door cards recover DIY!

[albanator1979]

okay my first go at a DIY on this car and hope this helps some people.


Things needed:
Supper 77 spray by 3M
Space saver vacuum seal bags
Fabric (I used alcantara black)
Shop vac (any $2 hooker who can suck a golf ball through a garden hose)


Okay enough with the Jokes,

Step one: Pull door card off the door. Be easy so you don’t break the card.

Step two: Pull fabric off card.

Step three: Cut a pice of your fabric roughly about the same size of your fabric you pulled off the card.

Step Four: Spray The recessed section on both the card and fabric with Supper 77 and let sit for 3-5 min.

Step Five: Place the fabric over the card and press the recessed section down first, working your way out. Once you have that with no wrinkles start to spray the outer side and lay it flat. (Do not pull to hard other wise the fabric will pull off the recessed part).

Step six: Place full card in vacuum bag(You might think you can skip this step but, this keeps the fabric in place and tight as the adhesive cures.). Suck all the air out and pushing the wrinkles out from the visible section of the card. Let sit for a few hours if not over night.


[IMG]http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/2118/pa280001c.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/51/pa280001c.jpg/)
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Step seven: Pull card from bag.

Step eight: Put card face down and cut access away, leaving about 1/4 to 1/2 inch hangover.

Step nine: Spray hangover with Supper 77 and let sit 3-5 min.

Step ten: Fold hangover onto back and make sure you leave no wrinkles on edge.

[img\][IMG]http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/5049/pa280004.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/42/pa280004.jpg/)
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[img\][IMG]http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/4770/pa280008.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/202/pa280008.jpg/)
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Note: I did not get all of the wrinkles out of the plastic and you can see where the fabric wrinkled as a result. Over all everything is in place and seems to not be streached so hopefuly this will not pull away. hope you all enjoy...

[flyfishvt]

Looks good. Now if you only had a solution for the vinyl that pulls away from the map pockets on a coupe door panel.

[328 Power 04]

Looks good. Now if you only had a solution for the vinyl that pulls away from the map pockets on a coupe door panel.

A bigger vacuum bag? :D


But seriously, the vacuum bag idea is excellent. I can't believe it hasn't crossed my mind yet, I was thinking of using sandbags or water so that it would somewhat assume the shape, but this is way better.

[albanator1979]

lol beat me to it 328 power....lol.... yeah I used the vacuum bag on my old car and used real carbon fiber in my engine bay for show.

My old celica!!
[IMG]http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/8918/enginek.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/228/enginek.jpg/)
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I fig these cards would be easy doing it the same way. Just have to make sure you dont vacuum too much to distort the card itself. Putting your knee in the middle of it, while holding the shape of the card while smothing the wrinkle works! Hard but works. I did this quick so it did not turn out perfect like i wanted it to, but oh well. this is my first shot at using alcantara so this was a learning process for me. I still have 5 yards left over and will give it another shot! i will post up my pics of my other ones when they are done curing...

[318bud]

wow dude that looks real good i have black suede and i was wanderin how to install without wrinkles!!!
time for attempt #2 thanks for the DIY!!!!!!! so you start from top, middle or bottom of doorcard?

[albanator1979]

i started from the middle and worked out.

[318bud]

you dont really show pics of the finished curved end. whats the secret to get that end clean with no wrinkles? its very hard :(

[albanator1979]

gimmie me a few min I will upload a pic of what it is!!

[albanator1979]

Cut the curve part in many strips. If you were to fallow the contour of the curve hold the scissors straight out from the contour. Cut the fabric to the very edge but not to much that it will show on the front. Fold the fabric over one strip at a time (spray the back with the Super 77 and let sit for a min so the fabric sticks as you fold). Pull the wrinkles out but not to hard to the point you pull the fabric of the depressed section.

A picture of the back, see all the differant cuts..

[IMG]http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/827/pa300012.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/52/pa300012.jpg/)
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once finished the front will look like this.

[img\][IMG]http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/373/pa300013.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/849/pa300013.jpg/)
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hope that helped

[NJohc]

Make sure you leave the panels set for a while in the sun to make sure they dont come undone. Super 77 didn't hold for me. I was told by an uphlosterer to use something that says heat resistant on it. Hope it works out for you! Im tired of messing with them and just looking for new ones. lol