So... finished up the passenger side front, rear, and drivers rear. I wish I could report that everything went as smoothly as the passenger front. The rears are much more involved, found I had to remove the door panel and moisture barrier in order to unbolt the window clamps and lower the window down into the bottom of the door. From there I was able to reach my fingers in the door to release the metal tabs along the length of the molding (Since the window goes all the way down in the front this could be accomplished without any addl disassembly). I made a small hook tool from a metal coat hanger to try to release them on the second rear door and was able to remove the part, but broke the plastic retention clip and deformed the molding slightly. Was able to fix it, but think for those of you who decide to do this to your truck, my advice is take the panel off so you use your finger to get at the interior part of the molding.
Once the molding is off the truck, disassembly of the metal trim is straight forward. The only trick is that there is a plastic endcap insert that is held in place by small indentations on the lower rail. Use a flat head screwdriver to straighten it out and the endcap and the metal trim slide right out. Then just lift the tab that holds the metal trim to the endcap and you’re free to do whatever work is needed on the trim.
In mine I sanded everything with 150grit sand paper, then coated with self etching primer spray, followed by successive coats of satin black paint. Debated between satin and flat- think the satin looks original, but flat would look cool too I think. Once dry I finish sanded with 600grit, one last coat of paint, then once dry, reassembled (remembering to recreate the indent that holds the endcap in place). Then just slip them back on the truck, starting at the side opposite the plastic clip. All three look great- have the last one ready for final sand and pant but didn’t get around to it tonight.
WRT the plastic clips- mine were brittle and I broke all but the first one. Attribute the first break on the rear passenger side to not really understaning what I was doing- man handled it and didn’t have to. Drivers side rear was attempting to use the homemade tool, and drivers front was simply weak and brittle, don’t think there was much I could do to prevent it. With that said, I found that a healthy dose of gorilla glue fixed two of them securely, and the third I actually drilled a small pilot and reconnected with a small screw (and my wife wonders why I never throw away extra hardware...!) bc the glue wasn’t secure. All worked well and the molding is securely back in place. Don’t know if they would survive another removal, but I hope it never comes to that!
At the end of the day I would still say this project is pretty easy- the hardest part was figuring out the puzzle and making extra work along the way by breaking clips, deforming parts, etc. Had I known before hand how to remove the door panels (lots of YouTube vids) and how to get the window out of the way (no vids, had to figure it out) I suspect I could have removed the moldings in about an hour or so and the rest would have been just sanding and painting. I tried to video it but it didn’t turn out well- too much I didn’t know ahead of time to give a reasonable how to. I hope this description is helpful for the next person who tries this, and perhaps he/she can create the vid. Any questions, don’t hesitate to shoot me a PM or reply on this thred
