Trim removal on 69 280SL

[travellerdogs]

I am trying to remove side trim on my lower doors and rear quarters. My car as gravel guard on the lower doors and front and rear lower panels. I am going to get it removed. Question. I am not sure how to get the trim off that has the rubber insert in it. I have the door panels off and there is small nuts on the inner door skin which looks like they are holding the trim on but the nuts are turning  the studs and they are not coming off. Do these side trim pieces just snap or are these bolted on. The aluminum trim pieces under them snaps off from the clips behind them. The short pieces on the lower front fenders have no way to get to the backside to undo the nuts if they are bolted on. I will try to attach a few photos.

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

Did you try our "Search" function ...

Read thru my search result here

----> http://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?action=search2

Enter ...  "How to remove side chrome trim" once the search link opens or

Some pointers here ----> http://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=409.msg1627#msg1627

Good Luck

Dieter

[114015]

Hello Traveller,

Question. I am not sure how to get the trim off that has the rubber insert in it.

You are on the correct track.
The lower trim is made of alumin(i)um and you can snap the strips off the white and blue clips as you already tried to. Use a flat wooden spatula or a metal one covered with some tape in order to protect the paint behind. Use the spatula from below and push it very gently between door or panel and then aluminum strip. They come easily off then.

The upper trim is made of solid brass and is chromed.
To remove them from the car you need first to pull out the rubber insert from the strips. Then you will see what the preowners did to attach the trim. From factory there were self-tapping screws/sheet metal screws. Iron screws in aluminum doors - not a good choice - a Galvanic cell. The aluminum will suffer first for sure.

In your case - as you described - other screws, most likely threaded countersunk screws (DIN 7987 or so), were used with nuts on the inside. With the rubber off you should be able to see what kind of screw they used. Or perhaps rivets...

For the short brass trim pieces on the rear fenders - if they are attached with bolts and nuts as your door trim seems to be  - you need to remove the Leater/MB-Tex covers behind the seats to get access to them.

For re-assembly I used plastic screws (nuts, bolts) in order to be safe against an Galvanic cells/ or rust and to be gentle to soft components like the aluminum doors.

Good luck,

Achim

[Jonny B]

Earlier this year, I had some paint work done on my 280 SL. The trim strip along the side of the body that has the rubber strip in it, presented them with a bit of fun. As Achim has typed, the screws were in very poor shape. The painters removed them by accessing the inside of the door (not sure what they did for the short piece between the door and the front lip of the rear tire opening). They unscrewed them from the inside. Then they replaced them with stainless steel screws.

My understanding is that it is possible to drill them out from the exterior of the car, but that is tough to do, and there is a good chance of enlarging the screw holes, and then needing slightly larger screws, and still ending up with the series of little bumps you can see when the rubber strip is put back in, and the screws slightly deform the rubber.

[travellerdogs]

I want to thank you Jonny and Achim for your replies. I had sort of hoped those chrome rubber strips would just be popped off but kinda figured there were bolts under the rubber. But wasn't sure about how to access them. I have learned to just back off and ask someone before screwing up a part. The picture was informative and I can clearly see the plastic screws. I think I will go to my specialty bolt and screw supplier and get stainless screws. I looked the situation over and can access the front fender pieces behind the kickboards in the front footwells. The rear pieces I realize I will have to remove the metal MB tex covered metal panels behind the seats. When I did the upholstery in the back I guess I never saw the nuts. My car was stripped of all upholstery when I bought it years ago and I did all new upholstery including covering those metal covers by the top seatbelt attachments. When I get the last door glass installed and adjusted I will remove the hardtop so I can take the chrome top covers off and remove the upholstered covers. Thanks again for the help. This site is a life saver and an invaluable source of everything Pagoda.