i have a 01 zx3 and was thinking of shaving the black door trim off, have many of you done this and did it come off easy with a blow dryer? did the paint look ok under it once it came off and there are no holes or anything under it? also i probably wont shave the trim on the back hatch but are there holes under there? i have already shaved the focus emblems off the back and they came off easy. thanks!

i thought there were holes were it mounted.
someone correct me though.

It's definitely do-able. I haven't done it, because unfortunately, I have to park next to other cars at school..... and I'm NOT risking flipping up my paint by taking them off......

but yea, Their just 3m'd on there, so you can probably just heat 'em up and pull 'em off. The paint will probably be fine just so long as the rest of the paint around the trim isn't faded.

And yes, there are holes under the rear hatch trim. There are 4 bolts that hold the trim on, and unless your good with a plasma cutter and a welder, I suggest you just match it to color and be done with it.

Oh yea, and WELCOME TO FOCUS FANATICS!!!!

yeah there are a few threads about this, some years have alignment holes underneath the moldings
*EDIT* dangit SPIman! Ya beat me to it

thanks, i may give it a try soon, and i thought there were probably bolt holes on the rear hatch trim. and oh what do you guys usually use to get the majority of the glue off?, i used brake cleaner on the rear emblem glue and it didnt seem to hurt anything before i waxed it .

I use 3M general purpose adhesive remover for stuff like that.
You can pull your interior door panel off and look inside the door to see if you have the holes, that way you won't get them off only to find out you have the holes

do you guys know of anyone on here that has done it? im kinda cautious now if there are holes under it and dont really want to take door panels off. thanks for the tip on the 3M adhesive remover , ill try it next time. thanks!

I have a 2002 ZX3 and it does have the holes under the side moldings so you might want to be careful about wanting to remove them. If you do have holes under them and you want that smooth look to it you are going to have to either have the holes welded shut or bondo the hell out of them.

on the 01's there are holes. I had taken mine off with the idea to fill the holes and have smooth doors. It is to much work for the DIYer. This is a professional body shop job. Those that know my car know I even done body work and wont attemp this job.

Let me also warn you if you do take them off it is a ton of work to get them back on.

A few pics for reffance. BTW mine were black and I painted them. That is the better option.

With Out:
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn242/chrispaints/Carpics002.jpg

With:
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn242/chrispaints/MessingAround005.jpg

thanks for the info ! glad i didnt go ahead and do it before asking! that does suck that they put holes under there though, i might look into painting them to match, thanks again!

You're welcome. I just wasn't sure of what years had the holes under them and I know for a fact that mine did so I had figured that any years older than mine would have the holes in them as well. Better to know ahead of time so that way you don't say "Oh shit what did I get myself into this time?"

what do you think was the reason for ford putting holes under there? most cars just use glue to put them on . still kinda bummed about not being able to shave those lol

3m general purpose Adhesive remover (about $14 a quart) puts goo-gone and the others to shame!

had another ? about this, for you guys that have painted the side trim body color, did you also paint the black trim on the back hatch? wasnt sure which way would look better, to leave the hatch trim black or body color.

what do you think was the reason for ford putting holes under there? most cars just use glue to put them on . still kinda bummed about not being able to shave those lol

They did it to help align the moldings when installing them. There are little tabs that poke through the holes

had another ? about this, for you guys that have painted the side trim body color, did you also paint the black trim on the back hatch? wasnt sure which way would look better, to leave the hatch trim black or body color.

I did both the side moldings and the rear hatch strip, it looked weird with just the side moldings done.