Doors reupholstery

[Rsnail]

Hello guys, I have a plan to reupholster the material originally fitted to the door cards because it became a little loose over time, today wanted to do thw job and ran into a little issue, after removing the door card, at the back of it, wanted to remove the panel on which the beige material sits on, but noticed that the whole panes is somehow "glued" to the door card and no screws at the back of it so you can unscrew the panel that needs to be reupholstered, any ideas how to remove it to be able to reupholster it? Thank you.

[klarzy]

Originally Posted by Rsnail

Hello guys, I have a plan to reupholster the material originally fitted to the door cards because it became a little loose over time, today wanted to do thw job and ran into a little issue, after removing the door card, at the back of it, wanted to remove the panel on which the beige material sits on, but noticed that the whole panes is somehow "glued" to the door card and no screws at the back of it so you can unscrew the panel that needs to be reupholstered, any ideas how to remove it to be able to reupholster it? Thank you.

I think the panels you want to split are joined by melted plastic rivets.
I put a leather cover on one of mine and re-joined the parts with a soldering iron.

[Rsnail]

That's the exact thing I am talking about, klarzy, how did you split the panel you reupholstered from the door card? I was thinking about rejoining the panel back up using a hot glue gun, but firts I would like to know how to remove it without creating much damage that would be hard to restore back after

[klarzy]

Originally Posted by Rsnail

That's the exact thing I am talking about, klarzy, how did you split the panel you reupholstered from the door card? I was thinking about rejoining the panel back up using a hot glue gun, but firts I would like to know how to remove it without creating much damage that would be hard to restore back after

IIRC I used a 13mm drill bit to take the heads off of the existing melt points..

there was enough material left to remelt after

[Rsnail]

So basically you created a 13mm hole completely through the heads to unfiz the panel and then remelted the panel back on the card to fix it in place, right?

[klarzy]

Originally Posted by Rsnail

So basically you created a 13mm hole completely through the heads to unfiz the panel and then remelted the panel back on the card to fix it in place, right?

That's about it.

[trikey]

Klarzy’s method is the best way, the panels were ultrasonically welded when they were made.

Marinabrian has the hand held unit that was used for this job.

It somehow entered my possession a while ago... 🤣

[genpk]

Ive done a heap of these door panels.
As nentioned the door cards are basically held together by a number of hot plastic weld spots.
You need a fat drill bit and carefully just drill the tops of the plastic weld off.
Need to remove the arm rests etc, 4 bolts and a metal brachet.
You will find the door card is made up of 3 main panels, the top, the upholstered centre panel and the bottom door pocket.
You will also need to remove the speaker cover by again carefully drilling out a number of plastic spot welds.
When you pull the old material off the door panel you will find an orange sticky type of degraded foam glue stuck to it.
Scape as much off as you can then scrub the remainder off with water and detergent until totaly ckean as if you keave any of the orange gunk on it the panel any glue wont stick.
Let the panel dry completely before re upholstering it.Use a good high temp spray glue.
When i re assemble the door card i use very small galvanized self tapping tech screw with a large phillips head.
There are a few points along the bottom of the door pocket you need to be carefull you dont screw through the trim.
If you can re weld those points using a soldering iron that will be easier.

[Jim Jamieson]

I recovered the door panels on my Zircon Silver earlier this year but rather than drill out the plastic rivets I used the soldering iron to melt them enough to spring them clear. That way there was sufficient plastic to re weld them after retrimming. If any further material is required basically any spare pieces of simmilar plastic can be used. I used some black plastic from a spare seat.

To remove the old degraded foam I used gun wash cellulose thinners.
When reassembling the various panels I used some extra plastic welded into place to give it extra strength.

[Rsnail]

I will either try the self tapping tek screws method or glueing the spots back with a hot glue gun, but for the self tapping screw method, can you please tell me how long approx were the screws and what diameter do they have?