car door mouldings.

clive0510

up untill about 5 years ago nearly all cars had door mouldings- ie a plastic moulding about 1/3 of the way up the car door, some painted body colour and some plain black. but new cars don't have such a thing. I wonder why?.

EssexExile

You must look at different cars to me.

AdrianC

Clive's right - they do seem to have fallen out of fashion.

I suspect it's, in part, the rise of the SUV - it'd put the door dinks higher up the door skin, missing the rubbing strip.

But, mostly, it's styling.

facade

I was about to praise the Citroen cactus, with its plastic armour, but when I googled to check I had the right manufacturer, they get rid of the plastic in 2018.

oldagetraveller1

clive0510 said:

up untill about 5 years ago nearly all cars had door mouldings- ie a plastic moulding about 1/3 of the way up the car door, some painted body colour and some plain black. but new cars don't have such a thing. I wonder why?.

The manufacturers have possibly realised that they can be sold as an after purchase "enhancement" too. e.g. no spare wheel/tyre but we can sell you a spare and kit for £100+ to replace the compressor and gunge.

Or as an extra at point of sale as in so-called "protection packs".

chrisw

It's definitely just fashion. 

I've tended to change my cars every 4 years and I noticed they seem to alternate between having the rubbing strip and not. Similar with chrome strips.

KimJongUn88

oldagetraveller1 said:

clive0510 said:

up untill about 5 years ago nearly all cars had door mouldings- ie a plastic moulding about 1/3 of the way up the car door, some painted body colour and some plain black. but new cars don't have such a thing. I wonder why?.

The manufacturers have possibly realised that they can be sold as an after purchase "enhancement" too. e.g. no spare wheel/tyre but we can sell you a spare and kit for £100+ to replace the compressor and gunge.

Or as an extra at point of sale as in so-called "protection packs".

No. Not a single manufacturer sells door mouldings as an added extra. 

AdrianC

KimJongUn88 said:

oldagetraveller1 said:

clive0510 said:

up untill about 5 years ago nearly all cars had door mouldings- ie a plastic moulding about 1/3 of the way up the car door, some painted body colour and some plain black. but new cars don't have such a thing. I wonder why?.

The manufacturers have possibly realised that they can be sold as an after purchase "enhancement" too. e.g. no spare wheel/tyre but we can sell you a spare and kit for £100+ to replace the compressor and gunge.

Or as an extra at point of sale as in so-called "protection packs".

No. Not a single manufacturer sells door mouldings as an added extra. 

They used to in the 80s.

KimJongUn88

AdrianC said:

KimJongUn88 said:

oldagetraveller1 said:

clive0510 said:

up untill about 5 years ago nearly all cars had door mouldings- ie a plastic moulding about 1/3 of the way up the car door, some painted body colour and some plain black. but new cars don't have such a thing. I wonder why?.

The manufacturers have possibly realised that they can be sold as an after purchase "enhancement" too. e.g. no spare wheel/tyre but we can sell you a spare and kit for £100+ to replace the compressor and gunge.

Or as an extra at point of sale as in so-called "protection packs".

No. Not a single manufacturer sells door mouldings as an added extra. 

They used to in the 80s.

Prior to responding to any of my future posts, I'd like you to be aware that there is a rebuttable presumption that I'm talking about the present day. Not forty years ago.  

Thanks.

AdrianC

I'm terribly sorry. Would you prefer me to be explicit in pointing out in future that I'm perfectly well aware of that, and am merely providing a relevant aside to give some historical context, which you may or may not find of interest, and are free to ignore as you wish?

angrycrow

Could they have gone in pursuit of weight saving to improve the laboratory emission figures. That's why everyone's spare wheels went.