So the job started with ordering the vinyl from yourautotrim.com. As mentioned earlier, I ordered the 4-way stretch "all sport black" vinyl. Order as much as you think you need. 3 yards would probably be a minimum just in case you make a mistake. I also ordered a gallon of the vinyl cement. This is a must! Don't try to do the job with just a can of 3M #77 or #90. You'll most likely be sorry this summer with nasty bubbling. Some spray can adhesive (3M) comes in handy when you are wrapping the vinyl around to the back of the panel, but don't use it for the whole job. If you have a Harbor Freight close to you, pick up a heat gun and some disposable foam brushes to apply the vinyl cement.
Next comes the brave part. Disassemble your door panels and remove ALL hardware (all brackets, speaker grill, handles, etc...) While you could probably try to reupholster the door panel in one piece, unless you are a pro, getting the seams correct on the three section of door panel is very difficult to do. As an alternative, I actually took a cutoff wheel and separated the door panel into three pieces by cutting along the seams. I know I know, this is brave. You may want to buy an old set of door panels to reupholster and keep you stock ones in the original condition. Make sure to use the thinnest cutoff wheel you can so you don't remove much material from the door panel.
Now that you have the panel separated into three pieces, I carefully sanded any ragged parts of the cut down with my sander. A belt sander or orbital will work. Just be careful not to take off too much material.
Next comes the fun part, removing the old vinyl on the top two pieces. This takes some patience. A heat gun could help loosen up the factor adhesive. Just make sure not to overheat the panel and melt the vinyl. You could damage the panel! I got my heat gun from Harbor Freight. It is crucial to complete the job! Start at one corner and carefully begin pulling up on the edge of the vinyl. It will start to peel up in chunks while leaving behind a fabric surface that is perfect for the new vinyl to adhere to. Each piece of the door panel take around 1-2 hours to strip.
For the bottom carpeted pieces of the factory door panel, DO NOT attempt to remove the factory carpet. To carpet is backless and WELL adhered. You will most likely damage the door panel if you attempt to remove it. Take my advice! The panel looks fine if you simply adhere the vinyl over top the factory carpet. It actually looks nice and gives the vinyl some padding. This will also help prevent the vinyl from looking "dented" from hitting the safety belt latch. You will however want to take a dremel and carefully remove the carpet from the area where the speaker and speaker grill mount. If you lay vinyl over this area without removing the carpet, the grill my not fit after the job is done.
When reupholstering the panel, make sure the pieces are free of any debris or other damage that might show through the vinyl. Start by applying a good coat of vinyl cement to both the door panel and an appropriately sized piece of vinyl. You can be liberal on the door panel, but don't apply too much to the vinyl. If you saturate, it WILL MELT THROUGH THE VINYL! I found this out the hard way
Once you have applied the vinyl to both sides, let the pieces sit for a few minutes to tack up. Make sure the exterior temperature in your work area is at least 50degreesF. The cement doesn't work well in cold temps. You can use the heat gun to help speed up the tacking process.
Once the vinyl has tacked, begin apply the vinyl to the panel. Press down firmly with your hands. For compound curve areas, this is where the heat gun comes in handy. Heat the area of the vinyl you need to conform to the curve. This will also reactivate the cement and make it tacky again. Make sure not to heat too much! You will melt the vinyl! You would be surprised at how far the vinyl will stretch when heated. Getting the vinyl to conform to the curves involves alot of heating and stretching. Reapply a bit of cement to both sides if the vinyl isn't sticking properly to these areas. You must have patience when it comes to the compound curves.
After you have the visible portions of the panel upholstered, you need to stretch and adhere the vinyl around to the back of the panel. Make sure the back of the panel is clean! Some paint thinner works well for this. You can use the vinyl cement for this job, but I also found that the 3M 90 spray adhesive works well for this job (from your local hardware store). After you have the vinyl well adhered to the back of the panel, trim the excess and check over your work to make sure the vinyl doesn't easily pull up anywhere. If you get nervous, you can use a bit of hot melt glue to glue down the edges of the vinyl to provide a little extra "insurance" against the vinyl pulling up on a hot day.
For the bottom (carpeted part) of the door panel, I used 3M 90 for the whole job. The cement doesn't work well over carpet, but the spray adhesive works great! As I mentioned, don't attempt to remove the carpet unless you want a nightmare on your hands. Make sure to liberally apply the adhesive to the carpet and the vinyl and let it stand for around 5 minutes to tack up. Follow the same steps as the other two pieces using heat where needed to form the vinyl to the compound curves.
Once you have finished all three pieces, reattaching the pieces takes some patience as well. You will notice that after cutting the panel into three pieces, a "lip" of material was left behind that can be used to reattach them back together. I used some short stainless sheet metal screws and a right angle screwdriver to drive the screws. The result is a very sturdy connection that can be removed if you need to reupholster a piece in the future.
Hopefully this will give everyone and idea of what is involved. Might be a good winter project if your ok with being without door panels for a couple of weeks.
rimmie
