied on tight. I asked a salesman what they were, and he said they were dealer installed. They also installed painted "mouldings" that stretch across, half-way down on each door (which IMO is a must as without them the doors look naked).

What i don't get though is what these "door edge guards" are supposed to do? I understand they're "supposed" to protect neighboring vehicles if the door is swung open, as well as to protect the edge of its own door if it's opened onto another car... But the ones on this RX weren't soft (AT ALL), and the one on the front door wouldn't even make contact on a neighboring parked door as the "moulding" would be first to hit. The only thing i could think of, is if someone opened the door onto another car, it would scuff only this thin strip rather than the edge of the door... but seriously how much damage could be done to the edge that touch-up couldn't fix? Most of the damage done when swinging door A into neighboring car B occurs to car B in the form of a door-ding! That's why these strips are supposed to be soft rubber, right?

Not only would these strips be ineffective on the front because of the moulding sticking out, but the strip doesn't go down enough on the rear doors; the bottom "edge" of the rear door would be contacting a neighboring car, not the strip. And the ones on this RX were painted METAL (not rubber) so they'd sustain just as much damage that the door's edge would... And i can't imagine a body shop masking and bagging an entire car just to re-paint this 1cm strip... and getting it to match?

Has anyone seen these installed on a Lexus before?

[1990LS400]

The door edge guards are an inexpensive $115 official Lexus option - not just an aftermarket dealer add. I doubt if they are to protect a neighboring vehicle - more likely to prevent damage to your own vehicle while trashing the one next to you. If one door edge guard gets damaged, pop it off and put on a new one.

[cduluk]

$115?? That seems VERY steep, no?

I wonder how they're attached to the door, too. I tried to "pry" it a little, but it didn't budge at all. No signs of glue either. I can't imagine how they'd ever be removed if they got damaged, without removing the factory door paint (we all know how soft the new Lexus paint).

[1990LS400]

$115?? That seems VERY steep, no?

I wonder how they're attached to the door, too. I tried to "pry" it a little, but it didn't budge at all. No signs of glue either. I can't imagine how they'd ever be removed if they got damaged, without removing the factory door paint (we all know how soft the new Lexus paint).

Any option for a Lexus that costs only $115 seems dirt cheap to me. Pry harder or ask the dealer. The trim of this type I've seen is installed by forcefully pushing it into place including tapping it into place with a rubber mallet.

[cduluk]

$115?? That seems VERY steep, no?

I wonder how they're attached to the door, too. I tried to "pry" it a little, but it didn't budge at all. No signs of glue either. I can't imagine how they'd ever be removed if they got damaged, without removing the factory door paint (we all know how soft the new Lexus paint).

Any option for a Lexus that costs only $115 seems dirt cheap to me. Pry harder or ask the dealer. The trim of this type I've seen is installed by forcefully pushing it into place including tapping it into place with a rubber mallet.

That doesn't mar the paint beneath? This stuff didn't look like it's held on by friction, as the lip "inside" the door is just as slim (how much it curves around the edge) as it is on the outside.

[LEX-SV]

Steer clear of that revenue and profit enhancing dealer add-on.

You can similar plastic (rubbery/pliable) stick-on edge guards at PepBoys auto stores for a lot cheaper and without damaging paint. I actually used 2 on my last Porsche Boxster.

[teamsc10190]

Hey guys,

I spent a little time in my Lexus dealer today while they were failing a repair on my Rx400h, and spent some time in the showroom. They had two '12 RX350's however on one of them, it had some sort of "door edge guards" which caught my eye... just take a look (they're hard to see in the last pic).

Upon closer inspection, i realized these weren't "rubbery" like one would expect, but absolutely rock hard, painted metal. I opened the doors, tried to see if the strips had any "give" to them, but they seemed to have been welded/epoxied on tight. I asked a salesman what they were, and he said they were dealer installed. They also installed painted "mouldings" that stretch across, half-way down on each door (which IMO is a must as without them the doors look naked).

