Moparts

'68-'69-'70 SAT/RR/GTX Wheel Opening Moldings WTFind Q1

Posted By: A12

'68-'69-'70 SAT/RR/GTX Wheel Opening Moldings WTFind Q1 - 11/15/10 11:34 PM

This is from another post by Moparts member CaptainGTX:

Quote:

You think 2 months is bad? I waited a year and a half for Metro's 69 GTX wheel opening moldings only to find out they didn't fit. Then waited another year for them to retool and the next set didn't fit either. Then ordered from Year One and waited another 6 months - Twice, and neither set fit. Of course, Metro supplied them too. So either Metro or Year One had use of my money for nearly 4 years and I still didn't end up with a decent set of moldings.

Four months ago, nearly two years after the above fiasco, I ordered again, this time from Year One and am still waiting. Meanwhile my GTX goes without - and still wins trophies. Guess if I wanted perfect fitting reproduction parts I'd drive a GM or Ford. Their repro suppliers don't seem to have a problem making parts that fit.





Today just doing a little surfing I run across this ad from: Jim's Auto Parts:


Quote:

WM-SAWM 1968-70 Plymouth B Body (Sat/RR/GTX)WHEEL OPENING MOLDINGS (Set of 4), Repro Brand new Stamping! Much higher quality than others on the market!






Now the statement in BOLD above confirms once again that for whatever reason the '68-'70 B-Body Plymouth car wheel opening moldings have ALWAYS been of sub-par quality and fitment.....What's up with that? WHY CAN'T A VENDOR GET A QUALITY SET MADE????? What is it about a '68-'70 Plymouth B-Body that makes it so tough to get it right??


Anybody seen or tried the "Brand New Stamping, Much Higher Quality" wheel opening moldings?


MikeR
Posted By: JohnRR

Re: '68-'69-'70 SAT/RR/GTX Wheel Opening Moldings WTFind Q1 - 11/16/10 04:55 PM

Quote:

This is from another post by Moparts member CaptainGTX:

Quote:

You think 2 months is bad? I waited a year and a half for Metro's 69 GTX wheel opening moldings only to find out they didn't fit. Then waited another year for them to retool and the next set didn't fit either. Then ordered from Year One and waited another 6 months - Twice, and neither set fit. Of course, Metro supplied them too. So either Metro or Year One had use of my money for nearly 4 years and I still didn't end up with a decent set of moldings.

Four months ago, nearly two years after the above fiasco, I ordered again, this time from Year One and am still waiting. Meanwhile my GTX goes without - and still wins trophies. Guess if I wanted perfect fitting reproduction parts I'd drive a GM or Ford. Their repro suppliers don't seem to have a problem making parts that fit.





Today just doing a little surfing I run across this ad from: Jim's Auto Parts:


Quote:

WM-SAWM 1968-70 Plymouth B Body (Sat/RR/GTX)WHEEL OPENING MOLDINGS (Set of 4), Repro Brand new Stamping! Much higher quality than others on the market!






Now the statement in BOLD above confirms once again that for whatever reason the '68-'70 B-Body Plymouth car wheel opening moldings have ALWAYS been of sub-par quality and fitment.....What's up with that? WHY CAN'T A VENDOR GET A QUALITY SET MADE????? What is it about a '68-'70 Plymouth B-Body that makes it so tough to get it right??


Anybody seen or tried the "Brand New Stamping, Much Higher Quality" wheel opening moldings?


MikeR



See MY bold , I'd be VERY LEARY of any statement coming from that vendor of a BETTER part , if it were then it would be plastered all over the internet by now. Unless people are finally smartening up and not getting ripped off by this vendor anymore ... but I doubt that ...
Posted By: Firepowerflyer

Re: '68-'69-'70 SAT/RR/GTX Wheel Opening Moldings WTFind Q1 - 11/16/10 05:52 PM

I would love some feed back on these I'm ready to purchase a set for my 69 X
Joe
Posted By: 1_WILD_RT

Re: '68-'69-'70 SAT/RR/GTX Wheel Opening Moldings WTFind Q1 - 11/16/10 06:04 PM

Anyone ready to buy from Jim's ought to just go out to the garage & hit yourself as hard as you can on the thumb with a hammer.... It would be less painful....
Posted By: A12

Re: '68-'69-'70 SAT/RR/GTX Wheel Opening Moldings WTFind Q1 - 11/16/10 06:56 PM

Thanks John and Randy........the search continues


MikeR
Posted By: CaptainGTX

Re: '68-'69-'70 SAT/RR/GTX Wheel Opening Moldings WTFind Q1 - 11/17/10 07:38 PM

You have to wonder what the economics of producing these are. The beads on Metro's moldings are not bad, just a little irregular in a couple spots and concave on the side profile where they should be a little convex. With the wide flange, there's no way to tweak them to fit. I marked up a set with a lot of notes as to what they needed to do to make them fit & sent them back, but got no response. (I had done the same with the body side moldings years earlier & they finally got those right.) They even offered to take my original wheel moldings in exchange for a newly reproduced set, which I declined. In other words, they started selling these without having either an original set or 69 Plymouth fenders to test fit them on (which they also admitted). And the last time I ordered these, Metro tried to tell me they were using the original Chrysller dies. They also represented that they were Chrysler authorized parts (if so, Chrysler's standards have come down from the 60's, which is hard to believe.)

