Suede door panel accents

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Narco

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^^ rgaff - are you in VA or GA right now? i thought you were in Gwinnett? if so we can get together and try and do this one afternoon if you want.
 

rgaffney

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I would love to do that, but I'm already back at school in VA
 

rgaffney

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for sure, id love to see everything youve done to your hoe in person
 
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Narco

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just finished both rear doors. was a little easier than i thought it would be. also painted the speaker grille covers matte black
 
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Narco

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^ lol. i will when i get the fronts done. just woke up and now gonna go start on them!
 
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Narco

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i finished this job last week but have been out of town. LOVE it. painted the speaker grills w/ krylon fusion matte black paint. the wife spilled a bottle of nyquil (dont ask) on the front passenger lower area but i got most of it cleaned off.

in looking at it as a whole it looks great. if you get up close and scrutinize it you can see some small imperfections.

WHAT I LEARNED

door panel removal is a PITA if you didnt bother to research how to do it correctly. i broke both rear panels b/c i didnt realize there was a screw in the center of it in front of the arm rest. i didnt really affect anything but i certainly dont like breaking shit if i can avoid it. on the passenger side front door i thought id need to remove the window switch panel before taking the panel off. mistake #2. you dont. i broke the upper screw mount that holds this down. again, i turned out not to be a big deal but i hate ******* things up. by the time i got to the driver door i was a pro! lol when i fisnished the project i ended up with 3 more screw that i started with...how the hell did that happen? lol oh well, no rattles and everything is tight so i guess its all good for now.

i recommend starting with the rear doors on panel removal and suede work. this way you'll be familiar with how to really do this shit before getting to the fronts.

spray the shit out of the door panel AND the back of the suede. i only sprayed the door panel. you really need to get near the edges good too b/c this is where it will peel off from 1st.

leave yourself enough to tuck in to the cracks. my biggest mistake was rushing the whole project. in my haste i never traced a template for the panels i was covering. i simply cut a section large enough to cover it, tucked it in as well as i could and then traced my razor blade through the cracks to cut it off. by doing this i didnt leave as much suede crammed into the cracks as others did. its that tension that keeps it in place. there are some spots on the carpeted areas that have no suede tucked in, it was cut (albeit accidentally) perfect to the size of the panel which is not what you want.

i didnt spend a ton of time taping the panels off. just the main areas and i used a small piece of cardboard to block any overspray. any glue that got on a part not intended for it easily wiped off with alcohol if done soon afterward.

i bought 2 yars of fabric...this was way more that i needed and i did 4 doors and the door handle inserts.

^ this brings me to the door handle inserts. i covered the rear door handle insets in suede. you cant tuck this like you do the other parts. i tried trimming off all excess suede to have an exact fit and it didnt work so well. this being my 1st time im not happy at all w/ how they turned out. im sure if i had more time to do it again i could do a much better job. the shape and contour of them make it difficult to do. for the fronts i ended up spraying them with the same paint as the speaker grills and they came out looking GREAT. i def recommend saving yourself the headache and just paint them. ill be stripping and cleaning off the rears and painting them sometime this week.

again, all in all i love this mod. the wife even complimented it saying that it def looks like something that could have came from the factory like that. i dont want to overdue it but i still got lots of suede left. i might try covering the triangle pieces behind the side mirrors and see how that looks.

i have no doubt that ill have to go back and fix something at some point, especially when this GA heat comes back this spring. im also going to try to find the home of those 3 screws sometime soon. when i do im going to take pics and post a "how to" on the door panel removal. i dont know why gm insists on using 4 different methods/sizes of screws to hold 1 panel on. it really should be universal.
 
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Narco

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some ****** camera phone pics:
you can see on the back doors how bad the suede around the door handle trim came out. i havent bothered to try and fix it yet

1cd58c36.jpg

141ac6f1.jpg

6a7f1819.jpg

01aaf0c7.jpg
 

thehoe92

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if its a big deal to you to get them covered in suede ship them out to me with enough suede to do them and I'll glue them on for you.. honestly I thought they were the easiest part but I just like wrapping things in suede haha
 

2LOUD4U

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lol its dope right lol i took it apart took the bottom black peice off ull see staples and all i did was rap it with no glue but staple it and it came out sickkk lol next head rests! and im doing all the seat belt cover show you guys get the pics coming you have to have some fun withit

---------- Post added at 08:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:41 PM ----------

i agree with kasey lol suede is fun! lol and that was deff the eaiest part hardest is the bottom rug that suckss
 

GJamil3

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So I guess you had to pull off the old carpet on the front doors to make it stick on the bottom? Also how long did it take to do and what do you think about doing a suede headliner?? Thanks
 
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Narco

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damn, looks like im on the hunt for a denali armrest. other than the hole should a denali armrest bolt right up to mine?

Gjam - read the rest of this thread. a couple of use discussed the door panels in detail. they are a pita but it can be done and looks good.
 

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