1988 cougar LS side bump stripes
Reply #1 –
The side trim between the front and rear wheels are stuck on with heavy duty 3M tape. The trim in front and behind the wheels are fastened with nuts and can be accessed from the inner fender. I recommend leaving the trim in front and behind the wheels in place, or replace them. The bumper trim sticks out and looks a bit goofy and incomplete without those pieces. The inner trim, pull it, but be prepared to do some cleaning and sticky material removal, and possible repainting under it. No new trim pieces or much of anything specific to these cars is available new unless you can do some uber treasure hunting and score some good used, or NOS parts that show up from time to time.
To remove the three per side middle trim pieces, I've seen people just pull them off carefully, and some use a very strong, fine wire to run behind the trim and cut through the sticky tape on the back.