captcashew

All-

I've got some of the carpeting on the lower portion of my driver side door that is sagging. I was going to use some adhesive to glue it back on (seems to be on some particle board or something like that, but it would be easier to do this if I could get the bottom door card off and do it away from the door. I see lots of instructions about how to remove the whole door to get to speakers or the window motor, but is there a way to remove just the lower portion without having to do all the steps for the full removal (i.e. not having to take off lock ****, etc.?

I think I'll have to do the whole deal, but thought I'd check first to see if anyone had any luck.

-Bill

borland

Yes, its best to remove the panel and reglue the carpet with spray-on contact cement.

The panel comes off very easily with the proper tools.

HFT used to sell a door panel removal kit like this... Sold on eBay too..



The tool on the left allows inserting at each clip location along the perimeter of the panel, so you can pry and release each plastic clip free from the door with the panel. If you use your fingers to pull the panel, you will likely pull the panel off without the clip or damage the composite wood panel. You can also use the tool by inserting it in order to find the location of each clip.

SQLGuy

The door panel is one piece. You need to remove the whole thing.

I picked up a pair of these pliers (http://www.thetoolwarehouse.net/p-14...ools-3705.aspx) from my local Advance Auto Parts. They help quite a bit.

By the way, make sure that whatever adhesive you use is rated for high temperatures. A lot of the more easily available contact cements and spray adhesives will melt inside a parked car in the summer. Pliobond is available from ACE Hardware, and does take high heat. Others have reported finding some 3M spray products that stood the heat... though when I tried 3M 77 on a hood liner, it did not hold.

captcashew

So, not to be too dense, but it sounds like one of you is saying I can do just the panel part and one is saying I have to do the whole thing? Or am I misunderstanding that? I do have a cheap plastic auto trim & molding tool set I picked up at HFT a while ago. The father-in-law actually said it was a really good deal, so I picked it up. Not exactly the same as the ones borland mentions, but close. In fact, these seem to be them:

http://www.harborfreight.com/5-piece...set-67021.html

But again, do I have to do the whole door or can I get away with just the lower part?

SQLGuy

The lower part cannot be removed separately. You have to remove the whole door panel.

You don't have to re-glue everything... but you will probably find the vinyl or leather to be coming loose as well as the carpet.

captcashew

Cool. Thanks. Yeah, I have some contact cement already from when the leather on the rear center console was coming off and it seemed to work great. (I don't have rear A/C, so at least that is one less headache I need to worry about).

MainePorsche

If you're going to use an adhesive on the panel, I've had success with Loctite Professional Performance 300 Heavy Spray Adhesive. Listed for wood, metal, acrylic, carpet, laminate, polypropylene and pvc. Listed for heat and water resistance. Purchased at Lowes.

captcashew

I just checked and what I have is the weldwood contact cement. The label makes it sounds like it should do a good job.

NoVector

Welwood contact cement is very good—I use it for gluing vinyl to plastic. For carpet, I’ve used 3M’s Super 77. I.e., something I could spray. FWIW, I would also buy a handful of door clips as you’re probably going to have some break while you’re removing it. At 928 Intl, they’re about $1 each.

SQLGuy

Weldwood is wonderful stuff, up to about 120F, then it melts. Unless you're in a pretty cold latitude, Weldwood will give up after a summer.

They make a high-temp version called Weldwood HHR; but it doesn't seem to be available in small quantities, nor from retail outlets.

Pliobond, which at least my local ACE carries, is rated to 450F. I've used Pliobond and some upholstery shop high heat contact cement after having my initial Weldwood work come apart on me.

BTW, I looked up 3M 77 after posting about it. They say 150F for that... so, depends on where you are and where you park whether that will last or not. I can certainly see why it didn't hold my hood liner.

AnatolyL

Also, when you glue the carpet back in place, keep in mind that very few millimeters tuck under the armrest so if you clamp the top edge make sure you don't use something that will not leave indentations on the carpeting because it will show. Don't ask me how I know....

captcashew

Thanks for all the tips. I had a piece by the driver side center console that needed fixing and I already used the weldwood on that. Probably small enough that the temp thing won't come into issue. But that does suck. I find weldwood to work really well. The car won't be in heat that hot very often, but I can definitely see the times that it could be. Just parking it outside in the summer for an hour will do that. Black car. Black interior. Ouch. I'll have to look into pliobond. SQL, do you happen to remember the name of the uphostery contact cement? That would probably be helpful.

I do have a can of 3M 77 already too. I just liked the weldwood since I could brush it on and not have to worry about overspray using a can.

And I already ordered some replacement clips. I tend to break something little every time I try to fix anything on the 928. Found someone on ebay that had them for about $1 each for 10 of them. Hopefully that will cover me for this project.

SQLGuy

The upholstery contact cement has no name, per se. It's sold by the pint or quart at the DIY side of a local (to me) upholstery shop called Timberline. I wasn't terribly impressed with it, actually. It's cleaner to work with than the Pliobond, but doesn't hold as strongly.

Clips are a must have. Probably about a dozen of the white ones, and three or four of the black ones.

captcashew

Crap. There are two types of clips? I think i just have black ones coming. I don't suppose you know the part number of the white ones do you?

Yeah, Pliobond sounds like the way to go. I was just at Ace the other day getting some temporary specialty tape to fix one of the intake hoses (my friend who was helping me test my vacuum system accidentally bent back the old one and it snapped).

SQLGuy

Looks like the white ones are 823867299