Body Molding Delete?

[KnightsNick31]

I have a 2003 Linear and the body is in just awful shape. I figure now that I have a job and can afford to spend some money, I might as well do some body upgrades.

The paint on the car has been destroyed by Florida sun since the previous owner had never waxed it for the first 7 years of it's life, so i'm dealing with a lot of fading on the hood/ roof and chips in the clear coat everywhere.

So my Idea was to re-do all the body work and send it in to get paint all prepped and ready to go. I was wondering if anyone had ever done a body molding delete. Like take off the black UV destroyed trim and fill it in with bondo/ any-other-body-fill to give the car a real clean look. It would change the look of the car drastically so I was wondering what you guys thought.

Let me know what you think.

[Vector-SS]

I can't recall anyone completely deleting the body moldings and filling them with a bondo type filler. However, what some members are doing is painting them body colored and they look quite nice.

[KnightsNick31]

Good to know. I think I'm going to try the delete though. I would hate to ruin the resale value of my car though. (< insert sarcasm) I'll be sure to post pics as soon as I get started on the job though.

[stpoolshark]

I like the trim pieces because they break up the body a little bit, but I would be extremely curious to see what it looks like without them. I know guys with Mazdaspeed3's will take off the trim pieces and it looks alright. Definately keep up informed with plenty of pics. If it looks pretty good then I might make this a little project of mine too

-Sean

[Blkdout93]

Anyone have an idea of how much it should cost to get the moldings painted? I know it depends on the body shop etc. But I just want to get an idea of what people are paying. I would think a couple hundred bux tops....?

[stpoolshark]

^^Less than $50 if you do it yourself like most of us have. It's not worth taking it to a body shop because it's not that hard to do on your own.

[Blkdout93]

Where can I get the paint. Straight rattle can and clear coat?

[PaulOliver]

Local autofactors can get it in mixed if you cant find it off the shelf. Its really easy, look in the cheap mods and fixes sticky, i wrote how to do it