S130 front screen trim

[mcclelland]

Hello all,

I need my front screen fitting and its a job I don't really want to do myself. I have the new chrome effect plastic trim which seems to be the same trim sold by all of the different parts suppliers, so there is no choice it would seem, but to fit the only type available.
I have spoken with a car screen fitter who has 30 years in this job, fitting screens to both Lotus and TVR etc. The fitter says he wont touch this new stuff as the last cars he has done look a mess as the plastic does not want to bend and creases, he has not completed the job as he was not happy with the result.
Can anyone who has used this current trim tell me is the a secret to forming the plastic to the screen profile and are there any must do's and don'ts.
All advice welcomed and many thanks.

Best regards, George.

[alan.barker]

Hi George,
have a look through past posts there's lots on how you can do it correctly.
Just a reminder about the new trim you will need new corner pieces also because the new trim is narrower.
Alan

[69S4]

I've just replaced both front and rear trim on my S4 FHC a week or two back. It's not a difficult job (as others advised before I started) but the proper fitting tool (Mine was from Gunson and under ?15), a spray bottle of soapy water, a warm day (softens everything) and a modicum of concentration helped. The rear screen took me about 20 mins including learning the process and the front screen about half that.

On my car the the corners at the top of the screen are more of a gentle curve and the trim 'bends' round those without any problems. It's the bottom corners and their much tighter radii that are a problem. With a bit of care the plastic trim will go round the groove but I noticed that after a day or so the chrome layer within the trim has started to crinkle for maybe 0.5cm either side of the sharpest part of the corner. The plastic itself has been fine, it's the chrome layer within it that suffers.

The older trim that I was replacing looked much the same design but didn't exhibit the same effect so maybe there's a 'cheap spares' issue with what we can get now. That was on my rear screen. On the front the trim had been mitred into the two sharp corners so there was obviously no crinkling issue.

I'm going to leave mine for the time being and see how it develops. If I find the crinkling either spreads or starts to annoy me I'll rip the trim out, do it again and mitre it in the corners. The stuff's cheap enough that I can change my mind without cost being an issue.

[JonB]

I think he is talking about the Plus 2 front screen trim, which is a tricky proposition to fit without crinkling the embedded foil.

I'd heat it up with a hairdryer and form it slowly and carefully round the windscreen. I believe you need to bond it to the screen, allow to set, then bond screen and trim as a unit to the car's frame. As mentioned, have a search on the forums, there are several write ups and pictures.

[DavidLB]

I used the fitters that Paul Matty uses, they traveled 50 or so miles to me so I would try them

[LaikaTheDog]

I have a set of trim from the muppets who tried to do mine... and gave up.

Happy to donate it to anyone who wants to practice bending !

[c42]

Hi Laika, I have sent a pm.