Replacing cloth on door panels?

[GnatGoSplat]

Has anyone replaced the cloth on the 99+ deluxe door panels with anything different?
I want to replace mine with leather, but I don't know how much trouble that's going to be. The cloth on there now seems glued pretty tight, and it's also tucked in at the edges.

BTW, I'm talking about the cloth area above the armrest and around the manual lock.

[Stabbin97Tahoe]

Ummm...I believe LowHoe did this to his Tahoe. He took some leather and just wrapped it around the cloth. You might want to PM him and see, I may be wrong though.

[MattH]

I'm about to do the inserts on my '98. I was planning on using some 3M spray adhesive and tucking in the edges. If I can't tuck, I guess I'll take the door panels off and remove/reinstall the inserts - although I'm sure the fasteners will break! I'm trying to cover the surround for the door handle also.

I got my leather from Ebay. It's not the same exact neutral tan color as my seats but I think it will look nice two tone. My wife's car is like that.

Good luck -
Matt

P.S. I tried to buy the leather door inserts only from Katzkin but it didn't work out.

[SLMDLT1]

I am going to do mine in my 96, but I couldnt get those fasteners off on the back and they broke. I am waiting on new doorpanels from the junkyard so that I can try again. Anyone know where to get those replacement fasteners or the correct way to take them off (if there is one).

[mattsmith467]

how hard is it to replace the fabric on a 93

[97OKCZ71]

To replace the small door panel inserts on the 95-98 era Chevy interior the door inserts actually pop out. They just have plastic clips that if you apply enough pressure pop out and it actually comes all the way out. If you dont want to do it that way you remove the door panel, lay it flat, put the piece of leather or vinyl (vinyl easier to work with) on it and trace the shape. Then cut out about a 1/2 an inch from the shape all the way around. Spray upholstery glue on the cloth portion of the door and then across the back of the leather piece. Let it tack up for about 5 mins or so. Then place the piece over top and get some kind of soft rubber stuffing tool... the tools that the graphic shops use is a great one. Anyways a spatula could work if it was thin enough and you didnt mind gettin the tip bent up a bit. Start stuffing the edges down inside the crack. It WILL hurt your hands, but its not impossible by any means. I popped out my door inserts completely and its must easier that way, but either way you go it should look really good.

[mattsmith467]

what about my 93 i want to do some stuff to my interior. its all stock except for my gauges. and stock sucks

[SLMDLT1]

Originally posted by 97OKCZ71
To replace the small door panel inserts on the 95-98 era Chevy interior the door inserts actually pop out. They just have plastic clips that if you apply enough pressure pop out and it actually comes all the way out..

How did you do this without breaking the tabs all off from the insert itself? I would REALLY like to know.

[GnatGoSplat]

Is it not possible to remove the original cloth? That would provide a lot more room to tuck the edges.
The 99+ panels are 1-piece in that area, so unfortunately I can't remove just the upholstered part.

[97OKCZ71]

For everyone doing this... DO NOT REMOVE THE CLOTH. Behind the cloth is just plastic and it is HARDER then hell to get the leather or vinyl to glue to plastic. I know a few customers of mine that have done that and it has turned into a giant problem because they couldnt get it to stick.

Anyways the plastic tabs on the 95-98 interior, what I did with mine is take a razor blade and if you look on the back on the door panel you will see how it has a few ridges that pop into the holes on the door panel and hold the insert there. I cut off a few of those ridges, but not all the way just a little bit to get a little movement. Then I pushed the plastic tabs threw the holes one at a time and the insert should pop out. Glue the leather piece on then staple the edges onto the back. I cant guarantee perfect luck with this process because things happen in between like any install like stripping a screw or losing a bolt or something.

But if worse comes to worst then what you do is cut the heads of the plastic tabs off a bit. Take some very big headed screws with a shallow drive and actually screw into where the plastic tabs are threw the holes in the back of the door panel. It should pull tight and this is what a lot of professional upholsterers do when the door insert has a plastic weld in the case of the 99+. I wish I had taken some pictures of my door panels while I did them. Anyways feel free to ask me any more questions that you have, but just to let everyone know. The cut and tuck behind the insert method is the safest even though it is definitely a b@tch on the hands to do. PM if you need any more help.

