Plastic clips for body trim

[Pope1]

I'm refurbishing a VX and I need replacements for the little plastic clips that are used to attach the exterior door trim i.e. the black and chrome strips that run right along the side of the car. The clips are an unusual X shaped design and my local motor parts supplier does not have anything like that. Can anyone suggest a possible source please?

Chris

[Hamish]

Chris,
I tried to find these new and hit a brick wall.... you might try some of the UK specialists but to be honest I reckon the most likely source will be a 'scrapper' :cry:

[Pope1]

Hamish,

Shucks! I have some UK suppliers to follow up but most of them do not have items online so it will be a long drawn-out process. I was hoping that someone like you may have travelled this route before and met with success. When I find a solution I will let you know.

In the meantime you might want to have a look at this site if you have not seen it already:

www.discoautomotive.com

Cheers.

Chris.

[badboyboogzy]

i have got lots of the extreior trim fittments in a great big bucket out the back

[badboyboogzy]

any one wants them or some of them email me at badboyboogzy@aol7.com.au
bbb

[omicron]

A lot of these clips either damage paintwork or are quite fragile.

One method would be to fill the groove in the back of the strip with something - eg a strip of rubber glued in place, and then automotive double sided self-adhesive tape could be used to stick the trim on.

[Pope1]

A lot of these clips either damage paintwork or are quite fragile.

One method would be to fill the groove in the back of the strip with something - eg a strip of rubber glued in place, and then automotive double sided self-adhesive tape could be used to stick the trim on.

Andrew,

Is this something that you have actually done? True, the clips do get brittle over time but I'm wondering how long the stick-on method will last especially in a hot and humid climate.

Chris

[bobg]

about a year ago, i bought on ebay a bag with about a dozen trim clips. the seller had identified them as either for lancia or alfa (perhaps alfa spider). it may be worthwhile to see if the trim clips for lancia and alfa are one and the same item, and, if so, perhaps could be purchased thru an alfa parts supplier.

bobg

[Pope1]

I have some pictures of the clip and where it is supposed to fit on the car and I would like to put the images in a gallery rather than plonking them in the middle of this thread.

Would someone tell me how to create a gallery please?

Thanks.

Chris

[wellingtonvx]

Chris,

I think you have to email DJ to get an album set up. (remember to have cookies turned on when you upload or update the album)

Colin

[Pope1]

Thanks Colin.

I've now got a gallery set up (Christopher Pope) and I've put pictures of the dreaded clips in there for anyone who is interested.

Bobg, are the Alfa ones anything like the Lancia ones?

Chris

[wellingtonvx]

Hi Chris,

Is that clip covered in some sort of blue paint? My clips are white. I have two different width clips, one is 30mm wide and is the wider of the two.

A while back I was thinking of approaching a plastic moulding firm to see if they could make some. I have no idea how much it would cost, probably quite expensive.

Colin

[Pope1]

Colin,

They are supposed to be white - you are correct. I took the photos in a bit of a hurry and just grabbed the first clip that I could find and it was a bit grubby. I'll try and put a better photo in the gallery later.

Mine are 22mm wide. I am still living in the hope that they were not made for Lancia alone so it must be possible to get replacements somewhere.

Chris

[bobg]

the clips i picked up on ebay are black in color. the ones on my car are white. i bought them hoping that they would be suitable for clipping the chrome strips that surround the boot, but have not yet checked to make sure that they'll work. i will check this weekend though and let you know.
also, i don't know if they're suitable for the strips on the side of the car that protect from parking lot door dings.

upon removal of the chrome strips from a donor car of mine, almost all of the original white plastic clips broke. so i bought these hoping that one day they'd come in handy.

after checking this weekend to see if they work, i'll snap a pic and post if they fit.

bobg

[bobg]

just got an email from this beta parts supplier today. i forgot how i signed to receive their emails.

http://www.lancia.co.za

they have an image of our trim clips and list them as an item for sale.

i think they're located in south africa, so on my next safari i'll be sure to stop by and pick some up for evryone. seriously tho, the company does mail order. for anyone desparate for clips this appears to be a good source and for the very heavy weight of the clips how much could the international postage possibly be?

bobg

[bobg]

i checked the black clips i purchased on ebay for use on the chrome strips surrounding the boot and discovered that they do not fit. consequently, i have not posted images of them.

when the arrived, the were enclosed inside a small fiat bag with the following part # 4343591. if some has the ability to check part #s that would be helpful.

tho not correct, i believe that with some modifications they could be made to fit the chrome strips and would work adequately.

hopefully, the source i mentioned in my prior posting has a sufficient supply of the correct ones.

bob

[Pope1]

I also have some news on the trim clip front. A very kind Lancia owner contacted me by e-mail from S America where he is on a research trip. He has found some clips for a Fiat Palio that he thinks will fit and has mailed them to me. I'll let everyone know the outcome when they arrive.

