Could someone look up what the procedure for the removal of the chrome weather stripping (upper and lower) around the side windows would be and report back? Alldata gives no clue as to how to remove them. Joyces have white spots in the clear coat and will not rub out. The cheapest replacements I have found are over $1,005.00 (US) without shipping. Jon good thing yours were covered under your warranty!
I am planning on stripping clear coat and polishing, and I do not want to attempt on vehicle in fear off damaging the rubber.

Thank you

 

Rick,

I'll check JTIS for you later today and see what I can find on this topic. For trim pieces like this, little mention or even no mention is often the case in JTIS....

When I pointed out the chrome window trim discoloration to our dealer back in June when our S-Type was still under the factory warranty, I was told that Jaguar Corporate had recently decided to stop replacing these window chrome trim pieces just for discoloration. When I expressed my opinion that a decision like that was chintzy and perhaps not even legal, they offered to buff out and treat our window chrome trim at no charge in an attempt to get the appearance back to normal. I accepted their offer, they did it, and the trim has looked good ever since. I've scrubbed it pretty thoroughly and applied a good coat of wax to it a couple of times since then. Now it looks a hell of a lot better than it did prior to treatment. But in retrospect I should have challenged our dealership to replace our hazed-over window chrome trim pieces while our car was still under warranty. This is yet another example of why I continue to distance myself from this particular dealership....

My experience in removing chrome trim pieces on other cars in the past is that you really don't want to do that unless you absolutely have to. Sometimes no matter what products you use and how hard you try, you just can't get those trim pieces re-installed as perfectly as the factory can. If I were you I would first buff out and shine up your window trim while it is still in position on the car and see if you are happy with that. That approach has worked for our car thus far....

 

Jon, thank you for your advise. I have removed other rubber window trim on US version vehicles before, pretty straight forward, a couple of clips and presto they pop off. I am concerned with kinking the chrome on these. I have tried buffing with everything under the sun to no avail. I have wet sanded from 600 grit to 2000, that has helped but there is no mirror finish. That is what I am going after. As stated Alldata is less than vague as well on this procedure. I am thinking the inner door panel may have to be removed to access the lower strip.
In my fashion of doing things, I will take pictures to the steps involved. Even if it is going in blind.

 

Rick,

Just looked at JTIS and as I predicted, not much is there on how to remove the trim. Here's what it says:

"Remove and discard the window moulding retaining clips.
Remove the door window moulding retaining nut.
Remove the door window moulding.
To install, use new window moulding retaining clips and reverse the procedure."

The rudimentary drawing of the passenger window shows the retaining nut location at the upper rear edge of the window next to where the side pillar meets the roof. It also shows the retaining clip locations all along the length of the moulding. There appear to be as many as five or six clips per trim piece. Call your Charlotte Jaguar dealership and ask how many clips you'll need for the entire job - looks like quite a few.

There's nothing at all about having to remove any door trim panels.

Hope this helps, and keep us posted on what you decide to do....

 

Thank you Jon. I was just at the local big box autoparts store and spoke with a gentleman who directed me to a company in PA. (Eastwood Company) who specializes in "metal" restroration. Apparently they sell products for the DIY'rs. I was hoping to get this done over the holiday but, I will have to wait if I decide to go that way.

 

Rick,
Sending you a PM. After all the great help to others on here the least I can do is help you out.

 

Ok, after Jons help and talking with Bob at Eastwood Company. Bob basically said to go to the zone pick up paint stripper and Mothers aluminium polish. While weather stripping is on car mask off all paint areas and have at it.

Do you all want me to update this thread or move it to exterior section since this has now become a detail thread?

Of course I will be posting pics mainly before (which doesn't show the oxidation well) and afters.

 

We're not by any means swamped so I'd vote for it staying here.

 

Yep, keep it here. I'm not a detailer so I never go to those sections of the forum....

 

Well tonight is the night! I have figured out how to remove the uppers. I will take pics of process. I am going to strip the pass. rear upper first and polish.
I hope this works!!!!!

Well I will just add to this post for now.
I learned afew things tonight without the results I am looking for:
1) it is very simple to remove the chrome trim
2) I might beable to salvage the plastic moulding retaining clips without having to run to the dealer for replacements.
3) I used the wrong remover, I purchased finish remover, I will run tomorrow morning and get the paint stripper

 

Look forward to another informative post. I don't want to be a downer but be careful with those moldings. One of the issues my dealer struggled with was a wind noise that was finally isolated to very slight gaps in the chrome moldings. I think I posted a reference to it somewhere in the past. Anyway, after they kept trying to replace the moldings they gave up and sent my car out to a body shop that was able to get it right. The noise was gone.

 

My bet is the body shop used the 3M trim and molding tape! There are 2 thin lines of it on the backside of the molding. Pics to follow. I will tell you fellows this though, the clear coat is some tough stuff. I picked up the "paint stripper" today and it doesn't appear to be cutting it either. I might need to get my hands on some commercial grade remover..... hmmmmm now where to locate it.

 

Okay, chaulk one up for experience! I have failed miserably on this undertaking so far.
It appears that the trim is not clear coated and are anodized aluminum, so no stripper (unless its a trashy pole kind) is going to remove the coating. So I attacked it from a different angle being anodized. Yellow can of oven cleaner is also good for not only ovens, engine intakes (so we were informed) but also removing the anodizing, but in my case it did not do anything. More aggressive backyard remover is drain cleaner (no really) I used the gel type several times, including use with a scotch brite pad, 1500 grit wet paper....zip, zero na-da. Information for the household cleaners came from a reputable metal polishing forum. I am going to a proffesional polisher on Tuesday to see what they think.

I have found out that the 5/8" long 1/8" wide retaining clips for the uppers are part # XR826786 at a list price of $2.78 ea. the rears take 8 pcs. fronts I don't know how many yet but more than the rears. Just a touch over priced HA!!!! (rip off). If you remove the trim correctly you will not need to replace them, I am taking ALL of mine back .

*note in the picture the small dowel breaks off after installation.

 

Rick,

Your best (and least expensive) option may be to clean and paint your trim rather than attempt to sand out or strip out your discoloration with harsh chemicals. Perhaps a top-of-the-line grade of automotive silver would get the job done. Of course, there's no way of predicting how long such paint may stay on that trim before it eventually wears off. If you kept the painted surfaces clean and waxed and minimized the car's exposure to acid rain and the like, you just might be happy with such an approach....

I've got to say that I'm glad I'm not nearly as obsessive/compulsive about our S-Type's window trim as you are about yours. To me, it's a minor flaw that I can easily live with. And my wife didn't even notice the discoloration issue until I pointed it out to her last spring....

 

Whats driving me insane Jon, is we put the mirror finish stainless pillars on Joyces which really makes the OEM "chrome" stick out. Otherwise Joyce too would have never noticed. Joyce will tell you all "they" wrote the OCD book after myself!

The weird thing is, the trim strips almost became this way overnight.

 

To get the look you want, I think you'll have to paint that trim with a mirror-finish automotive-grade of silver and hope it will stay put....

 

Fyi...I just placed a post today on this subject: 2005 aluminum window trim removal w/pics FAQ - Page 2 - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum