1993 Cobra Registry

My teal 93 has an issue with the door moldings on both sides. I'm referring to the molding shown in this picture I borrowed from 50resto:



About a year ago, I noticed that that molding was very tacky and had little bits of fuzz from the car cover and the wash mitt stuck in it. I got some "Goo Gone" and some shop towels and went to town. It easily took all the tackiness away. I polished and waxed it and it looked great. For a little while, that is.

A few months later, the tackiness is back. My theory is that the clear coat is gone and the tackiness is the adhesive "weeping" it's way through the pores in the molding. The hard plastic moldings at either end of this piece look fantastic - it's just the rubber piece on the door that has this problem. The car very rarely is driven, so it's definitely not picking the stickiness up off the road.

Has anyone seen this? What are my options? Other than the tackiness, the moldings are in perfect shape and are the originals. I'd just assume not replace or repaint, but that may be what has to be done...

Thanks in advance

mine arent actually sticky, but they do get mold or some oter black substance after sitting covered for a couple of weeks. And yes the little end pieces are fine, also a normal washing makes them look good again.

Mine get sticky too, could be a teal thing. The moldings are molded in color, they are metallic teal through and through and were never as shiny as the surrounding paint. My swag is that they are outgassing and will continue to do so, I just wipe mine down with WD-40 followed by spray detailer and they are good to go for a few months.

-Mike S.

Mike S. wrote:Mine get sticky too, could be a teal thing. The moldings are molded in color, they are metallic teal through and through and were never as shiny as the surrounding paint. My swag is that they are outgassing and will continue to do so, I just wipe mine down with WD-40 followed by spray detailer and they are good to go for a few months.

-Mike S.

Yeah, I guess I could just Goo Gone them every few months and live with it. I did some digging and it looks like finding the OEM moldings in teal is next to impossible. When they are all cleaned up and polished/waxed, they actually look very similar to the surrounding paint. It's a shame they don't stay that way.

Thanks for the insight, guys

Yeah, I'm not sure what it is, but I have a red one and mine is actually on the road and the track alot, my moldings are not holding any gloss at all, I'm guessing just being a 16 year old piece of plastic/rubber, but I'm pretty sure they paint those off the car, so maybe they don't put very much paint on them..? I buy and restore fox's for a hobby and some are like that from the factory.

#4218 in CO.

They are actually injection molded in the color they are supposed to be. What is happening is the oils in the rubber is comming out. There isn't anything you can do about it other than clean and wax them often.

Here we are 14.5 years later, and no change in the sticky side trim. But now we have new tech spry ceramic coating, which made the paint look shinier and more even than when it was brand new, so I tried it on the sticky trim. No change, that trim will probably be sticky for the next 30 years - at which point, someone else can worry about it.