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Who here has body side moldings?


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I just got my door edge guards installed and they look awesome. Matches the car paint and its very solid.

 

My question is, I want to protect my car as much as possible from door dings. How good are the current gen body side moldings?

 

I have a 2018 subaru legacy.

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I just got my door edge guards installed and they look awesome. Matches the car paint and its very solid.

 

My question is, I want to protect my car as much as possible from door dings. How good are the current gen body side moldings?

 

I have them, the OEM look good although effectiveness is hard to judge, the body of the door juts out near the handles and the OEM body side molding sits quite a bit lower...tucked in a bit... so would someones door hit the door where it juts out or lower?

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My question is, I want to protect my car as much as possible from door dings. How good are the current gen body side moldings? I have a 2018 subaru legacy.

 

I agree with upstater. I had mine put on when I bought the car. I actually think they improve the look of the car, but that's just a personal opinion. I'm guessing they will not protect in all situations against those clowns who insist on parking too close (despite the fact that when practical, I always try to park away from the maddening crowds) .... but I figure it must help during some of those "close encounters of the idiot kind."

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They were factory installed on my 2005 LGT and over the years they collected quite a few chips and scratches that would have been dings in the metal. So when I bought my '17 Legacy LTD I had them put on before picking up the car. They won't protect from a high hit by a rear door but they will prevent most dings. Parking far away or next to a mini van's sliding door is still a good strategy.
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Thanks for the input, I guess I'll order them tomorrow.

I know it won't protect the car from all hits, but it be good to have at least some decent protection.

Also I did get the dings protection plan from the dealer, unlimited ding repairs. it was worth it since it was about $250 for 5 years.

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Thanks for that Amazon link. That's interesting.

 

I have these body side moldings on my Outback. After 7 years, I can tell you that there are a few dings on the side molding pieces, but there are many, many more that aren't. If you're extremely retentive about dings and dents, this isn't foolproof. You will still get dings.

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I had them installed on our 2018. The height of the car slamming his/her doors into the Legacy will determine level of protection. In our garage, our Outback's doors hit above the molding. I think a regular sedan's doors will make contact with the moldings.
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I have had side moldings on an LGT, Outback and 2016 legacy. They do protect against many sedans/coupe doors. However SUVs, minivans and some pickups have left some nasty dings near the top of the doors on my older cars due to the higher and odd shaped doors. If you love your car, do not park next to SUVs and minivans. Ever. It seems people (and their kids) in these vehicles just don't care about vandalizing your car. Sorry to be such a downer.
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I had them installed on our 2018. The height of the car slamming his/her doors into the Legacy will determine level of protection. In our garage, our Outback's doors hit above the molding. I think a regular sedan's doors will make contact with the moldings.

 

Most older style regular sedans had the contact point to a perpendicular object right about where the molding would have been. On some of my older cars they did protect when I opened the door and wind blow the door open farther and the wall made contact with the molding. A couple of time in a gas station I opened the door without noticing the curved metal guards they have on either side of the pump, and the moldings save the day.

 

With the newer model legacies and OB, the contact point with a wall is higher up. Right at the curve above the door handle. I feel they benefit more from a door edge guard than the side molding.

For the OB, I got cheap clear edge guards from local auto store (the stealership quoted upwards of $180 for parts + labor) and those faded pretty badly. But I wasn't going to pay 200 bucks for 4 pieces of PU no matter the quality/craftsmanship.

On the legacy I got the paint protection film wrapped along the edges while I was getting the hood and tint done. The installer added 50 bucks to the total for doing the doors. And it turned out pretty good. You can't tell its there unless you are close. and it protects the paint on smaller impacts. Won't do much on a hard hit.

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Some doors are also not exactly, square. In other words, I've seen some Honda Accords in the work parking lot that have more of a point in the doors, especially the rear doors (think where children sit...) and therefore the side molding is ineffective. The point is not exactly where the small strip of molding works.

 

If it's an otherwise "normal" sedan or car with a straight door, then you should be good.

 

But, I would say about 75% of my dings on my Outback are in the rear doors, suggestive of this.

 

My car is about 7 years old now, with several dings. While the first "ding" is the hardest, I still park the car as far away from the stores as I can. Hooray exercise?

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