Tailgate lower trim damaged

PARTS USED:

1 x DGP000194LEP – Lower Tailgate Trim/Moulding – Tungsten

1 x DAB500270MBJ and 280MBJ Titanium Silver “RANGE ROVER” Lettering

The other half had parked the RRS in a private car park near home, nose-in to a bay, and had opened the full boot to load the youngster’s pram. She then took our (then) toddler to put him in the car leaving the boot open.

Thankfully out of the way, an open backed white truck, custom fitted with sides made from boards and scaffolding poles, reversed back along the ‘road’ badly enough to drag one of the scaffolding brackets along the top of the boot edge, neatly removing the letters from the tailgate trim/moulding and digging great scratches into it. It left me with the neat wording “RAN VER”. I hate to think what would have happened if they weren’t out of the way as the driver was completely oblivious (and failed to stop).

I looked for options and found that I could get a new trim and separate replacement lettering, or I could get a used trim with the lettering already attached bearing in mind it would be weathered already to match the rest of the car.

If I bought the new trim and lettering (see part numbers above), I would be responsible for ensuring the letter templates were in the right place on the blank strip. Sounded like too much trouble to me. Please note, these are the LR part numbers for the lettering and they are crazily expensive. You can find OEM lettering much cheaper elsewhere with the templates.

I found a used Tungsten trim with perfect Titanium lettering from an eBay shop in Germany and a few days later it arrived. I just searched for the moulding part number in Google and it popped up in eBay.

Removing the damaged one is a very very simple task. Starting at one end, prise the current trim away from the boot releasing the plastic clips. I was lucky that none on the car were broken and the used moulding had a full set already installed.

Once removed, the damage becomes more apparent and while I could have replaced the lettering, the deep scratches were never going to be repaired.

Give the area behind the trim a quick clean to remove dirt with a stiff brush and a double check to make sure all the clips are intact.

The replacement trim came with all the internal clips already fitted as it had been removed from another vehicle. I still had all the clips from the old trim if I had to swap any over.

Reinstalling the new, or rather replacement, trim is just the reverse. Starting at one end, line the first few clips up and a quick thump will make them take hold.

 Then work your way along the trim, thumping it at even points to reattach the other clips.

Once installed it looks good as new… Well as good as a nearly 15 year old RRS can look.