[97OKCZ71]

Note: PUSH THE TABS FROM THE BACKSIDE OF THE DOOR INSERT. Don't pull on the insert because it will just crack in half and then its really a bunch of poo. If you just apply constant pressure from the back of the door panel the insert should pop out without damage anything but those little ridges, and as long as a few of those are left when you push it back in it should hold well enough to never cause any problems. You can always take a hot glue gun though if you really want and add a few more inches of plastic to hold it in place.

[SLMDLT1]

Yea I didnt really think about running the screws into the plastic pieces, but that should work well. I will try that out tomorrow. Thanks.

[97OKCZ71]

Welcome... anytime. Good thing about screws is that once you got the screws in you can just unscrew and rescrew at will so you can rewrap the door inserts at any time. Gotta love those GM Door Panels... TONS OF ROOM BEHIND THERE!! I got two decent size crossovers under the armrest. Its great.

[mattsmith467]

i guess ill just live with my stock door panels :bawl:

[97OKCZ71]

Unfortunately I dont have any experience with the 93 doors, but anything is possible. If you sent me an e-mail with pictures of your door panels front and back I might be able to give you a few clues on the install. I used to have a 92 Full Size Blazer, but I never messed with those door panels. Anyways I might be able to help ya with a few pictures and material to recover them. I can get pretty dang close on color matching with my vinyls here and its pretty cheap at $15 a yard (which should definitely cover both with more left over in case you mess one up the first time).

[97OKCZ71]

BTW anyone who didnt know already. Those plastic fasteners are pieces of crap and break EVERY time you remove the door panel (well at least a few). Dont go to the junkyard. The plastic fasteners, GM Dealerships will sell for fairly cheap. I bought like 50 of them because I remove my door panels alot and it turned out to be like 20 bucks or something. I mean the price is still outrageous for plastic pieces of crap, but the junkyards will just try and sell ya the whole door panel and its a waste of time. They are meant to break when you remove the door panel.

[SLMDLT1]

Alright, here's a good question. How do you put the clips back in? They are this odd looking shaped base and I couldnt work them back in correct. Any ideas?

[97OKCZ71]

In the metal door frame itself are some white plastic pieces (bases) that the long snaps slide into. If you pulled the long snaps out a lot of times the piece in the door is broken and it wont grab the long snap again. The way the whole white plastic snaps come from GM are with those bases already partially on the long piece. So you need to buy the new pieces and break the plastic bases that are in the metal door free so that its just the metal hole for the new one to go in.

If you arent talking about how the plastic pieces attach on the back of the door panel it should just be little pieces of the door panel with slots in them that the new plastic pieces just slide in and then you line them up with those metal holes all the way around and just push. The new plastics bases should pop into the holes and then you push a little more and that long piece will slide down inside that base of the plastic and tighten.

Does this make any sense at all? If it doesnt let me know and I will try and maybe get some pictures to help explain.

[SLMDLT1]

Thanks, but I have replaced those clips many times. I was talking about the ones for the cloth insert itself.

[97OKCZ71]

Ok I just wasnt sure because I have never ran into any of the actual plastic clips on back breaking, but yeah... anyways... the screws is the way to go. I am not sure what you mean by

"How do you put the clips back in? They are this odd looking shaped base and I couldnt work them back in correct. Any ideas?" .

You basically just drive screws into whatever plastic piece is available, I have never had to do this on the 95-98 panels because I've never had those things break off. I know the screw you are going to have to find to use that is going to be insanely retarded looking, but you shouldnt reattach the plasics on back. The new screws are your clips now.

Another option you might go with is take the broken pieces with a hot glue gun and melt it back together. It should hold well enough, but if you ever tried to pop them out again they would break.

[MattH]

I just did the door inserts this weekend on my '98. Literally took me about an hour or less.

It was so much easier to take off the door panels. I layed them face down on a blanket and carefully pushed each white plastic clip through with the tip of a flat blade screw driver.

Sprayed 3M adhesive on the leather and the cloth insert and stretched the leather over the insert. Turned the insert over, sprayed more adhesive around the edges on the backside of them and folded over the leather onto the plastic.

