FTO AUSTRALIA

Ive got the extremely weird weather protector on my car, right above the window. And it's colour has faded to a dark grey. Now,i would have loved to take it off but when i pull it out, u can see glue residue underneath. What are my other options? Painting it? Help!

I have them on my car too ...

Mine are in good nick though ...

I also have the original trimming that goes on there when you take the strip off... That is what you need ... That goes back on, where the weather strip was... It hides all the glue and stuff...

hey man,
yeah i have the same thing on my car and i hate it so much but afraid to take it off. i heard you just say you buy a strip to go over the old one?

where would you be able to get that from or does anyone have any spare?

i would love to get rid of it.

hmm... if one of u guys do end up just taking it off, can i give u a couple of $$ for a set?

i have the opposite problem, my car used to have them, but by the looks of it it's been off for ages and the paint where the glue was once upon a time has faded.

so i want to put some back on to cover it up lol


as for taking them off, depending on what kind of glue it is, u can probably use a hair dryer to soften the glue up if it's the heat kind, or there's various solvents, or even just pulling it apart and cutting the glue with a thin blade. whatever u do/use make sure it's safe for the paint under and around it.

I want to take mine off but don't know how fix up what's underneath. I don't really like it.

I've seen a few without it and it looks quite nice.

Its an optional part - some FTO's have them and some dont. If you rip them off, it will leave glue on and stuffs the paint up underneath (which is probably discoloured anyway from the glue being there so long. Best bet if you dont want them is to remove the rubber, get rid of the glue (I think Eucalyptus did an OK job of that from memory - but slow), rub back the paint, prime and repaint them. Failing that, I may have one set on the shell I have that never had the rubber bits. I can check on the weekend if anyone is interested.

Is it possible to chrome dip the plastic bits under it?

I was thinking making the the black bits around the windows into shiny metalic (chrome)

You can chrome dip anything. I met a chrome plater that was a poof, reckoned he chrome plated a pillow case for his boyfriend.

if anybody dont want them....i will buy them off....been looking for a set since day one....

i will try spray paint it first.....

looks weird :S
to me it looks like they just pulled out the plastic and made it go over

Bennoz wrote:You can chrome dip anything. I met a chrome plater that was a poof, reckoned he chrome plated a pillow case for his boyfriend.

Blahahaha ... I thought you were going to say something different there ... lol

Mine got ripped off when my car was vandalised and after a bit of scrubbing all the glue came off and it looks better without them (in my opinion). Only problem is there is now a gap between the plastic strip and the roof. I'l try to get a pic up to explain. Maybe someone can help me with that. And yeh if it comes out good I've still got the rubber so I'l be happy to sell it.

Not sure how this pic will turn out cause I took it on my phone but yeh hopefully you can see a gap between the roof and the plastic strip. I guess theres some kind of brackets or something so does anyone kow if I can just bend them back. Or is there a risk I might break something.

about the rubber fading.... Armourall is good for that, makes the rubber / plastic go a few shades darker straight away

The strip under the rubber is actually metal, not plastic and it also provides the housing for the rubber lining that the door and window close on.

As to the gap, it is actually supposed to be there. It helps the water drain away properly. If you bend it closed, it will fill up with dust and leaf residue and will rust out your roof.

The pictures not very clear so not even sure if we're talking about the same area here. Anyway I think your right, it is metal but its covered in plastic. Also as for the gap maybe theres meant to be a small gap (maybe 1-2mm) but its definately not supposed to look like mine does. Its closed off most of the way around just small sections look like they've been pulled out.

AutoGlym have a really good product for rubber that will turn the weather strips back to black. Sort of like Armour All but heaps better.........

Had a bottle left over from when I used to use it on the front grill/bumper of my old RS2000 Escort and have been using it on the FTO for years.

Cheers

Chris

Breza wrote:AutoGlym have a really good product for rubber that will turn the weather strips back to black. Sort of like Armour All but heaps better.........

Had a bottle left over from when I used to use it on the front grill/bumper of my old RS2000 Escort and have been using it on the FTO for years.

Cheers

Chris

definately gonna go have a look at that!, if not then even i was thinking of getting the black borders around the windows dipped in chrome or convered with thin chrome moulding. Let's see how it goes!