Salud,
I have a nice 98 Jetta GL with about 56k miles, purchased from dealer in Connecticut, CPO car. Auto tranny(hopefully not a liability down the road), 8v engine (I actually think 8v is cool). It's tame but it drives itself, i think it's idiot-proof, It won't let VW look bad except to the speed demons. A few months ago the starter switch apparently froze, apparently the starter remained engaged... these had to be replaced and the dealer actually took care of it under warrantee.
The Problem: The rubber trim on the doors is falling off leaving like 5 holes under each peace which despoils the look. My VW mechanic says are holes are for a hard plastic type trim level for another (German?) model. Dealer apparently doesn't cover this. My mechanic told me how to fix it right, but it sound expensive (anything is expensive for me). Basically you want to get new trim pieces, the special double sided tape, clean the door carefully, removing excess adhesive, etc. This is too much work and expense to me. Who knows how long the repair will last anyway.
My inclination is to find something at the hardware store that will attach the rubber strips to the door using the generously supplied holes of various sizes that are in the doors. Since the car and trim are black, I'm looking for black hardware. There is concern as to letting the windows continue to work, of course, but it looks like i've got room to play. Anybody have ideas in this realm?
The other possible solutions that occur to me are to find trim from German model that might snap into those holes? (regardless of precise fit) Or to find black plastic/rubber plugs somewhere that would at least fill in the holes. The hold sizes appear to be approx 1/4" and 1/2" ~8mm/14mm.
I thought I was going to be rolling in money when I got the car, this was a mistake, should have kept the 87 Jetta GL.
Any know-how appreciated.
peace, Pierre
(false email, please reply via newsgroup)
98 Jetta GL
89 GrandAm Le with fancy engine timebomb. (disposable transportation).