On the 850, the two strips of moulding trim that run the length of the roof, the black plastic on top of mine has cracked and is beginning to break off. Anyone know of a repair, or a place to buy replacement plastic strips to do a repair?

 

You can get them from the dealer at $150 a pop so $300 total. They only sell them as a whole unit not just the black part.

You can rip all of it off and use black electrical tape. A guy in Alaska did this and said it worked for him pretty well.

You can also strip it off and polish the metal.

Or strip it off sand it and paint it black.

http://www.fcpgroton.com

They might have replacements cheaper then the Volvo dealer.

 

I'm having the same problem with mine. Let me know what you do and how it works. Mine is actually starting to peel of in places and the plastic is not attached to the metal. The are fairly easy to take off the car and put back on. I might do what S70 said and take mine off and paint them. I can't see putting electrical tape on them though. You can also look around and probably get a set used from a junk yard.

 

I have seen some people remove all the black stuff that is peeling off. Then they polish the molding making it look almost crome.

 

That would look good on a darker colored car, but on my white one, I think I would rather have it black or dark grey to match the other molding on the car. Wow now that I have it running real good, I can start worying about how it looks again.

 

How do you remove them from the car?

 

Not sure. I think you start from the back and slide the end piece off and then you can just pull them out of the tracks they are in. But I'm really not certain. I took the modling off my V70 to put on the roof rack and it was real easy. I have not yet tried taking it off the 850.

 

The easiest way is to start at the windsheild Pull the molding towards you. That is standing from the side of the car. You will most likely hear a loud POP don't let it scare you. Continue to the rear of the car.

 

As stated above - pull towards you from the windshield and pop it from the clips. Also, I purchased the strips from a local dismantler for $25 a piece.

 

Mine is peeling horribly, and I'm too cheap to spend $300 on something minor like this. Do you think polishing the metal would look decent on a gray Volvo? And if I were to do this, should I get something to protect the metal from rust?

And hell, I might try this if I'm not feeling too lazy: http://volvospeed.com/Repair/850_roof_trim.html

 

The metal part of it is aluminum.
If you want a really cheap fix I have seen people use black electrical tape and run one line right down the molding hiding the aluminum.

I will either go the painted way or the polishing way not sure yet. But I will have to do it soon.

 

I lucked out onmine. The yellow one had it replaced and it's in great shape and black. On the white one I used the strips off my 98 V70. When I bought the roof rack for the V70 I had the extra strips, so I cut them to find the 97 850. The ones from the 98's are much better and do not have the problems that the 850's have. Plus they have the lip on the side of the windshield so you can have your window down when you wash you windshield with the window washers or it's raining out.

 

I'm wondering for another inexpensive fix if one could go to the local parts store and purchase the exterior trim pieces (that are usually black) which are used for replacing/repairing missing door moldings, etc... These come in various lengths (rolls of it) and also various widths. Most if not all of the replacement stuff is black too. I believe it has an adhesive backing.

JC Whitney may even sell larger quantities and have a larger selection as well (or believe it or not, they may even have the exact style/type of molding used on vehicle roofs that would insert right back into the factory tracks).

 

I did this... 8 months later, still looks great....

http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/cha...ic.php?t=11316

 

Really? I don't know... tape? Seems ghetto to me.

 

Yes Black tape is ghetto but if someone wants a really cheap fix and is to lazy to spend time to paint or polish them it is an easy fix.

 

i picked up a pair at my junkyard for 10$ i got lucky


there are tabs at each end that pull out which allows you to remove them

 

"Ghetto"?... LOL... love that term. I think you'd be surprised, but the blackout tape doesn't look like tape, at least not like electrical tape would. It's clean and evenly spread out, and unless you've got access to a good sprayer, spraypaint bombs aren't going to provide a nice even finish without a LOT of prepwork.

 

Im not sure if he was talking about your post or mine I replied as if for mine. Yours looks like it would be way better then electrical tape.

 

All I can say is that it's a very clean finish, and easily competes with a so-called "factory" look... I doubt you'd know it was chrome blackout tape unless I'd told you it was... But for those that decide to paint, the way I prepped for the tape would work very well for painting.