Open car door panel wrinkles
- Thread starter goldeneagle
- Start date
Joe K
Well-known member
Interior panel with a "leatherette" liner over a cardboard sheet?
Tough. Almost not worth messing with as a new liner is not that expensive.
The problem is everyplace that is "wrinkled" has lost adhesion between the lining and the cardboard. Restoring the liner to fit will invariably result in "smaller wrinkles" since the material of the wrinkle has obviously "stretched."
You could try Elmer's white glue in a hypodermic needle. "Inject" small amounts of glue along one edge and "rub" the glue in across the short dimension of the wrinkle. Then use a piece of felt or flannel and a steam iron to "heat" the liner and give it more flexibility to "compress."
You might even try this technique but "slit" the side opposite the glue inject to let air out - if the liner "overrides" the slit, perhaps the two layer of liner might not be noticeable once everything dries.
With the iron on a low heat it should dry pretty quickly.
But you have to settle yourself with the thought that "this is an experiment."
Joe K
Tough. Almost not worth messing with as a new liner is not that expensive.
The problem is everyplace that is "wrinkled" has lost adhesion between the lining and the cardboard. Restoring the liner to fit will invariably result in "smaller wrinkles" since the material of the wrinkle has obviously "stretched."
You could try Elmer's white glue in a hypodermic needle. "Inject" small amounts of glue along one edge and "rub" the glue in across the short dimension of the wrinkle. Then use a piece of felt or flannel and a steam iron to "heat" the liner and give it more flexibility to "compress."
You might even try this technique but "slit" the side opposite the glue inject to let air out - if the liner "overrides" the slit, perhaps the two layer of liner might not be noticeable once everything dries.
With the iron on a low heat it should dry pretty quickly.
But you have to settle yourself with the thought that "this is an experiment."
Joe K
goldeneagle
Junior Member
Any suggestion on suppliers? We may have different opinions of cheap ��
Joe Ks suggestions are good, and I’d try them first. But the bubbles are pretty large and numerous. I’d try an easy fix on a couple bubbles, and if no success, I’d carefully pull the covering off the panel and re-stretch the covering over a new panel and start over. It’ll be tough to find a covered panel that’ll match your other panels and seats, and it looks like the panel is simply a cardboard panel covered with the same vinyl as the seat. So peeling the vinyl off without stretching the vinyl too much, and gluing to a new panel (or the old one properly prepped for smoothness) would work.
FWIW, I use 3M 77 or 3M 90 spray adhesive (whatever I happen to have on hand) to do panels like this. I find that using spray adhesive makes it much easier to get an even coat so that the adhesive doesn't contribute to wrinkles. Also, in my experience using a water-based adhesive like Elmers tends to curl the underlying cardboard around the glue surface, leading to cupping of the panel.
You are fortunate to have the original panel to use as a template. Should not be too difficult to find some thin masonite or something to use as a new backing if you can't use the old one.
You are fortunate to have the original panel to use as a template. Should not be too difficult to find some thin masonite or something to use as a new backing if you can't use the old one.
German guy
Senior Member
I tried a variety of methods to conquer that issue and surrendered. It resulted in my buying some really nice thin and flexible pressed board with double sided lamination which lent itself well to replacement fabric and was easy to spread adhesive very evenly so that the fabric would not sag. Be sure to use a flexible adhesive and allow it to set overnight. While panel is off...be sure to install sound deadening material (the spongy egg carton variety) to the metal skin. It makes a world of difference in heat as well as sound. Once you do that to the whole car you can actually hold a conversation at a civilized volume level.