I dont really care for the look of door side moldings. But I already have a nice 'door banger' on the rear passenger side. I think Im going to look into getting some side moldings. I see that the OEM ones are grey. My outtie is graphite grey, do they match that color, or are they just close?

 

How is side modling helps? I have it on another car (Mazda6) and doesn't stop people from leaving dents on the door itself. Also if I put side molding on a Outlander, it will help against front doors, but rear doors in Mazda6 will still leave dents in Outlander

 

Well they are suppose to be installed on the apex of the door, so that the first thing that hits is the side molding. Dealers, along with people, dont install them in the right spot. Then what ends up happening is the actual door gets hit. So its easier to replace a $90 side molding than get the door smoothed, painted and all that.

Though if a different height vehicle's door hits, its probably not going to be where the molding is anyways. At least you can protect yourself from when you open the door.