I do not like dings in the body of my car.... it will cost me 130.00 to get new moldings, when i get enough dents in them.. but I do NOT like dings anywhere on the body period. i doubt Im the only one that likes moldings, if so they wouldnt be made.. if you dont want them, dont get them, I like them, so i will, its that simple...I dont get bumps in my bumpers actually, Ive been lucky. If I did, it would be repaired immediately..

 

Does the 2013 LS460 refresh not come with quasi door moldings? They seem a little low but they do the same job?

 

Those will not prevent door dings on a parking lot... Those are mostly for looks. I have those as well

 

Come on, Jill. No offense, but those chrome moldings down that low on the doors are obviously designed for looks, not effective door-protection. We see the same thing on some new GM sedans.

 

Actually, it depends on what materials the moldings are actually made of....and what color they are. Some materials and colors show dings and damage to them more than others. The chrome aftermarket moldings on my Verano (I put them on myself, since Buick doesn't offer them) have done a pretty good job, without showing much damage.....they are flexible vinyl moldings with a thin strip of chrome on the surface, and have some give and existence to dents. But I haven't been quite as lucky with the acorns from oak trees LOL. (and, BTW, acorn season is just getting into swing now, as I speak)

 

No, they're all the way at the bottom of the door and just for looks. I like that trim at the bottom of the door, and I don't mind door moldings when the car is styled for them and designed for them, i.e. They come from the factory. What I hate are stuck on aftermarket door modeling and trim. So tacky IMHO.

BTW, the 460 has always had that trim. It wasn't added in the refresh. My 2010 ES had that trim from the factory too.

 

Actually, it depends on what materials the moldings are actually made of....and what color they are. Some materials and colors show dings and damage to them more than others. The chrome aftermarket moldings on my Verano (I put them on myself, since Buick doesn't offer them) have done a pretty good job, without showing much damage.....they are flexible vinyl moldings with a thin strip of chrome on the surface, and have some give and existence to dents. But I haven't been quite as lucky with the acorns from oak trees LOL. (and, BTW, acorn season is just getting into swing now, as I speak)

 

Buick does offer dealer added body side molding for the Verano I am pretty sure of.

 

Yeah the acorns are bad. I don't have any around my house, but I park outside peoples houses on residential streets all the time for work, I always am very careful not to park under or near an oak tree throwing acorns. I've had to have a few dings taken out of the hood, roof and trunk of my cars with PDR because of acorns...way more than door dings.

My brother in law has an acorn tree over his driveway. He got a new Subaru Forester last year and I saw him and it a few months ago and its covered in dings, looked like its been through a hailstorm. Cause? Acorns from that tree. Doesn't bother him...

Thats an issue thats getting worse as vehicle metal gets thinner and becomes aluminum, etc. Used to be you never had dents or dings from anything like an acorn.

 

With all the talk in this thread about dents and dings, no one seems to have mentioned what IMO was probably one of the best solutions....the Saturn S-Series cars of the 1990s/early 2000s and their thermoplastic side body panels, though the hood, roof, and trunk were conventional sheet-steel. (I owned a 1999 SL-2 myself, and was very pleased with it....the only American-badged vehicle I owned between 1983 and 2012, when I bought my Verano). The plastic body panels did an excellent job warding off dings and dents on the panels themselves, although the special water-borne paint jobs on those panels (which allowed the panels to flex in and out without the paint cracking had relatively soft paint that was easily scratched or chipped. It wasn't a perfect solution to dings/dents, as you could see them in the paint if not the panel itself, but it did go a long way, and the panels themselves stayed intact. I still remember the Saturn reps and PR people, at the D.C. auto show, taking a baseball bat and whacking the side of the panels full-force.........no dents at all. I tried it myself......no dents either.

Saturn was such a great company in the 1990s. It still pains and saddens me today that the idiots running GM at the time, starting with the Ion, ruined everything at Saturn after 2000 and before the reorganization. I've been so pleased with my Verano, though, that I've at least partly forgiven GM for what they did to Saturn.

 

Maybe now, but not when I bought it. Do you think I would have let THAT get past me? LOL