Rub rail refresh

[Spartanguy]

Changed the trim on the rub rail of my rock guards today. They were looking rough. Easy fix with just a flat head screw driver and a razor blade. Mine were looking rough .

[SYC2Vette]

Nice!

I just ordered a couple of short sections from Woodland RV to replace a a few bad areas, and also rebonded several sections that were loose using the 3M tape.

Eventually would like to replace with something more durable (and blue)

[Spartanguy]

Originally Posted by SYC2Vette

Nice!

I just ordered a couple of short sections from Woodland RV to replace a a few bad areas, and also rebonded several sections that were loose using the 3M tape.

Eventually would like to replace with something more durable (and blue)

Given how simple and atypically affordable the trim is for an Airstream part, I kinda want to redo my entire unit too, idk about in blue though [emoji23]. It has that blue protective film on it though, so I did get to see what that would look like, not bad, just not my style for this model. I ordered mine from the closest AS dealership to me, called the factory and they wouldn’t sell it to me...although the AS dealership told me that was just the factory parts department being lazy and they could have.

[ROBERT CROSS]

Did all ours 4yrs ago.👍

Bob
🇺🇸

[Steamy1]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

Did all ours 4yrs ago.👍

Bob
🇺🇸

looks good Bob!

Can you post what you used and where you sourced it?

Thanks,

[skucera]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

Did all ours 4yrs ago.👍

Bob
🇺🇸

Bob,


That last picture makes it look like the rub strips are retroreflective. Are they, or is that just an illusion?


Thanks,
Scott

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by skucera

Bob,


That last picture makes it look like the rub strips are retroreflective. Are they, or is that just an illusion?


Thanks,
Scott

They are...reflective Marine vinyl tape covering the original fake chrome.
9005 reflective blue, from here. 1/2"w & 1"W

More info.

Bob
🇺🇸

[Spartanguy]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

Did all ours 4yrs ago.[emoji106]



Bob

[emoji631]

Sharp. So you did the “rub rail” and the “belt line”, new terms for me. Looks good on that unit.

[SYC2Vette]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

Did all ours 4yrs ago.👍

Bob
🇺🇸

I bought that same tape last month, I was looking at doing a test piece to see how durable it would be but the fact yours was done 4 years ago means that it at the least the tape outlasts the oem "chrome". Did you strip the surface or just clean really well? I have a 3M Stripe-Off wheel that I was going to try on a couple of scrap trim pieces to see if it will quickly strip off the "chrome".

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by SYC2Vette

I bought that same tape last month, I was looking at doing a test piece to see how durable it would be but the fact yours was done 4 years ago means that it at the least the tape outlasts the oem "chrome". Did you strip the surface or just clean really well? I have a 3M Stripe-Off wheel that I was going to try on a couple of scrap trim pieces to see if it will quickly strip off the "chrome".

Yes..clean is very important.
Getting all the 'chrome', not so much.
As long as it was smooth and secured well I just left it on. I did smooth out some areas with 800 grit wet/dry paper.
I used Brakleen on the molding to make sure the tape would stick well.
Take your time, don't stretch it too much and recruiting a helper will ease the application considerably.

Good luck...👍

Bob
🇺🇸

[SYC2Vette]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

Yes..clean is very important.
Getting all the 'chrome', not so much.
As long as it was smooth and secured well I just left it on. I did smooth out some areas with 800 grit wet/dry paper.
I used Brakleen on the molding to make sure the tape would stick well.
Take your time, don't stretch it too much and recruiting a helper will ease the application considerably.

Good luck...👍

Bob
🇺🇸

I am going to put together some test strips and run them through our dishwasher. What concerns me most is that the "chrome" is a very thin and fragile foil. I guess if it is bonded really well with the substrate, then it will be OK and your experience proves it I suppose.

I am going to see if I can run a razor blade along each edge and then apply an aggressive duct tape like gorilla tape and then strip the chrome then apply the tape to a bare rub strip substrate.

On a side note when I pulled off the narrow rub strip on the door, discovered that none of the 4 pop rivets were bucked, although the stems were pulled, somehow the rivets did not deform at all so they just pulled out with a fingernail under the head. Extrusion just held on by the adhesive. At least it is not a structural component!

[kscherzi]

Hey Guys, I have 40 feet of the 1" wide vinyl chrome trim for sale on the classifieds. This is the leftover from the roll I bought for my trailer. It is held on by the 3M sticky tape on the back.

Link below.
https://www.airstreamclassifieds.com...ifornia-361639

[SYC2Vette]

So good news & bad news.

If you have new rub strips the chrome is adhered very well. I applied Gorilla Clear tape, peeled it off, then re-applied with hard pressure using a nylon roller, and peeled again. The foil did not lift or peel off.

Not so great news is that old foil (in this case 5 years old) peels off easily after applying the tape.

[drwayne]

I have a 2005 30' classic. The rub rail and beltline trim strips need replacement. With the old airstream vinyl trim strips there was significant expansion in heat and contraction in cold. I have two questions:
Do you allow for this change with the chrome trim?
What do you use to clean the channel when applying?

[SYC2Vette]

Originally Posted by drwayne

I have a 2005 30' classic. The rub rail and beltline trim strips need replacement. With the old airstream vinyl trim strips there was significant expansion in heat and contraction in cold. I have two questions:
Do you allow for this change with the chrome trim?
What do you use to clean the channel when applying?

I have limited experience, however I can comment on this topic. On our old trim (5 years old) when we experienced what was unusually cold weather for our area, we had a couple of long sections lose adhesion and drop off with the AS parked under cover in storage. Examination of the backing tape showed that dirt had worked its way in over time, so the temperature drop was enough to finish it off.

In redoing some sections with new (will do all of it next year) on one section I did not leave a slight gap at the end. When I came back on a hot day that piece had buckled, so yes it does need a bit of a gap to allow for expansion. I do wonder also if breaking up the long runs in shorter sections with slight gaps might be a good idea although not as cosmetically appealing.
I used 90% iso alcohol, to thoroughly clean after removing all adhesive residue.

[NDRaised]

I’ve re-read this thread now a number of times and still have a couple of questions I was hoping Bob or someone else with experience could answer.

1) I took the old trim out of the base moulding with plans to clean the moulding and re-seal screws underneath. In preparing to put the old trim back on is there a good way to get all the old tape off the back of the old trim? I have new 3M double sided tape for re-installing the old trim, but the old tape is still on the back of the trim. Its pretty thick, not just residue so I need something more than just acetone at this point. It doesn’t seem to pull off easily.

2) Wondering if Bob installed the new vinyl tape over the old trim while it was on the trailer? I assume so based on his description of the process, but I wanted to be sure. Or is it easier to take the trim off completely, put the new vinyl tape on, and then put the trim back onto the base moulding?

Thanks!

[cjw81]

Airstream Nerds have a good video on replacing their rub rail side molding here:
https://youtu.be/F6CyTd3unuQ

He recommends using products by Trim-Gard https://www.trim-gard.com/
namely
https://www.trim-gard.com/products.php?pn=8002S-20
and
https://www.trim-gard.com/products.php?pn=902-20

I think I will go this route.

[cjw81]

Originally Posted by cjw81

Airstream Nerds have a good video on replacing their rub rail side molding here:
https://youtu.be/F6CyTd3unuQ

He recommends using products by Trim-Gard https://www.trim-gard.com/
namely
https://www.trim-gard.com/products.php?pn=8002S-20
and
https://www.trim-gard.com/products.php?pn=902-20

I think I will go this route.

Just finished the job ... I really like how it looks. Bonus -- there is no thin plastic shiny film covering this black molding to peel off, ever.