If this has been covered elsewhere I couldn't find it. Or maybe my 2005 Ltd is the only one with this problem, but just in case here's the rundown on a satisfying and relatively cheap ($88) project that made a huge difference in the appearance of my truck.

Over the past year the (formerly body-color) trim pieces between the plastic fender flares and the body have turned dark brown due to sun damage. See photos. Turns out they're fairly easy to replace. The hardest part was finding how to order replacements.

There are three pieces on each side - front fender, rear door, and rear fender. In the dealer parts catalog the exploded diagram shows a different reference number for each. But a subsequent factory bulletin indicates that all three have been superseded by one part number. In my case (light gold/beige) that # is MR574720. The problem is that there is no documentation telling us if that # is for one piece, one side, or the whole car.

My local dealer tried to convince me I needed to order six of them at $33each - but hats off to MitsubishiParts.com | "Mitsubishi Parts" at Less Than Dealer Wholesale for doing some research and correctly determining that the part number covers one wheel well - so you only need 4 pieces to do the whole truck AND, their price was only $18+ each. Make sure you give them your VIN so you don't get the wrong color. By the way, to add to the confusion, the factory refers to them as fender "Pads".

As you can see in the photos, replacement is pretty straightforward. The short rear fender piece is easiest so start there. Drill out the two pop rivets under the bottom lip and then simply pull the trim piece off. The green snap clips may or may not stay where they're supposed to but they can be reused if you're careful.

The hardest part of the whole project is removing the old double sided foam tape that connects the trim on both sides. In the end I found that sacrificing my fingernails and following up with brake cleaner worked best, but it takes a lot of patience.

Use the old trim pieces to cut the new trim to length and apply the trim to the plastic flare first. Then line up the snap pins, peel off the backing and push everything back together. Replace the pop rivets (drill the holes out to 3/16" and use standard 3/16" rivets.) Or if you're a stickler for OEM parts you can order Mitsu metric pop rivets.

As you'll note from the photos, I decided not to try to remove the entire flare molding from the rear door and front fender as it was possible to get far enough in while leaving part of the pieces attached.

So that's about it - now I need to remember sunblock for my new trim pieces (or hope that Mitsu changed the PVC formula since 2005)

Ron

 

Thanks for this great write-up! I've been wanting to get this unsightly problem fixed for a while, but didn't know where to begin. Most excellent!

 

Thanks for the comment - happy this was of help to a fellow sufferer.
Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

Ron

 

I too suffer from sun and abrasion destruction of the plastic panels.
However, I decided to paint the panels with bed liner.
Sand, and clean with denatured alcohol. Mask off paint. Coat with bedliner.
Under $50.00 in materials.