I finished recovering the door panels with new vinyl. If I don’t say so myself, it looks very
good, even better than the original.
A couple of lessons learned during the process.
- Back the vinyl with some thin, and I mean very thin, foam rubber.
This smoothes the surface of the fiberglass and gives a luxurious look. - Use four hands. Having someone to help apply clamps while you pull
the vinyl into place makes the job almost easy - Use the high strength paint on contact adhesive. The normal
strength doesn’t bond as quickly and spray is hard to control - Use plenty of clamps. I used binder clips because they were the right size and cheap
- You need a little heat and a lot of patience when stretching the vinyl for the center cutout. I stretched the vinyl into place and let it sit overnight before releasing it long enough to let the contact cement set.
This post was written by
Jim – who has written 327 posts on UniBrain Trust.
Jim is the curator of UniBrain Motorsports, our resident photographer and the only one in the family to shoot a perfect 25. He enjoys eating Nadya's cooking and tries his best to stay out of her way while in the kitchen.