graveshb
Go Kart Champion
For more information on removing the door panels from the door, and the door cards from the door panels: http://golfmk6.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1669878#post1669878
When I got my car last spring I was looking for things to do to my car that were relatively cheap. I liked the idea of recovering the door cards with a fake suede, and found some cheap material at a joann fabrics. I hadn't ever done interior upholstery work, and while the cheap material actually looked decent IMO, I did a poor job on it, and the fabric was sagging away from the door cards. It had been bugging me for a while, and I finally decided a month ago to recover them. I had seen on the forum that JPM Coachworks sold the interlagos fabric by the yard, and I fell in love with the idea of covering the door cards with it. I searched to see if anyone had done it, but all I could find was this pic of a mkv, but I figured the design of the door card didn't lend itself to being covered in plaid.
I spoke with Joe from JPM, he was super helpful, gave me some pointers on what glue to use, and seemed more than happy to lend advice if I needed any. I ordered one yard of the interlagos fabric, and it proved to be more than enough to cover the door cards.
It cost me $105 for the interlagos shipped, $12 for the recommended 3M #90 spray adhesive, and $4 for the 5 minute epoxy to glue the door cards back in. $121 in total.
I don't have the pics for a complete DIY, but I'm sure you can find a DIY on how to remove the inner doors. I forget where I learned how to, its been a while, but anyhow. Once you remove the inner doors, you can access the door cards. They are plastic welded onto the inner doors, and when I removed them the first time, last spring, I used vice grips to squeeze the top tabs together in order to free up the door cards, and I drilled out the circular lower plastic welds. Once the door cards have been separated from the inner doors I disassembled the two halves of the door cards to make covering them easier.
Got the fabric about 3 days after it shipped out:
The fabric is actually backed with a little bit of foam.
I cut out generous sections of fabric so that I wouldn't run into any issues.
Prior to my first attempt at recovering the door cards, I hadn't ever used an aerosol adhesive, and I didn't realize that it emitted what my friend described as spiderman's web. This picture doesn't really show it too well, but it definitely has some substance to it, its not just a misting.
I sprayed one very generous coat of the adhesive to both the door card, and the back of the interlagos fabric then per instructions waited until the glue was tacky, or about 2 minutes, and then pressed the fabric onto the door cards, making sure the fabric was adhering well, and there weren't any wrinkles.
After I glued the fabric onto the door card halves, I cut the excess off with a razor knife and scissors, making sure to leave plenty of excess so that I wouldn't have any areas showing that weren't covered. Then I reassembled the door cards, here I have 3 of the four done.
After I had all four done and put back together, I epoxied them back into the inner doors. I applied the epoxy, and let the door cards sit with weight on them for a bit. I also put a few drops of super glue on top of the epoxy to help it set quicker. After the epoxy had set I put the inner doors back on, and personally I'm thrilled with the results. I really like how it adds character to the mostly monotone interior, and I think the fact that our door cards are two separate pieces is why it looks better IMO than the mkv that I found a picture of. I didn't get the pattern to line up perfectly between the two halves, but I honestly think I like it better the way I have it. It keeps the two halves from blending together visually.
I've got about a third of a yard left of the interlagos, and if anyone has suggestions of things I should try to cover with it, please let me know. I was thinking maybe a shift boot, or I could do the sunshades, or like I said, any ideas are welcome. Thanks in advance.
Final installed pics(sorry all I have are cell phone pics):
Also wound up recovering my arm rest, hand stitched the pieces together and replaced the foam that was on there with some thicker foam, much more comfortable :thumbsup: [url="http://www.golfmk6.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1951901#post1951901]post here[/url]
When I got my car last spring I was looking for things to do to my car that were relatively cheap. I liked the idea of recovering the door cards with a fake suede, and found some cheap material at a joann fabrics. I hadn't ever done interior upholstery work, and while the cheap material actually looked decent IMO, I did a poor job on it, and the fabric was sagging away from the door cards. It had been bugging me for a while, and I finally decided a month ago to recover them. I had seen on the forum that JPM Coachworks sold the interlagos fabric by the yard, and I fell in love with the idea of covering the door cards with it. I searched to see if anyone had done it, but all I could find was this pic of a mkv, but I figured the design of the door card didn't lend itself to being covered in plaid.
I spoke with Joe from JPM, he was super helpful, gave me some pointers on what glue to use, and seemed more than happy to lend advice if I needed any. I ordered one yard of the interlagos fabric, and it proved to be more than enough to cover the door cards.
It cost me $105 for the interlagos shipped, $12 for the recommended 3M #90 spray adhesive, and $4 for the 5 minute epoxy to glue the door cards back in. $121 in total.
I don't have the pics for a complete DIY, but I'm sure you can find a DIY on how to remove the inner doors. I forget where I learned how to, its been a while, but anyhow. Once you remove the inner doors, you can access the door cards. They are plastic welded onto the inner doors, and when I removed them the first time, last spring, I used vice grips to squeeze the top tabs together in order to free up the door cards, and I drilled out the circular lower plastic welds. Once the door cards have been separated from the inner doors I disassembled the two halves of the door cards to make covering them easier.
Got the fabric about 3 days after it shipped out:
The fabric is actually backed with a little bit of foam.
I cut out generous sections of fabric so that I wouldn't run into any issues.
Prior to my first attempt at recovering the door cards, I hadn't ever used an aerosol adhesive, and I didn't realize that it emitted what my friend described as spiderman's web. This picture doesn't really show it too well, but it definitely has some substance to it, its not just a misting.
I sprayed one very generous coat of the adhesive to both the door card, and the back of the interlagos fabric then per instructions waited until the glue was tacky, or about 2 minutes, and then pressed the fabric onto the door cards, making sure the fabric was adhering well, and there weren't any wrinkles.
After I glued the fabric onto the door card halves, I cut the excess off with a razor knife and scissors, making sure to leave plenty of excess so that I wouldn't have any areas showing that weren't covered. Then I reassembled the door cards, here I have 3 of the four done.
After I had all four done and put back together, I epoxied them back into the inner doors. I applied the epoxy, and let the door cards sit with weight on them for a bit. I also put a few drops of super glue on top of the epoxy to help it set quicker. After the epoxy had set I put the inner doors back on, and personally I'm thrilled with the results. I really like how it adds character to the mostly monotone interior, and I think the fact that our door cards are two separate pieces is why it looks better IMO than the mkv that I found a picture of. I didn't get the pattern to line up perfectly between the two halves, but I honestly think I like it better the way I have it. It keeps the two halves from blending together visually.
I've got about a third of a yard left of the interlagos, and if anyone has suggestions of things I should try to cover with it, please let me know. I was thinking maybe a shift boot, or I could do the sunshades, or like I said, any ideas are welcome. Thanks in advance.
Final installed pics(sorry all I have are cell phone pics):
Also wound up recovering my arm rest, hand stitched the pieces together and replaced the foam that was on there with some thicker foam, much more comfortable :thumbsup: [url="http://www.golfmk6.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1951901#post1951901]post here[/url]
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