Hi Sandyuman,

That's interesting. I had assumed the sliding, tapered pin was designed to expand and lock the stud into the rocker panel after being applied. My procedure has always been to put the clips into the panel, push in the pins to lock them, and then tap on the molding.

Part of my rational for this is that I usually find the small flanges on the channel bent inward, and feel that this may be caused at the original installation when the molding is hammered over the clips.

If you're mounting the clips on the channel first, then it seems you would have to expand the studs before driving them into the rocker, and I'd be worried bout either breaking them, or shearing off some of the plastic and loosing some grip, as well as disturbing the paint around the holes. But there's no arguing with success.

Peter