88 Cutlass Trim and Paint Opinions

[Bonegrater]

Hey everyone, I have a few questions about my car. I figured since a lot of you guys have much more experience with these cars that you could save me some headaches.
First, I am going to be removing all of the body trim on my Cutlass, it has the lower chrome rocker mouldings, and a small mid-body trim piece that runs from the front fender, across the door, and half way to the rear wheel well. I have seen this moulding/trim on most cutlasses from the factory, but I have seen where a lot of guys have removed them with out re-painting(or so it seems). It looks like this mid-body moulding/trim is only glued to the car? If so, is there a good way to remove it without damaging the paint underneath? For example, should I try to heat the trim up and then remove and de-grease to remove the glue?
Second, the clear coat on my car has started coming off, in the usual places, the hood, roof and trunk. Is there any way to stop this from peeling? I plan on a new paint job in the same color(light metallic blue), I'm just trying to keep it from becoming any more damaged before I can get it painted. Which will be in the next 3-6 months.
Any help or tips will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[Blake442]

The 'body side moldings' as they are called from the factory, or 'ding strips' as a lot of folks refer to them, are a roll of the dice.
Some are simply held on with adhesive, and come right off.
Some are metal, and are held on with rivets through the body, which will leave open holes if you remove them.

Another problem with taking them off as that they are frequently masked off for repaints instead of being removed, so if you take them off, the paint is often a different shade than the paint surrounding it.

There isn't any way to stop your paint from continuing to peel, unless you just leave it in your garage...

BUT... Absolutely none of this stuff matters if you're painting it in the next few months... Dig in!

 

[Bonegrater]

Luckily, mine is glued on. That will save me from having to fix holes. Now I just have to find a good paint shop. The body is solid, the only rust spots are on top of the trunk, and are smaller than a dime. Looks like old scratches in the paint that went through to the metal, but they aren't very bad or very deep. I am going to do some of the prep work my self, but I don't want to do it too soon.
Thanks.