What i don't get though is what these "door edge guards" are supposed to do? I understand they're "supposed" to protect neighboring vehicles if the door is swung open, as well as to protect the edge of its own door if it's opened onto another car... But the ones on this RX weren't soft (AT ALL), and the one on the front door wouldn't even make contact on a neighboring parked door as the "moulding" would be first to hit. The only thing i could think of, is if someone opened the door onto another car, it would scuff only this thin strip rather than the edge of the door... but seriously how much damage could be done to the edge that touch-up couldn't fix? Most of the damage done when swinging door A into neighboring car B occurs to car B in the form of a door-ding! That's why these strips are supposed to be soft rubber, right?

Not only would these strips be ineffective on the front because of the moulding sticking out, but the strip doesn't go down enough on the rear doors; the bottom "edge" of the rear door would be contacting a neighboring car, not the strip. And the ones on this RX were painted METAL (not rubber) so they'd sustain just as much damage that the door's edge would... And i can't imagine a body shop masking and bagging an entire car just to re-paint this 1cm strip... and getting it to match?

I'm very familiar with this product, (I installed them on my Prius). (The Toyota DEG kit is $6 cheaper.) It's made of stainless steel that is encapsulated in plastic (inside and out) and custom tooled to each door's contours. In a set of four, no two are the same contours because left and right side doors are mirror-image. The door edge guard is painted body color using Lexus paint pigments. There is no metal to metal contact so they don't scratch your paint.

The door edge guard clamps onto the door edge with compression fit. They install with a rubber mallet where you're actually spreading the channel and the metal spring back permits the DEG to clamp and retain onto the door edge. You can easily remove it by tapping using a nylon removal tool (they show you how in the installation instructions). You wouldn't ever have a body shop refinishing the DEGs as you propose: you'd just replace them.

As you note, they are so small and being body color are almost invisible on the door, (this is the only reason I put them on my car). As alternative; you can buy rolls of extruded plastic door edge guard at PepBoys that stick on with adhesive and look like black rubber galoshes until you go through a summer and the adhesive flows all over your hands your clothes and your paint, (no thanks).

Here's why I bought these parts: I took my boss and coworkers to lunch and parked in an underground garage next to a concrete wall. My boss opens my door quickly into the concrete wall and buggered up about seven running inches of my door edge with sparks flying. He looks at the damaged door and immediately proclaims, "You should have had door edge guards". (You really can't make this stuff up) I obviously said nothing other than harboring a strong desire to run over the hood of his car with a can opener.

The body shop wanted $600 to refinish the door, and the DEGs cost me $76 (on-line), and covered up the damaged door edge completely. If I had the DEGs from the beginning, I could have just replaced the one part and still had a pristine door.

In terms of what they do: they help protect YOUR door edges from chipping damage; not neighboring vehicles. If you look closely at the DEG part, the outside edge of the part is hemmed over and there is actually an air-gap at the spine of the door edge. This works like a small crumple zone as the part is designed to save your door from damage like my parking garage encounter. If you get small paint damage on the DEG, you can touch it up. If you get big damage you just replace it.

Expensive? In my case they saved me $524 not having to have my door refinished, and I don't have black rubber galoshes on my doors. Quite honestly; what CAN you buy at a Toyota/Lexus dealership for $115? My dealer wants $160 to change the oil.

[LEX-SV]

Pep Boys in northern California sells a product that looks exactly like those in 2 pictures above. No golashes-look, no goop dripping in summer, no adhesive on hands, no muss, no fuss, about $10 for 2. I had them on my Porsche Boxster S for 5 years, no problems, barely visible. I'll see if I can retrieve pictures.

[teamsc10190]

Pep Boys in northern California sells a product that looks exactly like those in 2 pictures above. No golashes-look, no goop dripping in summer, no adhesive on hands, no muss, no fuss, about $10 for 2. I had them on my Porsche Boxster S for 5 years, no problems, barely visible. I'll see if I can retrieve pictures.

