How To Remove Bump Strips

[Matt]

When I paint my spoiler, I'm also going to paint the bump strips on the Astra.

How do you remove these?

 

[vocky]

they are held on with double sided tape, they normally paint them on the car

 

[JohnnyN]

As Vocky said, double sided tape. If you can, it might be worth buying new and then painting them before refitting. I took Chris's off her Corsa once and they went all ripply because they had stretched. Ended up buying new.

:?

 

[TimSri]

What spoiler did you go for in the end Matt?

 

[JohnnyN]

Just had a look at some pics of your bump strips and your are more substantial than whats fitted to a Corsa. I reckon you'll be okay with your original ones.

 

[Matt]

What spoiler did you go for in the end Matt?

Well, after careful deliberation, I ended up getting........an XBOX 360 instead

 

[Andy16v]

nice ohyeah.gif

 

[Matt]

hmm, suprisingly, they are clipped into the body work with plastic plugs!

 

[Matt]

Ffoegs instructions from Astra Owners Club:

Front doors (all Mk4's)

1, Firstly open the door slightly, just on the latch will do fine.
2, Get a short piece of wood, (something like a 2x2) and place it on the vertical front edge of the rub strip, almost parallel to the door skin but at a very slight angle.
3, With the heel of you free hand, give the end of the wood a sharp slap - imagine your getting the last bit of ketchup out of a bottle, that's how hard.
4, Your aiming to move the strip backwards along the door about 1½cm, so it may take two slaps.
5, Put the wood down and starting at one end, carefully waggle the door strip off the door, taking care around the centre clip - this is the one that is screwed on from the inside, all the rest fit into keyhole slots.

Rear doors (Mk4)
Employ the same process as above but the strips need to slide towards the front of the car (open the front door when you do this).

Rear ¼Panel (£3dr)
Exactly the same as the front doors - the clips are different and the strip has to go back a wee bit further.

Inspect all the clips to make sure that they are all intact before refitting and replace as necessary. If you've bust the centre clip, then it's a door cards off time, my hamfisted friend.

Refitting - doors
Slide the strips into the keyhole slots and align in the correct position (ensure all clips are in their respective holes) and the give the centre clip a good whack with the hand to lock it down.

Refitting ¼Panel
Just push it back onto the clips.

Source: http://www.astraownersclub.com/vb/showp ... ostcount=2

And the side skirts

While I'm at it..........

Standard sideskirt removal.

Before you start you will need to replace all the clips as they are gonna be destroyed in the removal - they only cost pennies anyway and are freely available at a dealer.
you need..
2 small plasitc rivets (rear wheel arch)
14 big rivets (underside)
10 mounting clips

Rear wheel arch - with a small screwdriver, push the centre pin of the plastic rivet inwards so it comes out the back. Pull off the plasitc end cap.

Underneath - there are seven simliar plastic rivets - push all the centre pins upwards into the bodywork.

open the doors - starting at the back, feel under the car and grab the inside edge of the sill and pull sharply downwards and outwards. This should be accompanied by the sound of plastic breaking.

Work your way towards the front of the car, where there is another clip like those that hold door cards on - retreive this.

Fit new clips making sure the arrow points to thye front of the car.

Source: http://www.astraownersclub.com/vb/showt ... hp?t=97044

Looks like I'm going to be busy

 

[kohler]

can anybody explain a to foreigner what a bump strip is? a picture maybe?

 

[vocky]

a bump strip is the plastic moulding which goes across the side of the car to stop damage from objects such as another car door

on a vectra B the side indicator sits in the bump strip

 

[Matt]

Just gone outside to give this a go, and it's too windy to spray. I wish I had a garage

 

[Matt]

Finally got around to making a start on this

Bump strips off:

They were pretty to remove, using the information supplied by Ffoeg. I ended up needing to use a rubber mallett to whack the 2x2 piece of wood to get the strips off the rear quarters.

Sanded and cleaned:

Couple of layers of plastic primer:

Wet sanded inbetween coats with some 600grit wet and dry

The start of the colour coats:

The rear quarters finished (after about 6 light coats)

Made a start on the door strips, got 2 coats on and it started spitting:

 

[Ian]

Good job matt!! Looking good wish i could spray like that notsure.gif

 

[Sjdickso]

looking great mate sorry i could not help today

 

[Matt]

looking great mate sorry i could not help today

No worries mate, I'll let you help when I do the side skirts

 

[Sjdickso]

No problem

 

[Matt]

When we going to paint yours Si?

 

[daiflu]

I sprayed my door strips on the weekend.
Here are some pics:
What they started off like:

Sanded (this was the hardest part)

Primed:

Basecoat:

Clearcoat (sorry about the blur, hands must have been shaking from sniffing the 2K):

Haven't taken any pics with them on the car yet. I'm going to wait a few days before I clean it.


[/img]

 

[Matt]

How far back did you sand them? Were they totally smooth, or still have some of the dimple effect on them? Look really good though