OK, Screw it. After two recent dings in the driver side door of my 6 months old Roadster, I finally gave up and ordered some custom side molding. I've tried all the tricks of parking far away in parking lots and finding end spots so they can't hit both doors, but still I got nailed twice with a small ding and a paint chip on the driver side door. The car just seems to be a magnet for idiots.

So I called Custom Auto Trim in San Diego, and said what have you got? He took about a half hour to install this 5/16" molding. Turned out better than I thought, and at least now I have a fighting chance against the "Dingalings".

The molding and install cost $95. I also had Dent Time come out and take out one of the bigger dings. $75 and it came out perfect. The molding went right over the small paint chip, so I didn't even bother with fixing that.

Pretty easy to do on a black car, I'm sure other colors would be hard to match.

(Jeez, when I resized these pics to 640, they came out like crap. Oh well, you get the idea)

 

Another pic:

 

Right side:

 

That's sad that you had to resort to that, but it actually doesn't look quite half bad...

Hope it'll really help.

 

not bad; Id consider it but of all the scratches and dings on my car; none are in that general area. most are a good bit lower(I know thats wierd since the cars so low already)

 

yeah, I broke down and dropped 300 to have my Pass. door fixed after it got dent's number 3 and 4 "

I'm still not ready to get moldings, but I understand. Kinda like
what Chris Rock says about OJ, "I wouldn't of killed her, but I understand"

 

I don't think the mouldings detract from the beauty of your car.

 

Yeah those aren't bad at all...I'm just glad you didn't get chrome moldings

 

Your car still looks good.

 

ShaftEd,

It must have been a difficult choice to make. However, the thin black molding that you had installed does not really detract from the gorgeous lines of your black Z. Hopefully, this will offer some protection against the inconsiderate imbeciles who typically cause these unnecessary problems.

 

Those moldings don't look bad at all........especially when you consider the alternative........MORE DINGS!

 

The door of the opposing car would have to be pretty "flat" for those moldings to be effective. Also, the Z is lower than most cars.

 

$300???? don't most guys do it for 75-$100 per panel (meaning multiple dings can be fixed at no charge if on same panel?)

 

I had the molding installed at the top seam where the door comes out the farthest. On the driver side the molding was installed right over a small paint chip and a small ding right exactly at the door seam. That makes 2 door hits I have had and the molding would have stopped both of them if it had been on at the time.

Obviously this molding wont stop all hits and dings, but should help quite a bit.

 

That's true, I paid $75 to have the door ding removed. However, I also had a paint chip and a paint shop wanted to charge me $400 to repaint the entire door. That's when I said the hell with it, and had the Trim guy put the molding right over the paint chip.

I'm gettin used to the new moldings. They really seam almost OEM and I don't even notice them anymore.

Thanks for all your comments guys.

 

No, I tried dent wizard, but the couldn't do it. In fact, they destroyed my tint trying to fix it.

So I took it to the dealer and they wanted 500 to fix it and I walked out.

The place I took it to is like a 3rd generation family owned shop in an upscale neighborhood with Picky customers, so they do really good work. The 300 was for repairing 4 dents, repainting the entire door and sand/buffing the rt side to match it properly.

And they did a great job, It looks like new to me. PLUS they washed and detailed my car, cleaned the interior and gave me a bottle of touch-up paint!