1993 interior door handle surrounds, I just purchased the door handle surrounds and they don’t want to latch on the interior trim. Any suggestions?

Viper 1993

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1993 viper interior door handle surround do not want to stay latched in the door panel.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
 

George Farris

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There should be some clips molded into the back of the surround which allows it to clip in place. They did break off when owners tried to take them off. Hope you got good ones ...
 

Walter Clark

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I had the same issue with my '94. It appears in my case that the surface of the door cover that the trim piece seats against was a bit curved and the trim piece is flat on that surface. I couldnt get the tabs to slide in place without risking breaking them off - which is what was wrong with the old one.

I ended up shaping the flat mating surface of the trim piece a little to match the contour of the door cover with a Dremel tool.
 
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Viper 1993

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Thanks so much, the only way they would stay in place is with the help of 3M double faced tape
 

nautoncall

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One side of the piece with the 4 tabs fit where the other side tabs were not long enough so I had to shave them down so they slide in place with the door panel. They vibrate off periodically though and come off often when I shut the door. I have purchased a few from eBay and some even that said OEM and all of them are like this an none fit right.

As George Farris said above maybe thats the whole problem, I don't have the clips in the surround. I just thought the piece was made incorrectly.
 

DickDavis

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I'm so tired of these moldings I am going to have a newer design made or do a cheap fix and I'm not sure which it will be.
The cheap fix I have come up with is to drill a standard sized hole that fits standard size hole plugs in the molding itself. I will then mount the moldings to the small door panel and secure them from the back side. Then I will mount the panel on the door, ***** them into place through the hole, then put a standard black hold plug in that hole.

Look down at the hole in the panel without the molding and you will see the door handle assembly does not align with the cover. This is whey they do not work. I am have not looked into how the handle assembly mounts to door yet. Maybe be able to shim it to match the angle of the cover also.
 
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