Put the inserts back on the door panels and gently but firmly pushed each clip back in. Not one of them broke. Looks nice.

I can't post pics right in this post can I? I tried and the files were too big.

Matt

[97OKCZ71]

I'm VERY happy to hear that. Yeah the door panels were a ******* if you tried to just do the tuck method, but since they pop out easily... they are CAKE. They are some of my favorite to do because they have a good "different" shape to them then most door panels and they are eaaaaaaaaasy cheesy. Anyways glad it worked out. Would love to see some pics.

[MattH]

I can't figure out how to post pics. The rules when you post say the attachments can't be more than 1 byte????? I know I've seen some posts about how to post pics before, but I can't find them.

[mattsmith467]

Originally posted by MattH
I can't figure out how to post pics. The rules when you post say the attachments can't be more than 1 byte????? I know I've seen some posts about how to post pics before, but I can't find them.

i know how you feel i can never post pics either.

[rjwms]

Reduce the size of your picture (dimension wise).

[SMALFREY]

Is this the same process to replace the cloth on the bottom of the door on the 95-98 style door panels?

[Beastwatcher]

Originally posted by MattH
I can't figure out how to post pics. The rules when you post say the attachments can't be more than 1 byte????? I know I've seen some posts about how to post pics before, but I can't find them.

Email the pics to me at gregory13lil@hotmail.com and I will post the pics for you!! We all wanna see them :head:

[MattH]

Smalfrey - I think the bottom carpet is glued on. I don't remember exactly what it looked like when I took the door panels off - but I'm pretty sure it's glued.

Beastwatcher - thanks, I have the pics on my home pc. I'll send them later or tomorrow.

[LowHoe]

OK i want to see some pics, I have been pondering this for a while and need to do something soon, i have some grey pleather just waiting to be put on. so please post some pics so i have a better idea what you exactly did, im still a litte confused.

Thanks alot :rocking:

[MattH]

I forgot the pics again, sorry - tonight or tomorrow.

The leather is a lighter color than the factory, but I think it looks nice two tone. I think I'll get some more and do some places in the back too.

I got the leather on ebay for like $8.00!!!!

Matt

[FSCparrothead]

Pictures Please, I am thinking about doing it myself since you guys are making sound so easy. I went to a shop and they wanted 300 :bash: to do it. i have the vynal sitting my garage right now. i would just need to go to the dealership and buy some of the plastic clips first. Which clips would i have to get by the way?

[MattH]

I sent some pics tonight to beastwatcher - hope the files weren't too large.

Thanks again Beastwatcher!

[Beastwatcher]

I am dowlading pics now!! Jesus what kinda camera do you have is that a 5.5 megapixel digicam these are big pics!!:cussing: :kidding: :D

[Beastwatcher]

OK here goes onehttp://images.cardomain.com/member_img_a/202000-202999/202101_41_full.jpg

[Beastwatcher]

PIC 2
http://images.cardomain.com/member_img_a/202000-202999/202101_42_full.jpg

[Beastwatcher]

pic 3http://images.cardomain.com/member_img_a/202000-202999/202101_43_full.jpg

[MattH]

Thanks for the help. I don't know what the deal was with these pics. We just got a new camera and when I edited them at home on the Kodak software, they were a normal size. I emailed them to myself at work and when I opened them up they were HUGE! Sorry about that - I changed the size of them using MS Paint.

Matt:crazy:

[LowHoe]

AWESOME job, I didnt think that that whole insert poped out, i guess i will have to take off my doors and see about that

thanks for the pics great job again

:rocking:

[Beastwatcher]

No probs on the pics!! Anytime!!

[BC Rod and Custom]

What else can you cover? I was thinking about the trim piece for the window controls as well. What about covering the entire dash in leather? Any idea how much that would cost material-wise?

[LowHoe]

OK im having a few problems.....I looked all over for those plastic pieces and there was nothing, only the plastic connectors for the handle and surrounding outer plastic, but the cloth where you put the leather over was just glued on..... SO my dumb *** removed that, well i dont think thats how you did it, so could you PLEASE go into more detail on how you did this, or doyou have any install pics? Thanks alot, I need to fix this fast my door looks like garbage now.

