I'm redoing the bottom of my door skins in vinyl. My question is, can I glue a peice of black vinyl to the top part of the door pod and use something like a blow drier to stretch the vinyl into the grooves?

I'd just use the SEM vinyl paint, but I've got like 4 yards of black vinyl here that I have nothing to do with. Besides, I think if I can pull it off right it'd be softer and look better. But who knows. Anybody have any experience doing this? Or, at the very least, have a good website they can point me to?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanx homies -Sootah

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^{The Black Beauty (85 GT) - Bustedato (86 SE, Parts car)
Don't sweat the petty things, and don't pet the sweaty things
AOL IM: KSSouter
MSN IM: I_R_Sootah@hotmail.com}

I don't think you're gonna have alot of luck if the vinyl is cloth backed as most of it is.......if not.....it should stretch quite easily.

Phil

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GTDude
25 years GM experience

Damn, it does have a slight backing to it. Is there any way to peel this off of the area I'd like to form?

BTW: Thanx 4 the quick response.

I'm interested to hear how this works out. I would like to try the same thing. Sounds like unbacked vinyl is the way to go.

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1988 Fiero - It's like an Actual Miniature Car

Allrighty, I'm gonna duct tape a small scrap I have into the hand groove dealie (its really the only part of it I need to form) and see what happens. I'll keep you posted.

One could just fill in that horizontal groove with silicone (give it time to shrink then reapply), ignore the indentation where the handle is, and stretch the vinyl snug. That's part of the instructions for doing Mr. Mike's door leather. Looks good!

If you don't have the hand-groove dealie, doesn't it make it hard to fit your big ole mitt into the door handle?

One other option I was just thinking of (since the blow drier didn't work so well) was cutting out the indenttion area from the hole. Attatching the vinyl to the skin, spray the inside of the indent black, and using some of that vinyl repair stuff to remove the 'seam' around the vinyl.

Think that'd work?

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^{The Black Beauty (85 GT) - Bustedato (86 SE, Parts car)
Don't sweat the petty things, and don't pet the sweaty things
AOL IM: KSSouter
MSN IM: I_R_Sootah@hotmail.com}

Sootah,

A half dozen guys of various sizes have tried my car out so far with no problem. What you might do is use masking tape to temporarily tape over the indent, and see how it works for you.

I thought it might be a problem as well, but it works for (small guy) me. Some woman with inch and a half nails might have a different opinion.

Larry

What the hell should I attach the vinyl with? The spray adhesive I've got won't stick for **** . I put a good bit on both the vinyl and the door, left it for an hour, and was able to peel it off with incredible ease still.

Rubber cement? I'd also like to put some padding between the vinyl and the door. (Vinyl shows ALL of the imperfections) What should I use? I was thinking carpet padding, but don't know how I'd attach the vinyl over it.

3M contact brush on cement from Home Depot, etc. will bond nicely. Clean the mating surfaces and follow the directions on the bottle. It would help if you had a spare door panel (junkyard) to practice on.

Your idea of a thin foam backing sounds good, but you might have problems fitting the panel into the rails on top of the door.

Might try just glueing on the backside of panel (where GM did), stretching material, and then gluing at the bottom. If you glue the entire panel, it will look--not so good.

So much easier to play with a spare panel! Good Luck!

Home Cheapo has Wilsonart spray adhesive/contact cement...super strong stuff. Wish I knew about it sooner. Also, if you wrap around the edges, use GOOP to glue it along with staples to hold while it dries.

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DECALS,FIERO SHOWS,STUFF...www.purplefiero.com

You might want to try some double sided foam tape from 3M. I used it to put the vijnyl back onto the shift surround with good results. I reinforced it with some vinyl glue on the vinyl and the tape to make for a stronger bond as well. Good luck I have been thinking of doing similar projects with my car. I am gonna have my girlfriend sew some leather or vinyl onto my visors. Shes great at stuff like that. PEACE!

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neverending project car!!!

Just use that interior paint for vinyl and plastic. Then you can sell the vinyl to me. I'm wanting to do my headliner in vinyl

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-Adam
sqoach@yahoo.com

86 SE V6 - daily driver

Has anyone dopne their headliner in vinyl??? Mr Mike said it couldn't be done. Any thoughts on this???

The 3M glue is the best. You can use a heat gun but don't use too much heat or you'll melt the vinyl. You MUST use a vinyl cleaner to remove all the anything that's on the surace (I can't streee this enough. If you want to use a padding, check with a local upolster suppply store the stuff is cheap and comes in many different thicknesses.

Apply the glue to both surfaces (foam/door panel -- foam/vinyl -- or vinyl/door panel) and let it tach up for 3-5 minutes. When your ready to apply the vinyl (or foam), it's best to have someone help you. Once the glued sufaces touch they will be STUCK. Pull the edges tight and trim the excess. For outer corners, V-notch the vinyl so overlap is eliminated. Stapling is best but you may have problems finding them short enough. For inner corners simply split it enough so it pulls evenly around the corners. Be careful of clamps. You may leave marks on the front side in the soft glue.

Good luck,

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Roy :D
Just another stock Blue 87 GT
Suncoast Fieros

YELLOW 1988 GT w/ T-Tops, 5-Speed, and Performance Sound. SALE PENDING

quote Originally posted by mrfixit58: The 3M glue is the best

I hope you are not reffering to Super77 or even Super 90. The bond will only "last" if you don't depend on it to stick, ie wrapped and stapled. Contact cement's bond(including the stuff I mentioned) gets stronger as it ages.

When I work with vinal I use a heat gun to shape it (the vinal I use has a backing)
The glue that works good it the stutt for glueing on vinal tops on cars
It comes in a can and needs to be sprayed with I gun
I use a cheapo one I got at Wal Mart
Spray both sides and wait a few minutes then heat pull hard to shape it and it should work if your surface is really clean

You could stretch it with a kitchen serving spoon,so you don't get little finger sized dents in the vinyl.
The hard part about covering the headliner,I've heard,is not breaking the fiber backing piece while you're working with it.