Ever since the White Cooper was finished after the restorarion I have been unhappy with the way the chrome trim was fitted along the bottom of the car (wheel arches and sill); it was fitted as two parts, one trailing the front arch and the sill, and the second only trailing the rear arch. To make matters worse, these parts were pop-riveted into place. This didn't look too great to begin with, but it is a known fact that this kind of trim is hard to get right, so it was accepted as a possibly acceptable compromise.
Well, it wasn't... After a while, the places where the pop-rivets had
punctured the trim started to look really horrible. I bought some trim
at the IMM in Norfolk (that's the 2004 edition), which we left lying
around in my parents garage for a while (not because that is a
particularly good idea, but out of hesitation of taking on the job).
Finally, two weekends ago we gathered enough courage to try and take it
on. We heard all the tips of having to use hot water to make the trim
more flexible, but than the point raises itself of how to get a
container large enough to get the entire length of the trim submerged.
So, we tried to get it straightened out in the bath tub (which works
fairly well) and then heating it with an electrical paint stripper set
to a lowish temperature (which works less well).
All in all, it worked sort-off, but not at all to my satisfaction. The
trim is on, but on the parts where it has to jump over from the wheel
arch to the body and back, it looks somewhere between "disappointing"
and "absolutely apalling". Last weekend, we planned to take the task on
again, with a new set of trim, but I blew it off for lack of having a
very well thought out plan. So, this is a to-be-continued. I may be
giving someone with a track-record of fitting this stuff some of my
hard earned cash to do it :)