Refitting side strips (stuck on type) and badges.

[alan s]

Ever had the problem of "droopy" loose or falling off strips on the doors? Not used much these days, but as is the way in the car industry, what goes around comes around, so no doubt even new car drivers may one day have to face this problem.
Common causes of failure seems to be moisture, extended exposure to weather both hot and wet, accidental damge as well as vandals, incorrect procedures used in refitting after body repairs and "close calls" when parking.
To correct the problem is simple if you follow these guidelines.


Preparation: Totally remove the strip from the car being careful not to take the paint with it in the process. If necessary use Mineral Turps to soften the glue/double sided tape and a piece of nylon fishing line to slip behind and using a sawing action gently remove the strip or badge.
Wash the mating surfaces with a 'Citrus' type cleaner to remove all traces of glue. Using this, it will roll into soft balls an will wipe off. Wipe over both surfaces with wax and grease remover or 'Prepsol" as used by spray painters.

Refitting: To be certain it's straight, run a chalked stringline along where you want the top of the strip to go (or about 5mm above the desired line) and mark by using a coloured chalk on the stringline. Use a lead pencil over it to make it easier to see.
Warm the mating surfaces by either leaving both facing the sun or using a hair dryer or a heat gun (cautiously).
Run a bead of "Sikaflex 227" just inside the outer edges of the strip or centre of the badge and leave in a dry clean safe place (not where someone will walk on it) glue facing upwards, and then (with the strip) run a bead along where the centre of the strip would sit on the car. In the case of a badge, a few small blobs radomly over the area it sits on will do.
Carefully run the strip along using the guide lines to ensure it's straight and press hard into position when you're certain it is.
Again using the hair dryer, run it over the entire strip pressing any suspected air bubbles out with your hand as you go.
Using a small plastic or rubber mallet, gently tap over the entire strip and I do mean ENTIRE; every square millimetre, just tap, tap, tap all along. If there's any air pockets, they will sound hollow and in these cases, it's a case of tapping all around them and across the hollow sounding area whilst still applying the heat until the hollow sound disappears. You may even have to get to the end and then go back to the beginning and if looked at closely, you'll see small areas standing a little higher than the rest, in those cases, apply heat and again, tap with the mallet until solid.

At the end, you have a professional looking job that I can guarantee will never come off again.
Any smudges or spots of Sikaflex usually come off using petrol or Turps, followed by a quick polish of the area that had to be washed.


Alan S