BEA vs METRO rear quarter trim for challenger

[femtnmax]

I have a right rear quarter OEM trim piece that needed work, so decided to upgrade to all new trim pieces.   So I bought a metro trim kit for rear quarters and trunk lid.  The metro pieces did not follow the OEM contour very well.  I read on this forum that BEA offers a trim kit that has well made parts, so I ordered their trim kit and compared it to the metro pieces.
Results are shown in the following photos.  The BEA has straight portions and sharp bends like the OEM, where the metro has no real straight areas where they should be and has lazy large radius bends that don't follow the crisp form of the OEM or BEA.
The first pic shows tracings of the 3 pieces, with the dashed lines of BEA closely following the OEM.  The second pic has OEM at bottom, BEA in the middle and Metro at the top.  Note the tight bends of the OEM and BEA, and the large radius bends of the Metro.
My vote is the BEA pieces are much better because they closely follow the OEM shape, and in my opinion the metro peices are not worth buying.

[70_challenger]

Interesting analysis - Thanks for sharing.  I did not know that BE&A had them - I'm sure theirs are top notch.

I actually bought the Metro pieces last year.  My problem was with the contour of the part from top to bottom, rather than the radius of the bends.  In other words, if I hold these corner pieces so that the edge lines up with the trunk lid molding, then the bottom of the molding is about 3/4 inch away from the car body.  The shape of the molding does not match the shape of the quarter panel.  I need to find a way to delicately bend the corner pieces, so that they can be mounted to the car.

Had I known that BE&A offered them, I would have bought theirs.  I look forward to hearing the experience of other people with these moldings.

-Tom

[wally426ci]

Thats good to know! thanks!

[burdar]

Your exactly right.  I bought the BE&A trim after reading a large post on Moparts about how badly the Metro trim fit.  Mike from BE&A is just about ready to release the Cuda tail trim also.

I have a couple pics of my trim that I will post.  The only difference from factory is that the BE&A pieces are shinier.  Unless you are doing an OE restoration, that should be a good thing.
 

[72hemi]

Excellent comparison. Thank you for doing this grunt work and sharing it with the rest of us.

[burdar]

Here are my pics.  The trim fits just like the origonals.

[quapman]

Excellent comparison. Thank you for doing this grunt work and sharing it with the rest of us.

I had no idea and hadn't heard any bad reviews for Metro until now.

[472 R/T SE]

The trim I bought from BEA had pin head bubbles on the trunk trim & quarter piece.  I sold the car so it's not my problem any more.

Mike's also not consistent with sending out the hardware for attaching to the car telling me he could send me a kit for a price.  A few folks on Moparts got theirs but I did not.  Only after I mentioned this did he offer to send the stuff & then asked what I needed.   Huh?

Mike's an asset to the hobby, don't get me wrong.  I guess I'm that one person.

[femtnmax]

problem was with the contour of the part from top to bottom, rather than the radius of the bends.  In other words, if I hold these corner pieces so that the edge lines up with the trunk lid molding, then the bottom of the molding is about 3/4 inch away from the car body.  The shape of the molding does not match the shape of the quarter panel.  I need to find a way to delicately bend the corner pieces, so that they can be mounted to the car.

I laid the metro pieces shinny side down on a flat,smooth hard surface with paper towel for cushion, then used metal hammer and rapped the "high" spots, working them down and blending with untouched areas.  In the end had good contact entire length of trim piece.

[femtnmax]

Mike's also not consistent with sending out the hardware for attaching to the car

His web site said hardware was included, but on the phone he said I'd have to buy it somewhere else.  I was like you....where does the truth lay???