Clear vinyl rock chip guards

no bleed. I used Goof Off cleaner. And then Spray wax detailer. I just keep the truck clean and I haven't noticed and chipping. I don't hit the Highway much or go offroad so its like a papaw truck.

 

What is that black trim piece and there's one above the muffler near the bottom of the bed on the 2023 Tacomas are those standard what are they called?

 

looks clean.

 

Finally (after almost two years!) got around to doing this. So pleased - it made a huge difference!

 

Any tips or tricks to do this project? Going to try and do mine next weekend.

 

I used a heat gun, which made the vinyl easy to remove with a plastic putty knife, but left a thick layer of adhesive. To clean the adhesive off I used 3M General Purpose Adhesive Cleaner 8987 that I applied and scraped several times with the plastic putty knife. There was still adhesive residue, so I rubbed and rubbed with Meguiar's Ultimate Compound until all the residue was removed. To apply the new vinyl, I used painter's tape to mark the top as a point of reference then sprayed a fine mist on the the flare and on the vinyl adhesive side with RapidTac (Amazon), put in place, removed the "blue" backing, re-misted, then squeegeed in place. The RapidTac allowed me to remove and replace to get the placement correct. Be careful touching the adhesive side of the vinyl as I did get some slight fingerprints on one corner. Honestly, I probably will re-do the passenger side side - it was the first side I did and I have a fingerprint and the placement isn't perfect.

 

What is ironic about these pieces is that although mine are starting to look sketchy/unsightly along the edges with the dirt/oil collections etc., they show virtually no abrasion on the surfaces elsewhere that would lead me to believe they are actually protecting anything: they feel smooth and in good condition.

A nice and thoughtful addition by the Toyota engineers to be sure, but when mine deteriorate and look bad enough to r&r, I really doubt I'll be replacing them.