I went with Dawn Enterprises for the side protector on my 2015. It has worked out well for me and easy to install.

Mark

Dawn Enterprises Black Protective Body Side Molding for 2014 2015 Kia Soul | eBay

I also installed some 1" molding around the wheel wells.

 

I went with the Dawn Enterprises for the side protector on my 2015. It has worked out well for me and easy to install....

Me too, works fine, easy install.

 

That looks great. Thanks for sharing! Where did you get the wheel well molding? EBay as well? Looks great!

 

Check out the link below.

Mark

Wheel Well Mouldings Moldings 25 ft Roll Universal 1" Wide Matte Dull Black | eBay

 

Thanks so much for the link.

I admit my only worry is dirt and moisture getting trapped under the molding. I wonder if it would speed up rusting and possibly void the Kia rust warranty.

Either way they look great and I am leaning towards them.

Great looking Soul!

Be well. Brad

 

I ordered the side mouldings off eBay. Thanks for the link.

 

I talked to my Kia dealer today and he said that installing aftermarket body side moldings would not affect my warranty unless the adhesive caused any paint damage, in which case the paint damage would not be covered. Does anybody have any experience long-term with aftermarket, adhesive-based moldings? Especially in a hot climate like good ol' Texas?

 

Another question has occurred to me. It looks like the first gen Soul had the molding down low. I see Dawn's product pix show it high. Any success or failure stories either way?

 

I have the SportWing version because I used them previously on my Honda Element. They worked well for that model and so far they're doing well on my Soul. I put them up higher on my door, because we have a lot of trucks and suv's where I live and those doors would make a "ding" higher on the door. I am a little ambivalent as far as the look of my Sportwings. I like the thick black look of MarkM's moldings, but I needed higher placement of my moldings so I went with the painted skinnier ones to blend in better. The rear molding was 2 inches too short (probably to fit on the lower part of the door), but I was in a hurry to get them on, instead of exchanging them. Overall, the look slenderizes the "fatness" of the Soul which I like, and it has a more unique appearance. When I called SportWings to ask about the placement of the moldings, they said you can choose any height, so I went about 1 inch lower than their instructions indicated. Hope this helps.

 

Can you post a photo? I want to decide what to do before my beauty gets any dings.

 

Sportwing Side Moldings

My car was too dirty to post more photos of my Sportwing side moldings. Hope this image will help you to decide. I know most people in this forum will probably not prefer the look of these moldings, but they protect my car better than the lower ones would. Also, if you like these and want to put them up high like I did, request that they make the back ones 2-3 inches longer. My back ones are 19 inches.

 

It seems to me that over the years people have gotten better about swinging their doors into other cars. I had my A4 for nine years without any dings. I did get a nasty ding in a 2004 Maximal I used to own and I had one of those paintless dent removers take it out and the results were really good. After that experience I did the same with a used A8 I purchased that had to small hood dings. Again, really good results. For me, given these experiences, I stopped considering side molding and hire a paintless dent remover for the occasional ding

 

I think they look fine. I agree they look like they are in a good place to protect.

 

Great info, thanks. I haven't made a decision yet.

 

I too have never gotten any dings .
The major reason I like the side mold is that is breaks up the rather boring slab size-one color.
Maybe it is just "insurance" for some people?

Molding came standard on my Gen1 2013.
Looks wise,take care in getting molding in the correct size to be in proportion to the vehicle.
IMO,the Sportwing mold is too thin. The Dawn mold looks about right.