How did OEM wheel lip moldings fit? E body.

Hi Logan,
Can you show a pic of this cool tool?

Ken

I had to massage mine a bit too. Mostly the rears. They fit pretty well after about an hour of work to get the shape closer to the bodylines on the lower portions

Original moldings fit original quarters very well if installed with care. If not they could have been a mess. I have pics of one car that has PERFECT fit on one side, and lousy fit on the other, all factory installed.I have not seen a reproduction molding that fit nearly as well regardless of the install effort.

The best time to fit these monsters is before the car is painted.
Forget the factory holes.. weld 'em shut and start over, unless you're working with originals and you've been blessed with one of the cars like Scott mentions with perfect fitting mouldings.

Clamp them in place with "spring loaded hand clamps" & orient them for the best fit.

Drill & screw down one hole at a time using the same size pan head screw as your finish ones will be... no sense trashing your final attaching hardware.

Sometimes a slight reshaping of a fender line, etc. can be done for a minor misfit too.

This method also gives you time to send out your mouldings to be stripped & reanodized if you end up trashing the coating from manipulating them to fit. (Assuming they're anodized ones).
Cutting & rewelding them usually won't work... the different alloy of the filler rod will typically "take" the anodizing different and be visible.

And last... yes some fit better than others, but I haven't worked with enough different ones out there lately to comment on who's fit better than whose or who is selling who's parts. <-- sounds like a sentence from a Dr. Suess book... lol

Rick

What you need to put an end to your misery is a hand stretcher/shrinker,....I use one to straighten Charger mouldings for my customers conversions to Daytonas,...if it can move and straighten a 45 degree bend in a stainless moulding, it can certainly move an aluminum Cuda moulding,....if your delicate with the shrinking/expanding action, it'll leave small teeth marks, very much like whats already on your moulding,....buy a quality unit, as it'll have more than enough service in your shop to warrant the expense,...Eastwood has a nice USA made unit for about $300,...the cheaper offshore unit isn't worth the time, looks the same 1/2 the price, completely worthless

Mike

Stock stainless mouldings

Stock mouldings altered with a shrinker/stretcher, no cuts, no welds,......to fit the Daytona valance like original

Mike




Customers car

Frankly Steve, in your case I'd be trying a different brand of moulding before investing anymore time in the ones you have.
The Yr. One ones would be returnable and sounds like they should fit well... might be worth a shot.

I strongly suspect my old set of moldings were bought from Y1. And they are almost acceptable. But considering my car is painted and accomodations can't be made, I think I'll first try and see how well the 'surgery' goes. I really want a perfect fit. I'll be modifying the suspected Y1 moldings since they are a closer fit to begin with and the finish was worn on them anyway. I'll document and post my progress if it turns out well.

That tool is pretty cool. That would prob. fix the major prob with the DCS rears. If my car were stripped, I'd prob. try it. But in addition the the major angle problems at the bottoms (pretty much the same as on the front of that Datona conversion except they need bending in as opposed to out), I have smaller gap problems too. Chopping mine up just seems the best way to go from my vantage.

No two cars are alike when it comes to wheel opening moldings.
If you look at survivor cars you can see moldings that fit flush and others that have a gap between the molding and panel. Even from the factory there were flaws(imagine that).

You could take one set of moldings and they would fit one car perfect and another car would be a poor fit with the same set of moldings.

Metro makes their wheel opening moldings in house and test fits them to quarter panels and fenders, but every once in a while a set will get returned because of fitment issues. Is it the car, moldings, installer?, who knows without having the vehicle and moldings together for inspection.

Rick has great advice, fit the moldings before the body work is done. I know this is not possible in your case, but for future reference for anybody else with any kind of molding.

Can you comment so as to make it clear for us as to how many manufacturers of these Cuda sets are currently on the market, and of these manufacturers, who's is Year One selling?

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I know that when I purchased my Cuda mouldings from Year One, they had 2 application part numbers,....which I generally percieve as the cheap set and the better set,....as I'll always buy the "better" set,...currently Year One only has 1 part number available J2S $195,....you'd have to call Year One to find out the vendor used,


Although one would assume it's Metro, seeing that Metro is in Georgia also,...but Metro's current price for THEIR Cuda mouldings is $265,........generally you get what you pay for,...Dales Cuda shop currently has WOM for $235,....no mention of vendor,.....but I can't see YO or Dales selling Metros, if they are Metros? for less than directly from Metro themselves?....I have a set of Metro's wheel opening mouldings on my Challenger, no issuses in istallation, I also have a set of Metro Charger wheel opening mouldings on my Daytona, no issuses,...I use Metro Charger WOM for my customers Daytona conversions, original or repro qtrs, no issuses,...so either play with your mouldings or confirm from the vendor (Dales Cuda shop) who the vendor is?,...check YO vendor supplier,....if neither is Metro,...pony up and purchase the Metros

Mike