I've got a quick question for anyone that has redone their door panels. I've currently removed them and painted the upper half. My question is should I remove the lower carpet before I redo it with vinyl or is it OK to lay vinyl over the carpet and secure it with staples on the back and a bead of hot glue at the seem with the upper half? Any recommendations. If I need to remove the carpet what is the easiest way to soften the glue?

The easiest way to remove the carpet is to spray it with starting fluid. Let it sit a little while and it'll peel right off. If you remove the carpet, you would have to put some kind of backing on the vinyl.

I suspect it won't look very good if you leave the carpet on.

Perhaps a foam backing if I removed the carpet? I'm thinking the carpet won't show through esp if its not super tight. By no means would it be loose but I'm wondering how tight I could pull the vinyl without the carpet texture showing through.

You can use a piece of cardboard over the top of the carpeting. This will hide and smooth out any bumps. When you order the lower door upholstery kit from Mr. Mike, it actually has a backing I would closely compare to cereal box cardboard as a backing.

[This message has been edited by JohnWPB (edited 03-09-2015).]

Easy enough... I have cardboard slip sheets at work that will do just fine as a backing. They're great for making templates too.

quote Originally posted by notwohorns: The easiest way to remove the carpet is to spray it with starting fluid. Let it sit a little while and it'll peel right off. If you remove the carpet, you would have to put some kind of backing on the vinyl.

I thought you were going to say " spray it with starting fluid and light it". Glad I read the whole post.

Spoon

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