Anyway, you would think it would be possible to adjust the dies for those corrections, but apparently not. With 15,010 69 GTX's made, I'd bet there are at least several hundred owners out there that would be willing to shell out $3-400 for a really high quality set.
Posted By: A12

Re: '68-'69-'70 SAT/RR/GTX Wheel Opening Moldings WTFind Q1 - 11/17/10 08:14 PM

Richard, thanks for doing what you've done so far trying to get the quality where IT SHOULD BE. With regards to the $300-$400 price for a really high quality set, that's where most of the prices for the current quality () are now and you would expect them to be of the highest quality in the first place???

15,000 '69 GTX's yes but that's not the only model they fit there must be another couple of thousand '68/'69/'70 Plymouth B-body cars that use that same wheel opening trim or am I wrong?

I just don't get it why with all of the good quality trim that's being reproduced now why can't someone get this part right????????

Thanks again for trying


MikeR
Posted By: gtx6970

Re: '68-'69-'70 SAT/RR/GTX Wheel Opening Moldings WTFind Q1 - 11/17/10 08:30 PM

1969 GTX body side and wheel opening mouldings , are 1969 GTX only
Posted By: A12

Re: '68-'69-'70 SAT/RR/GTX Wheel Opening Moldings WTFind Q1 - 11/17/10 09:21 PM

Quote:

1969 GTX body side and wheel opening mouldings , are 1969 GTX only




Why do I see it listed as '69 RR/GTX or '68-'69 RR/SAT/GTX? I know the side trim is different on the Satellite and some of the wheel opening trim is "full length" but I've seen some Satellite trim that appears to have the same short or 3/4 wheel opening trim that looks similar to the GTX like this: (but with the wrong wheels who know if this is correct )

Posted By: gtx6970

Re: '68-'69-'70 SAT/RR/GTX Wheel Opening Moldings WTFind Q1 - 11/17/10 09:31 PM

Mike,
the ends of the 1969 GTX wheel opening mldgs are cut different than anything else.

1969 Satellite mldgs are close , but still to long to fit the GTX only side trim correctly

I don't remember but I think the Satellite trim is supposed to be below the body line and GTX is above the body line

I've had four 1969 GTX"s over the years and at one time had every single piece of the side trim NOS ( with exception to the right rear wheel opening mldg - I never did find that one).
I got burned by the Satellite versus GTX mldg scam,,,,once.
Posted By: A12

Re: '68-'69-'70 SAT/RR/GTX Wheel Opening Moldings WTFind Q1 - 11/17/10 10:28 PM

Thanks Bill.....my car had all of the trim before it went to paint but now it's missing (long, long story) I'm probably going with the BE&A side trim but they don't have the wheel opening molding Doesn't seem like any of the wheel opening molding that's currently available is worth a darn.

MikeR
Posted By: CaptainGTX

Re: '68-'69-'70 SAT/RR/GTX Wheel Opening Moldings WTFind Q1 - 11/18/10 05:51 PM

While 69 GTX wheel opening moldings are unique, I believe all 68-70 Plymouth B body moldings follow the same curvatures, with only the length being unique. (The bead on the Satellite moldings might be a little wider as well - does anyone know for sure?)

I'm a mechanical engineer, but not a machinist or die maker. However, it seems to me that it wouldn't be too hard to design a die capable of producing properly fitting full-length moldings that could then be replicated to produce the shorter GTX moldings. After all, they did it 40+ years ago & machinists should be no less capable now.

Being able to produce a myriad of different moldings off the same basic dies should help the economics. After all, how good can the economics be of producing poor quality pieces, half of which are probably returned? Any ideas of how we can get a manufacturer to step up? Contacting the current crop of manufacturers and vendors doesn't seem to do much good, but I think we should keep up the pressure anyway.
Posted By: Firepowerflyer

Re: '68-'69-'70 SAT/RR/GTX Wheel Opening Moldings WTFind Q1 - 08/02/11 09:44 PM

Any update on these????I would like to purchase a set.
Thanks
Joe
Posted By: 70SportSatellite

Re: '68-'69-'70 SAT/RR/GTX Wheel Opening Moldings WTFind Q1 - 08/02/11 10:42 PM

Quote:

I believe all 68-70 Plymouth B body moldings follow the same curvatures, with only the length being unique.



The lengths aren't the only difference. The 1969-70 Sport Satellite WOM's are unique to these models although they are the same whether it is a 2 dr or 4 dr but they are different between the 2 years.
What makes the WOM's unique has to do the with the rocker moldings which are also unique and follow the same rule as the WOM's. The WOM's are flattened at the ends where they meet the rocker molding because the rocker moldings are notched and overlap the WOM's unlike the other models where they butt up against it.