[MattH]

I didn't take any install pics - I thought about it, but I just never bothered to go inside to get the camera - sorry.

1st - I tried to cover the door handle rings too but the bends were too tight and I couldn't get the leather to wrap around. Vinyl would probably work. I thought about the window controls but then realized there is that strip of plast that runs between the buttons and couldn't figure how to get around that.

2nd - I took off the door panels and layed them down on a blanket face down. When you look at the back of the panel, there are a series of white plastic 'nubs' around the perimeter of the insert. They are the tips of the plastics push in clips. I carefully pressed each one out with the tip of a flat blade screwdriver. When they were all pushed through, the insert just fell free from the panel. I can't imagine that any of the door panels would be different for the OBS.

3rd - I'm thinking of covering the plastic above the armrests in the back and the window trim piece below the rear window.

Thanks, good luck, and let me know exactly what yours looks like if you need help.

[97OKCZ71]

These are the pictures of my door inserts that I did a while back. I did them to match the black steering wheel and bezel around the gauges and everything. That way I would have a nice two-tone, and plus my leather interior should be done in a few weeks and I will have a gray with with inserts leather interior done also. I will get some pictures of that sometime... but until then... here are my doors...

http://www.leatherseats.com/Images/ChevyDoor1.jpg

This next one shows the match to the steering wheel and so forth.

http://www.leatherseats.com/Images/ChevyDoor2.jpg


Jeremy

[LowHoe]

alright i took off my door and took some pictures

you gotta click the links sorry, i cant figure out how to get the pics on here

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid61/pd957c43d4cc299167b57876bb1bb09ea/fc28e5e5.jpg


http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid61/pcc2d632a909e163cbcc3609fd884e6cd/fc28e588.jpg


http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid61/p0464d51b38819025b05a39f72e23fb85/fc28e52d.jpg



http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid61/pe3576d4dbd91a00bb3ce46aa0f255fd5/fc28e464.jpg

[MattH]

Nice job Jeremy - they look a little smoother than mine. I think I should've stretched the leather a little bit more.

Low Hoe - yep, they are different. What are those, the back doors? Looks like a little construction adhesive is needed to put yours back on - that stuff holds anything!! What year is your truck?

Matt

[97OKCZ71]

Thanks Matt. I do this stuff for a living so thats why they turned out pretty good. The key is upholstery glue and then start stapling in the middle and staple out from there because you can stretch it tight better.

LowHoe... you will definitely need some upholstery glue to get that back on. You can usually buy it at automotive stores but its sometimes are to find. Just make sure when you use it to let it tack up if you follow the instructions exactly (usually wait 5 mins for tackiness) the stuff is like CEMENT. Have fun UPHOLSTERING!!


-Jeremy

P.S. I am not exactly sure if upholstering is a word, but it works.

[LowHoe]

MattH -
yeah this is a rear door, and i have a 96 tahoe.

97OKCZ71 -
Thanks for the advice, I dont know what im gonna do bc im sure that im not gonna rip off the carpet on all 4 of my doors, Ill probably just get that upholstery glue you talk about. Are there any brands in particular I should look for? thanks yall. I might just end up getting those empire billet door inserts

http://www.empiremotorsports.com/Images/Door%20Panel%20Acc/410.jpg

[97OKCZ71]

LowHoe,

If it makes you feel any better... this is EXACTLY what professional upholstery shops do when they change a factory cloth truck over to a factory leather truck. So you havent messed anything up... you did exactly what a professional would have done. If you look at the door in the picture you can see the yellow junk... that is the same type of glue just they use brush on and you can get an aerosol can of it. Look for 3M Upholstery Glue although most upholstery glues seem to be very comparable in quality so if you cant find 3M... just grab another one and spray away. Just keep in mind what I mention earlier... let it tack up otherwise it doesnt cure nearly as fast or as well.

[LowHoe]

thanks for all that info, i think that im gonna try it out and work with that fake leather i got to see if i can make something work. as long as i get some of that certain glue.

maybe on the other door panels i will just try to peel back the cloth inserts a little to get some of that glue in there and make it wrap around, so i can save me some time and run less chance of actually screwing up.

Thanks again for all the insight