I finally tried that trick with a heat gun on plastic trim clips

A buddy of mine who's been doing body work for 20 years told me to warm up those brittle plastic clips before pulling them. I always thought it was a waste of time, but last week I had a 2010 Honda Accord in my shop and snapped three of them on the rear bumper. So I grabbed my heat gun, warmed up the next set for about 30 seconds, and they came right out without cracking. Has anyone else had better luck with heat versus just yanking them off cold?

2 comments

2 Comments

piper_thompson316d ago

Adds about ten years back to old trim pieces too.

reese_taylor696d ago

Always figured those clips were just cheap junk that break no matter what. Tried the heat gun trick on an old F-150 last fall after reading about it online and it worked like a charm. Makes sense though, cold plastic gets brittle and the heat softens it up just enough to flex instead of snap. Probably saved myself a trip to the parts store and a whole lot of cussing.