Riviera aft side-window trim

1997 Buick Riviera - 130,900 miles

Another surprise yesterday while detailing the vehicle. There was a spot just behind the driver door, on top and in front of the aft side-window trim that was cruddy, so I went about polishing and scrubbing it with an acid brush, tooth picks and Spray-9. It was coming off, but not completely.

So.. popped the trim off and..... WOW!! :eek:


Front end of trim area directly behind the driver door:

http://home.comcast.net/~edwinn/IMG_4147.jpg
Ugly mess behind driver door. Tabs on side-center of clips MUST be facing out or they will fail.


Back end of trim:

http://home.comcast.net/~edwinn/IMG_4146.jpg
Yuk!! Again retainer clip 'tabs' MUST be positioned outward, as they are asymmetric side-to-side.


A photo of BOTH sides with right (passenger) edge scrubbed..

http://home.comcast.net/~edwinn/IMG_4155-54.jpg


After a thorough scrub..

http://home.comcast.net/~edwinn/IMG_4171-73.jpg



The following are the areas that need spot treatment. LEFT & RIGHT side blemishes are directly behind doors on the top leading edge of the fenders.


Driver side rust spots:

http://home.comcast.net/~edwinn/IMG_4160.jpg



Passenger side rust spot:

http://home.comcast.net/~edwinn/IMG_4150.jpg



Close-up view of the trouble spots:

http://home.comcast.net/~edwinn/IMG_4399.jpg


http://home.comcast.net/~edwinn/IMG_4400.jpg



Retainer clips in cover of peanut butter jar, four each side. Two or three have broken tabs.. but still usable.

http://home.comcast.net/~edwinn/IMG_4180.jpg


So there are more rust spots to treat!!


Thinking of having the aft side windows reinstalled, maybe with some tinting. The appearance of the mating surfaces (~1" wide where they sit into the body) hasn't been too aesthetically pleasing for years!!


-Ed

Baseline

June 8th is when I got to the side window touch-up, the day before scrubbing the recovery tank. It wasn't hard to wet sand the spots and dry them with compressed air. As a baseline, here's a photo of the Riv taken less than a year ago in California:

http://home.comcast.net/~edwinn/Riv_in_Calif.jpg


Sanding and Prep

Time will tell if enough of the rust was removed during prep. Here are a Right and Left view. That "orange puck" is probably body putty.

http://home.comcast.net/~edwinn/IMG_4422.jpg



http://home.comcast.net/~edwinn/IMG_4416.jpg


Touch-up Paint

The PAINT was from a Dupli-Color 2in1 Applicator, GM 433 Bright White but it has apparently yellowed in nearly a years' time. The objective is to treat RUST SPOTS. In other words, rust and corrosion control. It may not be prefect but I doubt anyone will notice once the trim strips are re-attached.

http://home.comcast.net/~edwinn/IMG_4450.jpg



http://home.comcast.net/~edwinn/IMG_4446.jpg


The Riv is going into the body shop for some REAL paint work soon, and the foreman will be able to advise where to go from here. The correct way to fix these spots is WAY EXPENSIVE and probably not necessary at this time.

This method works for me, and it's doubtful that anyone would notice the color of those crevasses!! :smile:


-Ed

Sorry this has turned into a monologue, and I'll cut the number of posts going forward.


Trim back on

The rear side window trim is reattached and as expected, it's almost impossible to see any difference in the top of the quarter panel near the driver door opening and the paint below it. Someone would have to point out that spot to you, and you'd have to look VERY closely and intensively to see the touch-up.

I've never seen such a gross mess on a vehicle.. than the MUCK under those trim strips!! And yes that spot (with its general discoloration) was an eyesore each time I got into the vehicle.


Some photos

Here are a couple of photos from this morning. I used a LED flashlight on pic #2 to provide fill light.

http://home.comcast.net/~edwinn/IMG_4720_1.jpg


http://home.comcast.net/~edwinn/IMG_4727_4.jpg


If you're a 1995 - 98 Riv owner, you might want to pull those trim strips and have a look. They come off, and go back on straight up/down. Be careful not to damage the little white clips, as the passenger side trim isn't on as tight as the driver side. Would like to thank the good buds at LEEHIGH for encouragement to do this DIY.. same with the hood and grill clips.


Happy camper with this fix!! :bananasmi


-Ed

Sorry this has turned into a monologue, ....

Don't apologize for this. I'll be checking this out on all my Buicks.

