Some of you who have tuned in from Maxima.org may have noticed that I have removed the door guards from the side of my car. I think it looks so much better than it did before because the door guards were beginning to fade. I decided to take the initiative to get these things off my car after viewing a couple of threads on the Maxima.org website, and getting the ideas from the guys who had already done it, and generally hating the way those faded things looked on the side of my car.

Anyway, it is a very time consuming task, and if you have the right tools, it shouldn't take nearly as long as it did for me to do it - assuming you use common sense and take some or all of my advice. It took me a total of about 6 hours to do this, but the results are worth the effort in my opinion. (note: I'm not responsible if you mess up your car, this is just advice, so if you DO screw up, it's not my fault.)

Before you begin, I suggest that you get your paws on the following items if you're really gonna do this: A bottle of Goo-Gone (citrus-based, smells good and non-toxic if you plan on working indoors...) or an equivalent adhesive remover, a long-handled, flat-head screwdriver and a tool called a Super-Scraper (see picture), and about 3-4 hours of free time on your hands.

Here's what the SuperScraper looks like. So what if my hands weren't clean when I took this picture - you get the point...

Also, if you happen to live in a relatively cold environment/climate, you'll want to bring a hair dryer or a heat gun along with you as well (although I don't recommend the use of the heat gun as some of the Maxima.org members have said that a heat gun is too hot to work with). Some rags won't hurt either, and make sure that you have your favorite wax products available to protect the paint after you're done.

OK, the first step in removing the guards would be - you guessed it - take the guards off the side of the car!!! Use the flathead screwdriver to pry the guard from the edge of the door, just enough to be able to grab the loose end of the guard and pull the rest off by hand. This should take you all of about 5 minutes to completely remove the guards from both sides of the vehicle. At this point, you will probably see some spongy stuff left behind on the paint, and this, ladies and gentlemen, is where the REAL fun begins!!!

You will now have to remove the spongy stuff stuck to the adhesive and/or the adhesive that is stuck to the door as well. This process takes up the most amount of time, but since you'll be using the Super-Scraper tool, you won't have to worry about scratching your paint, unless you are just being neglectful & stupid.

I suggest that you focus on removing the insulation FIRST, and THEN move on to removing the adhesive stuck to the door. Also, if you can work on your car when it's WARM outside or WARM/HOT to the touch, then it will make the removal CONSIDERABLY easier. If you don't have the sun to your advantage, then use a hair dryer to warm each section of the car that you're concentrating on (Heat guns may make the area too hot to work with, but I'll let you decide what to do, it's YOUR car!). After it's all gone, and you've cleaned up after yourself, MAKE SURE to wash & wax the area. I used Meguiars' Deep Gloss products (paint cleaner/polish/carnauba wax - Steps 1-3) afterwards to protect the paint.