Ready Removal of SR5 Side Trim > ADDING CAVEAT - Post # 2

[ARCHINSTL]

Well - after seeing how good the yellow repaint of HomeSkool's looks without the SR5 trim - I'm sore tempted to remove mine. The removal seems to give the car some height and length and also make the sides look a little less cluttered.

Now, has anyone removed their's for cosmetics, as opposed to removing it to ease repainting? Was a lot of the adhesive left and was it hard to remove? Did the trim panels come off intact or in pieces? I expect the color of the paint will be "somewhat brighter" than the rest of the car, but since it is the gold color (light topaz), it should blend in at least OK...
Any advice from one who's done it?
Thanks,
Tom M.
PS - I removed the girly-man OE roof rack to paint it, and liked how it looked sans the rack (and how it reminded me of my '83), so left it off. Might help a bit with gas mileage, though w/o operating AC, the summer driving is with a couple of windows open.

[ARCHINSTL]

Well, I was all set to remove a small piece today, but decided to check the FSM....Lo and Behold! There is info on the trim!
It turns out the smaller trim used on the sedans and the DLX Wagons(aka "base" model) is held on wholly by adhesive, whereas the SR5 trim does use some adhesive, but additionally uses integrated plastic "darts" (term?) which insert into holes in the doors and panels!
So - if you prise away the trim, you will have 15 holes per side of at least 1/4" diameter (a guess) to fill in/resolve. So - it looks like this is something that should be done only when repainting the whole car; it would be pretty hard to match 30 holes on the sides of a car - unless you have a cammie paint scheme.
The blasted FSM is so silent on so much and yet it had info on this! Go figure - but I'm glad I looked...
Tom M.