I don't like asking noobish sounding questions, but I have no idea
what to search for. I've tried "vinyl" "vinyl padding" "vinyl doors" "vinyl how to" "vinyl instruction"......
2nd gens have a recessed, carpeted area on the door panel. Its just glued directly to the plastic door panel, no backing piece or anything. Heres a pic (yes its old, but its the best one I have of the door)-
I want to recover this area with vinyl to match the recovered upper panels (they're not recovered in the pic). I've tried two different ways to do it,
1) I cut a piece of 1/8" MDF to the shape of the area, put a layer of headliner material on it, and then wrapped it in vinyl. I used some little metal tabs through holes I drilled in the door panel to hold it to the panel, similar to the factory method. It ended up being too thick and the window crank was rubbing on it. I had an extremely difficult time getting the crank back off it was so thick. I considered doing this again, minus the headliner, but I'm afraid it won't be padded enough.
2) I simply cut a piece of vinyl to the shape of the area and glued it on, but it doesn't look "finished" because the bare edge of the vinyl is showing.
Does anyone have any ideas? Some method of covering this area? I'm looking for a padded surface, similar to recovering the upper panels. Even pointing me in the right direction for my searching would help. Thanks.
Why not just remove the panels that are already there and wrap then in vinyl? Fold it under so you can't see the edges and then secure it in place.
Did you attach your mdf pieces over the stock ones or did you remove the stock pieces first?
The problem is that there isn't any panels (cardboard, or otherwise). The carpet was just glued right to the door panel plastic. I re-wrapped the upper panels no problem, but the carpeted area on the door (around the window crank) is an issue.
What about cutting the hole where the window crank is..........instead of making a hole for the metal part that's say 1/4", cut a hole for the whole crank handle to fit into 1 and 1/2"????? or is that what you did, and it still rubs?
Jason
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Ah... now it all makes sense. The Sunfire's got the same sort of thing in the same spot. When you're using carpet, the pile does a great job of masking the edges so you can just stick a slab down and have it look fine.
Not at all true for something like vinyl where the edges are clearly visible.
If you can't put a panel in there, due to the window crank, you might consider trying to cover up the edging with some piping or other trim material. You'll have to look around to find something that fits.
Alternatively, depending on the thickness of the panel, you may be able to cut a groove and jam the edges down into it. That would probably look best, but may also be impossible since I doubt the panel is more than a couple mm thick.
Luckily, Trenz made a trim piece for the Sunfire one so I could easily cover the edges of the leather I used there.
2NVUS4U wrote:What about cutting the hole where the window crank is..........instead of making a hole for the metal part that's say 1/4", cut a hole for the whole crank handle to fit into 1 and 1/2"????? or is that what you did, and it still rubs?
Jason
Thats a good idea. I'll try it and see, but I don't think I'll be able to get the crank back off since there would be no room to slide the tool in......
Wild Weasel wrote:If you can't put a panel in there, due to the window crank, you might consider trying to cover up the edging with some piping or other trim material. You'll have to look around to find something that fits.
Alternatively, depending on the thickness of the panel, you may be able to cut a groove and jam the edges down into it. That would probably look best, but may also be impossible since I doubt the panel is more than a couple mm thick.
I like the piping idea, then I can carry it out into other spots to make it flow. You're right, the panel is pretty thin, but maybe I can add a layer of plastic to it and then groove it.
I may even try to extend the crank shaft or find a different crank altogether. Thanks for the ideas guys!
thinking weasel was hitting it abou groving it but i dont think u will have enough room either, if u can cut that piece out then fabricating some connector pieces on the back side with abs you coul wrap the plastic piece itself. slide it in there and mount it with your mounting tabs. wont be easy to do right, but will give you the best results if u do it right.
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