You're contending that the Pep Boys product looks identical to a Lexus DEG that is 4mm's wide, custom tooled to the door contours and exact paint color-matched, and it clamps around the backside edge of the door onto the 2.5mm quiet space (before the door sealant ridge)?? Really??? And it retains on the door without glue for five years?? Wow; sounds like Pep Boys has advanced the art of plastic extrusion molding technology to an unprecedented level.

Apparently the folks at Pep Boys have back-slid in the intervening years because the store I frequent in Southern California doesn't stock any exact body color matched plastic door edge channel extrusions. In fact they only have black, white, clear, or mirror-silver extruded plastic with adhesive in the channel, and they also don't carry a slim channel that looks exactly like the Lexus product. The Pep Boys channel is 12mm's wide compared with 4mm's for the Lexus. The Lexus stainless steel DEG has a wall thickness of .05mm's versus 3.5mm's for the Pep Boys plastic extrusion. Sorry to say, but Pep Boys sell rubber galoshes for your doors.

Fact of the matter is that the Pep Boys plastic extrusion channels are physically too large to fit door gaps on four door Lexus cars. Measure the quiet space gap from the rear end of the front door body side molding to the edge of the door. It's less than 5mm's of clearance space that the 12mm wide plastic extrusion channel can't fit into. That's a problem.

Second problem is that you can't open the rear door without the body side molding impinging on the chubby Pep Boys plastic extrusion channel on the front door. How did I figure this out you might ask? As I began my journey to fix the buggered up edge my boss was so kind to install on my front door, I started at Pep Boys and bought the plastic extrusion channel you refer to (it was $16 by the way).

First problem I encountered was interference with the body side molding. I took my Exacto knife and carefully whittled back the width of the plastic channel to fit the 5mm available quiet space around the body side molding. I got it to fit and was very pleased with my handiwork until my friend tried to open the back door and the edge of the body side molding on the back door got hung up on the front door extrusion channel.

It took me a while to understand that the doors open in an arc as the door swings because the hinge point sits a couple of inches in from the plane of the door skin. Due to the door swing geometry, the gap between front and rear doors doesn't remain consistent. The gap narrows as the rear door swings, (hence the cause for the interference issue with the body side molding). This wouldn't be a problem on your two door Boxster, but it is an issue for a four door car.

When I figured this out, I understood why the Lexus Door Edge Guard was made of stainless steel 4mm's wide with a wall thickness of 0.5mm's. I bought the OE parts and they fit perfectly, don't interfere with the body side moldings and you can barely see them on the doors because they are an exact paint match. You simply can't buy a comparable aftermarket part that looks and fits like the OE Toyota/Lexus solution. I wasted a lot of time !Removed! around with the Pep Boys stuff that wound up in a dumpster.

[LEX-SV]

No such problems with Pep Boys 4mm product on my 2004 Porsche Boxster S, only the exact color matching was not available. You are incorrect, I'm not referring to the same crap product you are going and on and on and on and on about...

Wow, given the problems you encountered with the junky 12mm golashes product available at Pep Boys in southern California, I can see why you would avoid that at all cost!

[LEX-SV]

Note: I have no guards on the 2007 IS350 ( a compact sport sedan with 4 much shorter doors than the a typical 2 door coupe/roadster), no problems, don't miss them.

[teamsc10190]

No such problems with Pep Boys 4mm product on my 2004 Porsche Boxster S, only the exact color matching was not available. You are incorrect, I'm not referring to the same crap product you are going and on and on and on and on about...

Memories can be deceptive. Assuming a 4mm's wide plastic extrusion molding with wall thickness of 0.5mm's existed; it would provide the mechanical properties of a piece of spaghetti.

The products each of us are describing are not comparable. By the same measure a Yugo and a Lexus are identical.

[LEX-SV]

My memory is fine, Looks like nobody cares, lol.

[LEX-SV]

My memory is fine, Looks like nobody cares, lol. Different product, worked great for 5 years on Porsche.