Attached picture 6759778-DSC00771.jpg
Posted By: A12

Re: '68-'69-'70 SAT/RR/GTX Wheel Opening Moldings WTFind Q1 - 08/02/11 11:04 PM

Quote:

Any update on these????I would like to purchase a set.
Thanks
Joe




Scroll down to my last post here:


https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/show...rue#Post6654073



MikeR
Posted By: Firepowerflyer

Re: '68-'69-'70 SAT/RR/GTX Wheel Opening Moldings WTFind Q1 - 08/03/11 02:45 AM

Thanks!!I will have to give them a try.Your car is the twin to mine, same color combo,is it a St Louis car?It seems alot of the 69 Xs were Y2.
Joe
Posted By: topside

Re: '68-'69-'70 SAT/RR/GTX Wheel Opening Moldings WTFind Q1 - 08/03/11 02:50 AM

'68-'70 Roadrunners did not get wheel-opening moldings from the factory.
Posted By: CaptainGTX

Re: '68-'69-'70 SAT/RR/GTX Wheel Opening Moldings WTFind Q1 - 08/05/11 02:14 AM

After going 5 years without wheel opening moldings on my otherwise restored GTX, I finally solved the problem by buying 3 sets at one time from Year One (mfg by who else - Metro). I told them upfront I was going to take the best pieces from each set and return the rest. They had no problem with this. The fit was still lousy, but close enough that I could take them to a good body-man, who tweaked them to fit. Not perfect, but then I don't want to have to wait another 5 years and still be disappointed.
This was the number ONE problem with restoring my GTX.
Posted By: A12

Re: '68-'69-'70 SAT/RR/GTX Wheel Opening Moldings WTFind Q1 - 08/05/11 04:04 PM

Quote:

After going 5 years without wheel opening moldings on my otherwise restored GTX, I finally solved the problem by buying 3 sets at one time from Year One (mfg by who else - Metro). I told them upfront I was going to take the best pieces from each set and return the rest. They had no problem with this. The fit was still lousy, but close enough that I could take them to a good body-man, who tweaked them to fit. Not perfect, but then I don't want to have to wait another 5 years and still be disappointed.
This was the number ONE problem with restoring my GTX.



Do you have original fenders and quarter panels (rear wheel openings) on your GTX???


MikeR
Posted By: A12

Re: '68-'69-'70 SAT/RR/GTX Wheel Opening Moldings WTFind Q1 - 08/05/11 04:10 PM

Oops forgot to ask which year GTX do you have?
Posted By: Sssnake383

Re: '68-'69-'70 SAT/RR/GTX Wheel Opening Moldings WTFind Q1 - 08/05/11 06:48 PM

Quote:

'68-'70 Roadrunners did not get wheel-opening moldings from the factory.



Yes, they did. They were an option.
Posted By: Paul

Re: '68-'69-'70 SAT/RR/GTX Wheel Opening Moldings WTFind Q1 - 08/05/11 08:42 PM



This thread just reminded me that I have a NOS set I bought for my 70 GTX years ago.....

They may very likely be taking a trip to Columbus next week, row S, space 36,37,38
Posted By: Paul

Re: '68-'69-'70 SAT/RR/GTX Wheel Opening Moldings WTFind Q1 - 08/05/11 08:44 PM

Quote:

Quote:

'68-'70 Roadrunners did not get wheel-opening moldings from the factory.



Yes, they did. They were an option.



yep, only if the owner opted to buy and install them himself.

Otherwise they were never available from the factory
Posted By: A12

Re: '68-'69-'70 SAT/RR/GTX Wheel Opening Moldings WTFind Q1 - 08/05/11 11:50 PM

I bought one set from Metro in Georgia and put them on my '69 GTX that has original quarter panels and front fenders, started by putting one screw into one of the original screw holes in the center of each wheel opening and clamped the trim in place with some soft clamps and worked to each end from the center. They went on with no problem and fit perfect on original quarter panels and front fenders.

Attached picture 6764951-DSC04678rsssss.jpg
Posted By: topside

Re: '68-'69-'70 SAT/RR/GTX Wheel Opening Moldings WTFind Q1 - 08/05/11 11:59 PM

Wheel-opening moldings were not repeat not a factory option according to the dealer order forms or the book.
Posted By: CaptainGTX

Re: '68-'69-'70 SAT/RR/GTX Wheel Opening Moldings WTFind Q1 - 08/08/11 05:08 AM

Hi MikeR - My GTX is a 69 with all original sheet metal. The original moldings fit fine but were too beat up from gravel marks to reuse. Here's a picture of my car before the moldings were installed. After shots are on my other computer. Rich

Attached picture 6768772-GuntherToody2008-1.jpg
© 2024 Moparts Forums