There seems to be some dissent on the factory option body side moldings (door ding protection) for the C5 vettes, I've heard that some people love em, and some not so much. I fall very much into the latter. Personally I think the added line is unattractive, and breaks up the flow of the door. Also it's a hunk of plastic 3M taped to side of the car, that bugs me enough all by itself.
Items Used:
30lb test fishing line
3M adhesive remover
Porter Cable 7424xp
Extra fine polish
Meguiars Gold Class
Elbow grease and patience
Terry and MF cloths
Before
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k21/sol740/7.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k21/sol740/6.jpg
Using the fishing line and gloves, I made a sawing motion moving up and down, while pulling toward the BSM, and pulling gently back. It took some time to get through it all, its been on there for some time now. There was a little concern about the color under the BSM not quite matching, but after reading some threads on Vette forums, that never really seemed to be an issue, and I can see no difference now that it's done.
Now you can see it with the BSM freshly removed. So much nasty adhesive stuck to the door. The picture doesn't really show how thick it actually was.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k21/sol740/5-1.jpg
The next part is the most tedious and most awful part. First I cleaned as best I could with a rag and some soapy water to get as much dirt away from the paint as possible, before I started slowly massaging the adhesive off, using liberal amounts of adhesive remover to help loosen the guck. Now my fingers are sore. I read about some people using a soft-ish plastic puddy knife but I was too afraid of scraping my paint. After doing that shit for a half hour or more per side, and cleaning, and more rubbing, and more cleaning, you end up with something like this.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k21/sol740/4-2.jpg?t=1301280977
Here is the glob of junk I got off one side.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k21/sol740/1-2.jpg?t=1301280981
Already looking better. However there was a faint outline on mine, that was particularly stubborn. I cleaned again, and busted out the porter cable. Using a very fine polish, and polishing pad pretty much completely got rid of any noticeable outline, and ended up with this.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k21/sol740/3-2.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k21/sol740/2-2.jpg
Anyways I much prefer it this way, even if now I need a new sig-pic.