I see that a lot of you guys have removed the side moldings from your doors, the "2.3" sign, and the black tape from around the windows. It makes the car look clean. I was thinking about doing that with my car. So san anyone give me advice on how to go about doing this without damaging the paint or leaving some sticky residue?

 

Use fishing line to remove the moldings and badges (pull the line under the badge/molding with a back/forth motion.) Any residue can be taken off with Goo Gone without risk of damaging your paint.

I didn't remove the moldings on the doors as I don't like door dings and they provide some protection against that.

 

^^ What he said.

 

After you do those steps... make sure to put a coat of wax on the car.... wash it, and wax it. It will help protect the paint, because most likely that area underneath the moldings and badges aren't in that great of shape.
Also, you can use a heatgun to help in aiding the moldings to come off. Once that tape behind the molding is heated up, use the fishing string, and its like a knife through hot butter.

 

sweet.....maybe i'll do that in teh summer, when my parents arent home...cuz they probably wont let me do that....and then i can just say they got stolen if mazda has a problem with it

 

If i were you i wouldn't remove the black around the windows.....it is extremely difficult. IMO its not worth it.

Nut i removed the door guards during the summer when it was very hot here in vegas and it came off really easy. Just let that baby bake in the sun before you do it.

 

Moldings and emblems are ok looking but the tape removal just does not appeal to me. I am not slamming anyone that does it but it is just not the look I am going for. What are you going to do when you sell the car? Most people want to buy stock cars not ones w/o all the trim and moldings gone off of them. Keep your moldings and emblems in case you decide to sell or trade in. Just a thought.