Now for the bad news. For those not familiar with the Palio, it is a fairly recent car from Fiat but intended for developing markets only. Hence, I don't know if parts are readily available everywhere.

Chris

[Pope1]

Received my Palio clips today and yes they do fit the trim pieces very well. The only issue with them is that the centre stud is too big to fit the holes in the car and I don't want to make those holes any bigger. I managed to prune the stud on the first one with a sharp modelling knife and get it to the point where it will fit. The material appears to be some kind of nylon that looks as though it will not get brittle with age like the standard ones.

If anyone requires further details please let me know.

Dmitry, many thanks for sourcing these for me.

Chris

[wellingtonvx]

Hi Chris,

Do the modified clips hold ok in the stud holes? Can you post the part number and maybe a pic of the clips? I want to try my local Fiat place to see if they can get them.

Colin

[Pope1]

Hi Colin,

I only did a quick test with one clip when I got home yesterday. So far, they look as if they will work well and, as for holding, the clip took a little bit of the paint off surrounding the hole when I pulled it back out. Not the result I was looking for but quite positive I thought from the grip point of view!

I'll submit all the relevant details and pictures by the week-end.

Chris

[Pope1]

Colin,

I've uploaded a picture of three clips sitting in a piece of the body side moulding - not my greatest piece of photography I'm afraid!

The one on the left is a dirty example of the standard Lancia clip.

The one on the right is a standard Fiat Palio clip. The stud in the middle of the clip has a protruding piece that is supposed to get squeezed into a slot in the centre of the stud as you push it into the hole. The whole thing is too big for the holes on my car.

The clip in the middle of the picture is the one that I modified to get it to fit. The protruding piece has been squeezed into the slot with a pair of pliers and the whole of the centre stud has been trimmed with a modelling knife.

There is also a picture of the part numbers from the packet. It looks to me that this is produced by a third party to fit the Palio and not by Fiat itself.

Chris

[DJ]

Run by Felix Furtak. I've bought several things from him and I get periodic emails from him about various specials. He just sent one with some VX clips listed. Here's a link to his site with 2 different clips listed int his parts search.

http://www.lancia.co.za/index.php?page=article%2Fsearch&justreload=false&name_en=&category_id=null&parent_model=null&model_id=null&article_id=5891255&special_id=null

[Pope1]

Thanks for the tip DJ. I've tried looking at their site before but I've not found it the most user friendly. Just had another look and have seen some useful bits and pieces.

[wellingtonvx]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the info and pics. I assume it will be a waste of time talking to Fiat since they are third party. How many clips were in the bag? Do you know how much they cost? Where can I get some!

Colin

[Pope1]

Colin,

Looks like I was too hasty in my assessment. Had no end of trouble today when I came to fit the clips properly. In the end the only way to get them to fit properly and stay was to make the hole bigger and leave the clip unmodified.

I understand from DJ that the Lancia ones are available in South Africa and I would recommend getting the original ones from there.

To answer your question, I think that the Palio clips came with 10 in a bag and the price on the bag was 5.60. I believe that they came from Brazil so that would have been the price in local currency.

Chris

[wellingtonvx]

Hi Chris,

Damn! I was hoping these clips would be the answer. I had already emailed the guy in South Africa but was waiting to see how your clips turned out. He only has 10 clips available, so I might have to get these until another source can be found. I also need a window winder now, mine broke today :(

Colin

[Pope1]

Colin,

Sorry to hear about the winder. Don't despair on the clips just yet.

The Palio clips will work fine if you drill bigger holes in the side of the car. I did not want to do that so I tried to modify the stud on the clip only to discover that most of them broke either during the modification process or as I was trying to fit them to the car.

In the end I gave up and drilled holes for the Palio clips that I could not modify. The danger in doing this is that the Lancia ones will never fit (unless you fill the hole and re-drill later) so I had to make sure that I had enough Palio clips left as spares. Later on I found some more Lancia clips in a box with other trip fasteners! :cry:

It's a shame about the drilling part because the clips fit the trim perfectly and do the job they are supposed to do.

The tricky bit is sourcing them. Someone got them for me during a trip to South America. I'll look at the packet again because I think it has a load of phone numbers on the other side but no e-mail addresses.

Chris

[Pope1]

Some information on the Palio can be found at
http://www.carsfromitaly.com/fiat/index.html