Door Cladding on the Sport (or other non-Wilderness trims)?

[bradapp]

I recently got a 2024 Subaru FOrester Sport and am looking at some 'protective' accessories.
I think I'm for sure interested in the Rear-Bumper cover [part# E771SSJ000] (anyone here have anuthing good or bad to share about it?).

I'm also interested in something that helps protect the doors from 'dinging' the side-body, like from a runaway shoppping cart, or in a tight-parking spot where the car next to me opens their door and 'dings' the side of my car. Looks there are two possibilities for that for my 2024 Forrester:

1.) Body-side molding [part# J101SSJ201] - this is a kit that must be paint-color-specific. It also looks kind of "thin" on the picture (maybe 2" wide at most) and I wonder how effective it really is?

2.) Door cladding [part# J101SSJ900] - this looks a lot wider than the side-molding (by at least 2X) and seems like it would be more effective. I also perosnally like the look better too.

But apparently the door-cladding is intended for a different trim (Wilderness) rather than my own (Sport).

Does that mean it can't/won't fit my Forester Sport (even if its the same make+model+year)? What would be different about the door size/shape/contour on the Wilderness trim that would make it not fit the Sport model at all?

 

[Dick Foster]

That would depend on whether it's applied with adhesive only or there are studs that require holes in the door skin. My guess is it's purely a stick on affair. The door skins will be the same as that requires tooling dies to stamp out the skins and those are going to be the same across all trim levels. Only paint colors and minor differences vary across trim levels.

 

[bradapp]

That would depend on whether it's applied with adhesive only or there are studs that require holes in the door skin. My guess is it's purely a stick on affair. The door skins will be the same as that requires tooling dies to stamp out the skins and those are going to be the same across all trim levels. Only paint colors and minor differences vary across trim levels.

Thanks DIck! I appreciate the quick reply. I'll see what I can find out about whether the cladding is adhesive-only!

 

[bradapp]

Turns out the fit+shape is different! Here is the followup I received from SubaruOnlineParts:

"The part [door cladding] will not fit due to differences in the vehicle's trim level. The Sport model features a smoother, shinier door trim, whereas the Wilderness model has a more rugged material. Additionally, the shape of the door cladding is not compatible with the Sport model’s trim—while the cladding is straight, the Sport model’s door trim has curves that prevent a proper fit."

So there is the (authoritative) answer!