So my rubber weather stripping along the A-pillar and roof line finally gave up on life after becoming dry and brittle, and would flap against the windshield and front window at highway speeds. Instead of just using silicone or glue to put it back on, the best solution is to just replace the whole thing, which only comes as an assembly of chrome trim + rubber that is held to the body with plastic clips. The service manual instructions are pretty straight forward but not totally clear, so I just took a couple of pictures along the way to add some clarity in case anyone needed it. Took about 1 hour to replace both sides, and that's including the time it took to loosen up some stubborn clips without breaking them.
Time Required:
1 - 1.5 hours
Tools:
Set of plastic trim tools used for prying clips apart like these:
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Required Parts (prices from Acuraoemparts.com):
#1 - Molding, L Drip Side (73163-TK4-A02) - Driver's Side - Qty 1 - $86.23
#1 - Molding, R Drip Side (73153-TK4-A02) - Passenger Side - Qty 1 - $86.23
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**Note 1 - each of these parts comes in a box that is about 94" long, 24" wide, and maybe 3" deep, so for me, it would have cost $230 to ship $175 worth of parts from FL to NJ. I instead purchased mine from the local dealership, pulled them out of the boxes, and slid them through my trunk pass-through door to get them home.
**Note 2 - each drip molding with part number above doesn't come with the associated clips, but the clips can be removed and swapped to the new molding very easily. As long as you don't break them you won't need:
Optional Parts if clips/retainers are broken:
#2 - Clip A, Windshield (73155-TK4-A01) - Qty 3 per side - $1.05
#6 - Clip, T-Stud (A)(Blue) (91570-SDA-A01) - Qty 1 per side - $1.25
#3 - Clip B, Windshield (73155-TK4-A11) - Qty 1 per side - $1.05
#5 - Clip, T-Stud (B)(Natural) (91571-SDA-A01) - Qty 3 per side - $1.25
#4 - Clip, Roof Molding (91572-TK4-A01) - Qty 4 per side - $0.90
Service Manual Procedure:
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The procedure is pretty straightforward:
1 - Starting from the bottom of the windshield, use a J-hooked plastic prybar to lift the trim away from the windshield, and use a sharper straight plastic tool to press on the 8 tiny plastic teeth of each clip to release it from the retainer. Once that clip is free, move up the windshield to release the remaining 3 clips. The clip will remain attached to the chrome trim, and the retainer will remain attached to the car.
2 - Once the windshield clips are released, push the chrome trim toward the center of the roof, and the clips will slide out of the trim and remain in the roof channel.
3 - When the chrome trim can be completely removed, you can push the orange clips into the trim to release them from the small channel that they sit in, then push them into the channel on the new replacement trim. The clips can be easily slid to the left or right to properly align with the retainers when reinstalling.
4 - Installation is done in reverse - Start from the rear of the roof to attach the new trim to the rear window trim, slide the trim away from the center of the roof to reattach the clips, then push downward on the 4 windshield clips to re-seat them.
Pics or it didn't happen:
Now for the images for clarification, since the service manual illustrations are never great:
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These are the 4 clips along the windshield. The 8 tiny teeth are what holds the clips into the retainer, and the 2 wings on the top are what holds the clip into the chrome trim. Push the clips in the direction of those wings to release them from the trim so you can transfer them to the new replacement trim. Note that I broke one tooth from pressing too hard with the tool, but it still functions just fine.
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This is how the clip interfaces with the retainer (drip molding omitted for clarity). All 8 teeth must be pushed inward for the entire clip to be pulled up through the top of the retainer.
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This is the method of releasing the clips (one hand used just so I could hold the camera). Use the J-hook to lift the trim while using the straight edge to push on the teeth of the clip. These clips are the hardest part of the job since 1 tooth on the side may be stubborn and cause the whole clip to stay stuck in the retainer. Had to use some elbow grease to pull pretty hard while pressing on the stubborn tooth, but just be careful enough that you don't break anything. Eventually they'll come loose with enough finessing.
