It's been a while since I was here last. Used to have three Hyundais but sold the Tiburon and got his-and-her Miatas.

It seems that there are spots where the black trim around the windows on our box-stock 06 deepwater blue Sonata is starting to peel. Right now it looks kinda bad but it's probably not that far away from looking really bad.

Has anyone peeled off the black tape trim from that area? What's under it? If it's clear-coated deepwater blue paint I might just wind up peeling all the black stuff off and leave it; if it's going to look gross I'll probably have to have someone handy with vinyl whip up some stuff to put on in the OEM stuff's place.

Im almost certain its clearcoat and whatever color your car is.

IIRC theres someone in the garage that has a black one and peeled theirs off

Yes it is painted and clearcoated I know because I replace the tape when truck drivers bang the doors. But just a fore warning alot of them that I replace the tape on have the paint scraped at the factory before the tape is applied. They must figure since its being taped its no big deal if it gets scratched beforehand

In the same boat here, ours are starting to fade. I've been giving a LOT of thought to ordering something like these for the door pillars:

Link 1

Link 2

It's painted and clearcoated under there, and the paint is not scraped before application of the tape. The tape is covered under warranty for 5 years/60k miles. The only thing is that it's a b*tch to peel off without a heat gun without leaving adhesive behind. I don't understand why they didn't just paint it black instead of using tape.l

I've been thinking about something like the second ones, but rather than paying $70, I'm going to cut some from plexiglass and paint the backs so they will be nice and shiny and scratch resistant.
Also it'll be a LOT cheaper than $70 :)



Have you ever tried to wash/wax semi-gloss black? :) It turns into an ugly mess with in-grained soap and wax.

I'm not meaning they do it intentionally but I have been seeing quite a few with 2 to 3 inch wide scratches underneath the tape

You ever get wax on the tape? I'm still trying to get the wax residue off mine from my very first wax a month ago.... lol

I've been looking at those too, but the problem is my rear door pillar is the one that has peeled. The door pillars that these cover are fine. Gahhh the only door pillars that I have seen that come with the rear pillar are the chrome ones on ebay which I'm not going to get. If only one of those black pillars came with the back too I think I'd get them.

Toothbrush and a quick scrub got it right off mine. :)

This is another reason why I'm leaning towards just pulling all the black tape off and taking my chances with body color. That wax is darn near permanent!

But first I'll bring the peeling tape to the attention of the service dept. the next time the car goes in for an oil change. If they offer to fix it for free I'll let them have at it. If it's going to cost me money I won't bother.

Well, Bean said it's covered by the warranty (5/60k) - give it shot !

The tape is covered under warranty, just returned from the dealer and they ordered the tape kit for my 07 Sonata. There were spots where it was pealing off and the service people said that it was covered.

It's covered, but when the dealership does it a second time you'll be lucky if it lasts more then another year before your problem reappears. Your pillars are painted underneath. You just need to hope you didn't end up with a Friday paint job.