What function do the moldings on the car door and what are they made of?

To date, door moldings are a very popular element of decor. And they are widely used not only by many car owners, but also by car manufacturing companies themselves. In this article, we will tell you all about these details, consider their functions and characteristics.

Function

To see moldings on the door of a car is now not uncommon, since they are installed both on domestic transport and foreign cars. But in spite of the fact that all drivers know about moldings, they often do not talk about the functions, considering that this part performs only a decorative function. This is fundamentally wrong - the moldings on the car door can save it from unwanted scratches and minor damages that sometimes occur when parking. Also this small detail can protect your paintwork from the sudden opening of the door of a neighboring car, which is not uncommon in large metropolitan areas. In addition, moldings on the car door can serve as a good camouflage of irregularities in the form of dents, cracks and chips. Thanks to this, with minor damages, you can not spend expensive bodywork, but simply spend several hundred rubles on the purchase and installation of a new decorative element.

Where to install moldings

Now there are many decorative elements that can be installed on any part of the body. In the auto shops you can find molding on the front and back door, the details on the thresholds, the lining on the bumper and many other elements. And each of these types can have different shapes, sizes and colors. As for the latter, often the moldings have a one-color color. Factory moldings on the door (that is, those that were installed on the car still on the conveyor), can be painted black, can be made "under chrome", but most often they have the body color.

Materials

Now widely recognized is a material such as vinyl or polyurethane, which is also called PVC. Molding of the front door has a high elasticity and does not lose its shape even at high temperatures. Also relevant today are rubber products, which unlike the previous version do not have a color, but with small accidents, they most effectively protect the vehicle from scratches.

They are often installed by the drivers themselves, and most often the rubber is used at the corners of the bumpers - this is the place most vulnerable to mechanical damage. The least common is metal moldings on the doors of cars. They can be seen on retro cars, at the VAZ "six" and on the legendary "twenty-fourth" "Volga". Installation of such products was relevant in the 60-80s of the last century, after which the metal went down in history, and it was replaced by vinyl analogues. Now plastic is used in the production of all European, Japanese, Korean, American machines. Even the moldings on the door of the VAZ are now made of PVC.

As you can see, decorative pads are not only beautiful, but also practical!