Safe way to remove molding with plastic clips before vinyl film wrapping

Hardware removal is an essential step in almost every vinyl film wrap job. But it often comes with the risk of damaging the parts, for example, breaking the plastic clips inside a molding as you pull it off.

The clips that hold the molding on to a car are small. Thus, they tend to get broken very easily, even if you try your best to be cautious. If those clips are broken, you would have to spend extra energy finding replacements and setting them in place properly. This will undoubtably increase your vinyl wrap install time.

But here is a quick way to guarantee the safety of the whole process: Take a plastic removal tool as usual. Pry at the right angle to expose a gap between the molding and the body of the car.

First, heat up the spot that you are going to pry off completely. The heat will soften the clips inside and lower the chance of its breaking. This is particularly helpful when you are doing a vinyl wrap job during wintertime.

Pull the molding off bit by bit as you apply heat spot by spot. Make sure the clips are warm enough before you pull the molding off. The warmer, the better. Some clips might stay on the body of the car, while others might be on the molding.

But most importantly, they will not break as they get soft enough with heat. This will make you less stressed when you remove moldings. Alternatively, you can also get your tool kit prepared with reserved plastic clips at all time.

You might also like to check out our previous article to learn ways to remove different kinds of moldings. Learn more about vinyl film wrapping at teckwrap.com