# What do you call that bit around a car that is usually about 1.5-2 inches thick... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 11, 2007, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-that-bit-around-a-car-that-is-usually-about-1-5-2-inches-thick/411433 "2007-07-11T23:14:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-that-bit-around-a-car-that-is-usually-about-1-5-2-inches-thick/411433/1 "2007-07-11T23:14:47Z")
And sometimes the same colour as the bumper (when the bumper is not the same colour as the car itself) and is usally at around half way between the top and bottom of the doors? ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-that-bit-around-a-car-that-is-usually-about-1-5-2-inches-thick/411433/2 "2007-07-11T23:18:03Z")
Side trim Door trim Auto trim Many names for one product. ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-that-bit-around-a-car-that-is-usually-about-1-5-2-inches-thick/411433/3 "2007-07-11T23:45:41Z")
That would be a molding. A rose by any other name… Oops! In your case, a moulding. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-that-bit-around-a-car-that-is-usually-about-1-5-2-inches-thick/411433/4 "2007-07-11T23:51:31Z")
Body side molding, and if it’s really broad, cladding. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2007, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-that-bit-around-a-car-that-is-usually-about-1-5-2-inches-thick/411433/5 "2007-07-12T13:18:42Z")
Beltline molding. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2007, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-that-bit-around-a-car-that-is-usually-about-1-5-2-inches-thick/411433/6 "2007-07-12T13:31:35Z")
My friends who worked in the car industry called it “cladding.” As in: “the cladding on the Aztec looks really cheap.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2007, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-that-bit-around-a-car-that-is-usually-about-1-5-2-inches-thick/411433/7 "2007-07-12T13:35:15Z")
I called it “horrid” when it applied to the foot wide trim on the late 80’s Pontiacs. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2007, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-that-bit-around-a-car-that-is-usually-about-1-5-2-inches-thick/411433/8 "2007-07-12T16:13:19Z")
[QUOTE=Hello Again] My friends who worked in the car industry called it “cladding.” As in: “the cladding on the Aztec looks really cheap.” 🙂 [/QUOTE] Also applies to Chevy Avalanche (half cladding, half truck.) ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2007, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-that-bit-around-a-car-that-is-usually-about-1-5-2-inches-thick/411433/9 "2007-07-12T16:19:28Z")
In the UK it would be called a valence. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2007, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-that-bit-around-a-car-that-is-usually-about-1-5-2-inches-thick/411433/10 "2007-07-12T16:33:35Z")
[QUOTE=casdave] In the UK it would be called a valence. [/QUOTE] Stupid valences! :smack: That’s why I got a D in Chemistry. 😕 :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Solfy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Solfy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Solfy)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2007, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-that-bit-around-a-car-that-is-usually-about-1-5-2-inches-thick/411433/11 "2007-07-12T17:51:28Z")
[QUOTE=Hampshire] I called it “horrid” when it applied to the foot wide trim on the late 80’s Pontiacs. [/QUOTE] I had one of those. I called it a dirt collector. Stupid grooves were a pain in the neck to clean. I did like that it gave me some protection against over zealous neighboring door openers in parking lots. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2007, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-that-bit-around-a-car-that-is-usually-about-1-5-2-inches-thick/411433/12 "2007-07-12T18:35:33Z")
Anything that attaches to the side of the car, other than paint / tape stripes is usually called a molding. If it is about half way up the door, it is sometimes called a belt line molding, or a rub strip. ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-that-bit-around-a-car-that-is-usually-about-1-5-2-inches-thick/411433/13 "2007-07-13T11:19:17Z")
Trim, molding, cladding, stripe, rub strip… Can’t you Anglos agree on a term ? 🙂