Upper Door Panel Vinyl Crack

[SuperCoupe400]

Well, people, after months of ignoring it and wishing it would simply go away I finally contracted the dreaded tear-in-the-vinyl-at-the-top-of-the-driver's-side-door syndrome that is so problematic of the SCs. Thing is, when I first got my car 2 1/2 years ago I was pleasantly surprised that it hadn't happened yet. I fully intended on taking the door panel apart to reinforce the spot underneath where the rip usually occurs to elliminate the freeplay of the two panels that join together right at that spot.

But you know the story. We all do it. I end up just fartin' around and figured, "I'll do it later." :whistles: Which then turned into, "Oh-MANNN! I waited too late!" :cries: So here I am with the all-to-common rip in the pleather.

Has anybody here bothered fixing theirs? What did you use? I don't really want to go with the cheap auto store vinyl repair kit. There's gotta be something better on the market. Any suggestions?

[option00002]

I have been ignoring my rip, but am going to tend to it in the coming week. I know a guy who performs interior repairs primarily for dealerships. I have seen his work before and he can nearly make it invisible though I still think it is a vinyl repair. That said, stop into a dealership and ask them who does their interior repairs. I met this guy through a Volvo dealership. If you take my advice visit a high line dealer for the referral.

[SuperCoupe400]

...That said, stop into a dealership and ask them who does their interior repairs...

Yeah. I think I'll do that. Why don't you post some before/after pics of your pleather rip? I want to see how good a job this guy does on yours. It'd be interesting to see how close it can be brought back to new.

[option00002]

O.k,

I just scheudled it for Monday at 4:30 ... I will take photos.

Thank you for prompting me to light my own fire under my !Removed!.

-L

[option00002]

Here you go. :D

Unfortunately, I neglected to take the before photo but I am sure you can imagine it by comparing your own. You can still make out a slight line in this photo which is where the split was. It measured approx. 1'' and in the cold weather would separate the width of a clipped thumb nail.

Anyway, my friend had not seen it and upon inspecting it said I had two options.

a. I could have him remove the entire door panel, first fix the actual break from behind and then remount it before performing the vinyl repair. This was estimated at taking over an hour and at least $100.

b. He could fix it in 10 minutes for $40.oo and it would look pretty good. Further, if the repair fails in the future he will perform the more laborous repair for an additional $60.

I am not a fanatic and opted for option 'b'.

[SuperCoupe400]

Not bad. I think I'll do his "option 1" myself (taking the door panel off and binding the two panel sections together to reinforce them) then take it to a detailer to get the actual vinyl patched up. That way I'll know for sure that it won't split again in the future.

[option00002]

Oh... and FYI, it is approx. 14 degrees F in this photo and dropped to 1 degree last evening. That said, this is tightly stretched and may become even more subtle in warmer temps.

[SuperCoupe400]

Yeah, in fact this is probably the best time of year to get this type of rapair done - just because of the whole expansion/contraction thing happening with winter/summer temps. If it were patched up in the heat of summer, I'd surely expect it to tear loose come the first day below 32-degrees.

My tear is at least 1/8 inch at its widest point right now in 3-degree Michigan temps. But in the summer when everything's expanded it all but closes right up.

[option00002]

UPDATE:

I should have done the repair properly and removed the door panel. The repair has already split again...though admittedly still looks better <_< .

Once the weather improves I am going to repair it properly by removing the panel and sealing the crack.

[SuperCoupe400]

UPDATE:

I should have done the repair properly and removed the door panel. The repair has already split again...

Umph!

Stuff like this is what transforms the 'make it quick and dirty' people into 'do it right the first time' people. Yours truly included. I learned that valuable lesson years ago - the hard way, of course.

[schott1984]

So, what's the best way to bind the rigid plastic parts together? I was thinking of taking a piece of metal and bolting it to both pieces to they're tight. Both my panels are cracked, but the pleather is still intact. Anyone know a good tutorial showing taking the door panels off?