Finally installed the side molding on my silver MO SE yesterday. It took nearly 40 minutes. The actual time that it took to adhere the moldings onto the car was probably less than 15, but I kept second guessing myself on the measurements and whether or not the "guide taping" was straight. I probably performed the measurements (7.5") and readusted the "straightness" of the guide tape about 4 times on each side, LOL!!!! a few items to share:
Use "painter's tape" instead of masking tape. A small roll is only a couple of bucks; it doesn't have as much gummy adhesive and you can tear it very easily with your fingers. Overall, it's easier to work with, especially if you're doing the project yourself.
The little alcohol swabs that came with the moldings seem to work fine for cleaning. Yes, I washed the car first.
Be careful when installing the longer molding because it flexes slightly so if you're not careful you could end up with a very slight curve to what should be a straight line. It seems like it might be easier if you have second person helping you - they can hold up the far end of the uninstalled portion of the molding while you work with your to hands on adhering the opposite end. or you could tape that other end up against the MO.
Once installed, I noticed that there is a tiny bit of clearance/spacing between the molding and the MO's body, when viewed from a standing position and looking down at the molding. This is due to the layer of adhesive between the molding and the MO. I didn't expect this, but it's not that big of a deal. I tried pressing on it, but it did not seem to reduce the spacing.
I'm not crazy about it how it looks, but I feel it's a neccesity if you're going to be parking your MO in parking garages where you might get dinged. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't look bad. It looks pretty good, but a molding-less MO might be considered to be slighty more attractive in my eyes. The bottom line is that you have a trade-off between a MO with clean lines and runs the risk of getting dinged -vs- a MO with the lightly less attractive moldings which is somewhat better protected. IMHO, the lesser cost and headache of touching up the dings on the moldings (or replacing them) is preferable to the cost of having professional body work done for a bunch of body dings.
I'll post pics soon.
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