Peeling roof trim

[Bykfixer]

Alright, so some of the Lexi' have a problem with the vinyl coating coming off of the trim along the roof and along the windows on each side of the car. Some call it the roof drain. Toyota calls them "moulding, roof drip side finish center" "RH or LH" and they run $300+ each side. If you must have new they can be found at Lexus Parts Now in the body/side moulding section way way down the page. 

The coating is much like a color matching electrical tape stuck over the brushed alluminum alloy pieces. They are held in by a clip that fits in the gutter and the trim piece snaps onto the clips. Depending on your model the number of clips may vary. End treatment may vary as well. On my 2g GS 300 the trim runs from the bottom of the rear window to the bottom of the front window. 

To remove you start at the front using a door panel popper tool. A plastic one is less likely to scratch your paint. I used a metal tool with a credit card between the tool and the car to get one started. You just pry up at each clip.  Now not having any replacement clips in case one (or more) breaks I chose not to pull off the pieces yet 'cause those suckers are $40 each! Ouch. 

Instead I elected to use an inspection sticker remover scraper tool to peel mine off. At first I peeled it off like electrical tape using my finger nails and tugging the vinyl but it kept breaking every few millimeters at times. With the razor blade scraper tool it left little to no sticky as well. Just carefully scrape with the razer and in about an hour you'll have a nice brushed alluminum trim piece along the sides of the roof and windows. 

To remove the sticky you can use a charcoal lighter fluid, WD40, goof off or finger nail polish remover soaked paper towel. I used a product called Citresol. Acetone probably works best but since I smoke cigarettes while I work I prefer not to use highly flamable acetone very often. You might want to use latex gloves while removing the sticky too. I really didn't see a need for safety glasses. When done just use a spray bottle loaded with water to wash away any remaining remover product. 

It took about two hours and I kept a recepticle nearby to place the strings of vinyl and used paper towel. Using the razer tool along edges ends up creating a bunch of strings of vinyl. A few hundred little pieces of vinyl strings needed to be brushed off the car too. 

Now if you want the color match back Dupli-Color makes a good product that'll get you a pretty close match. I'm going to brush rustoleum oil based flat black on a pair whenever I find some at my local junkyard. Sun bake the coating and the brush strokes melt away. One could also use plasti-dip spray paint if there's a color they have one likes.

It's a simple process of lightly sanding the trim with a 220 grit paper and wash the metal after. If you want to spray the trim while still on the car just use painters tape and newspaper to mask things off. But it should be done under a roof,carport or some kind of cover to lessen the liklihood of dust or bugs getting on the fresh paint. 

I used a 00 steel wool on mine to get the brushed alluminum to look like stainless steel. A bit more time spent may have actually raised some shine like chrome but I stopped after scraping it longitudal from end to end a few strokes to remove some weathering in places the vinyl had flaked off. 

The brushed alluminum look

Not too shabby

This will do nicely for now. 

[Steve]

Looking good Mike!!

[gentrion]

Great work.