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This is how the front clip retainers will look after pulling off the trim
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This is how the roof clips look after pulling off the trim.
**Note 3 - the very back edge of the drip molding chrome trim is sharp enough to scratch the paint, so watch out for it. I scratched my roof a bit getting these photos, but I'm planning on a full respray soon anyway, so it's whatever lol.**
Time Required:
1 - 1.5 hours
Tools:
Set of plastic trim tools used for prying clips apart like these:
Required Parts (prices from Acuraoemparts.com):
#1 - Molding, L Drip Side (73163-TK4-A02) - Driver's Side - Qty 1 - $86.23
#1 - Molding, R Drip Side (73153-TK4-A02) - Passenger Side - Qty 1 - $86.23
**Note 1 - each of these parts comes in a box that is about 94" long, 24" wide, and maybe 3" deep, so for me, it would have cost $230 to ship $175 worth of parts from FL to NJ. I instead purchased mine from the local dealership, pulled them out of the boxes, and slid them through my trunk pass-through door to get them home.
**Note 2 - each drip molding with part number above doesn't come with the associated clips, but the clips can be removed and swapped to the new molding very easily. As long as you don't break them you won't need:
Optional Parts if clips/retainers are broken:
#2 - Clip A, Windshield (73155-TK4-A01) - Qty 3 per side - $1.05
#6 - Clip, T-Stud (A)(Blue) (91570-SDA-A01) - Qty 1 per side - $1.25
#3 - Clip B, Windshield (73155-TK4-A11) - Qty 1 per side - $1.05
#5 - Clip, T-Stud (B)(Natural) (91571-SDA-A01) - Qty 3 per side - $1.25
#4 - Clip, Roof Molding (91572-TK4-A01) - Qty 4 per side - $0.90
Service Manual Procedure:
The procedure is pretty straightforward:
1 - Starting from the bottom of the windshield, use a J-hooked plastic prybar to lift the trim away from the windshield, and use a sharper straight plastic tool to press on the 8 tiny plastic teeth of each clip to release it from the retainer. Once that clip is free, move up the windshield to release the remaining 3 clips. The clip will remain attached to the chrome trim, and the retainer will remain attached to the car.
2 - Once the windshield clips are released, push the chrome trim toward the center of the roof, and the clips will slide out of the trim and remain in the roof channel.
3 - When the chrome trim can be completely removed, you can push the orange clips into the trim to release them from the small channel that they sit in, then push them into the channel on the new replacement trim. The clips can be easily slid to the left or right to properly align with the retainers when reinstalling.
4 - Installation is done in reverse - Start from the rear of the roof to attach the new trim to the rear window trim, slide the trim away from the center of the roof to reattach the clips, then push downward on the 4 windshield clips to re-seat them.
Pics or it didn't happen:
Now for the images for clarification, since the service manual illustrations are never great:
These are the 4 clips along the windshield. The 8 tiny teeth are what holds the clips into the retainer, and the 2 wings on the top are what holds the clip into the chrome trim. Push the clips in the direction of those wings to release them from the trim so you can transfer them to the new replacement trim. Note that I broke one tooth from pressing too hard with the tool, but it still functions just fine.
This is how the clip interfaces with the retainer (drip molding omitted for clarity). All 8 teeth must be pushed inward for the entire clip to be pulled up through the top of the retainer.
This is the method of releasing the clips (one hand used just so I could hold the camera). Use the J-hook to lift the trim while using the straight edge to push on the teeth of the clip. These clips are the hardest part of the job since 1 tooth on the side may be stubborn and cause the whole clip to stay stuck in the retainer. Had to use some elbow grease to pull pretty hard while pressing on the stubborn tooth, but just be careful enough that you don't break anything. Eventually they'll come loose with enough finessing.
This is how the front clip retainers will look after pulling off the trim
This is how the roof clips look after pulling off the trim.
**Note 3 - the very back edge of the drip molding chrome trim is sharp enough to scratch the paint, so watch out for it. I scratched my roof a bit getting these photos, but I'm planning on a full respray soon anyway, so it's whatever lol.**