If you're a 1995 - 98 Riv owner, you might want to pull those trim strips and have a look. -Ed

Or a Lesabre, or a Park Avenue, or an Olds 88, ....

FYI: Take a look in the upper rear wheel well. You might be unpleasantly surprised. At least, this rust is a common problem on LeSabres and Bonnevilles, and probably others too.

97 Riviera - 139,786 miles

Wow.. rust started appearing AGAIN under the rear side-window trim strips. It's easy to see 'orange' when getting into the car.

http://home.comcast.net/~edwinn/driver_door_spot.jpg


Popping the trim off.. here's what the situation looked like.

How could I be so stupid to NOT prime bare metal and use Dupli-Color!! :nono:

http://home.comcast.net/~edwinn/driver_door_spot_closeup.jpg


Passenger side.. what a ugly sight!

http://home.comcast.net/~edwinn/passenger_door_closeup.jpg



More rework

So there's another rework job to do!! That's the way it's been going. Below is one of the broken clips. See now much crud collected in just 1-1/2 years under the trim, though it looks like paint debris from Body Work done in California back in July.

http://home.comcast.net/~edwinn/trim_clips.jpg
Hmm.. same area cleaned-up in summer 2012. White chips/shavings must be from body work done in California, summer 2013.


The retainer clip above is broken though. The local Chevy dealer guy found other GM Parts counters that hand clips in stock, so I ordered some this morning over the phone. :smooch:


Gloss White Rustoleum

So this time I'm going to use Rustoleum to hit a LOT of tiny spots. I know it makes you guys cringe.. but the Riv in Bright White (GM 433) and gloss white Rustoleum can be applied to body parts and is almost imperceptible. You'd have to look very close at the spots to notice a difference.

http://home.comcast.net/~edwinn/paint_cans.jpg
- Gloss white enamel from a can is dabbed on dings and sanded 'spots' with art brushes.


Rustoleum is holding up GREAT under the hood nose. Repost - recall Grill Clips replacement topic!

http://home.comcast.net/~edwinn/tabs_and_latch.jpg
..Underside of hood nose touched-up with gloss white before new grill clips installed. Same with hood latch!


The driver door tip had a touch of rust developing.

http://home.comcast.net/~edwinn/tip_driver_door.jpg
- Rust spot on forward tip of drive door.


Wide view, driver door tip.

http://home.comcast.net/~edwinn/tip_driver_door_wide.jpg


Even the driver door latch, head light edges and windshield roof pillars. Below is chip on hood.

http://home.comcast.net/~edwinn/chip_hood_before.jpg
- Nasty chip from stone hitting hood. This spot is slight right-of-center about 12" ahead of windshield.


Nobody could tell Gloss White Rustoleum was used.. to keep rust in check. :bananasmi


-Ed

Edwinn, if I die and am reincarnated, I want to come back as your car....I know I will be treated well....

Trim and touch-up done for 2013

Rework of the aft side-window trim area was completed a week ago on Nov 17th. The trim strips went on NICE and tight this time, and should hold up BETTER with the white enamel.

http://home.comcast.net/~edwinn/LR_trim_70.jpg



http://home.comcast.net/~edwinn/RR_trim_72.jpg
- The RIGHT side trim was loose due to broken clips. I was afraid it was going to blow away someday. Not anymore!


Other sanding and painting was done to both AFT and FWD ends of the upper RIGHT mounting edge.. which was in worse shape.


New window trim clips

A local Chevrolet dealer told me only a few Parts dept's in the region stock the original replacement clips. I ordered 4 from a Buick dealer in Pennsylvania, and they sent them 'next day' for ~16 dollars total!! They had just nine left in stock.. and in a back warehouse.

These are the broken clips in the dealer parts bag.

http://home.comcast.net/~edwinn/trim_clips_76.jpg
- Was sure glad to find some clips in Penn. Another dealer had some in the Norfolk area.


Other touch-ups

Here's the hood chip 'after'. Ugly you say? well it's hard to find and you have to be up close!

http://home.comcast.net/~edwinn/chip_hood_after.jpg


Driver door handle

These spots looked like nasty black chips that are 'in your face' each time getting in the car.

http://home.comcast.net/~edwinn/door_handle_III.jpg
..Touch-up of two nasty chips on the driver door handle. These spots can no longer be seen..


Another area was at the base of the fuel filler door.. where the fill-up nozzle tears at and chips the lower edge.



-Ed