door card material replacment

[neil]

Ok Ive been dreading this day , time to replace the door card material thats separated from the sticky sponge backing.
Ive done a friends 2004 beetle and what a headache that was , had local guy stitch up some replacements, removed door card and replaced and they came up well.

So was wondering if I go down the road of buying these from china , anyone purchased any of these , a few reviews seem to indicate they are ok , come RHD.

Cheers

4*Black Leather Left&Right Door Armrest Panel Cover For VW Jetta Golf MK5 05-10 | eBay

[SairMcKee]

Same boat here Neil.

My hesitation with the faux leather is the longevity of the fabric for the efforts of the job. It's really not upholstery grade fabric is my first concern. It will tare easily if not flake off before too long due to the grade of the fabric and it'll give more and more over time.

I have just had the roof-lining and pillars done and the marine upholsterer said minimum 200$ a door card, FYI. Purely because it's a nasty job. As you have done the cards before, would you recommend any YouTube videos of best way to tackle the replacement, please?

My conclusion is to do the replacement myself as I am in Far North Queensland the faux leather just won't last. I'm looking at leather by the metre from a Saddlery and Spotlight have a small range up here too.

Fortunately, when studying at uni I worked as a PT furniture upholsterer. So, I'm hoping to use the existing cards as a template for cutting the fabric. Although, do you recommend replacing the thin layer of foam or skip it entirely? Based on your experience? I have seen other vehicles come up well both ways. Ideally I would like to avoid the foam all together unless the armrest is too rough without it. Essentially, I'm hoping that the good quality of the leather will soften the door card and not require the foam. What are your thoughts?

Any insights or tips from your previous experience would be awesome.

[neil]

Yeah cheers for reply.

When I did the beetle I glued the vinyl straight on the card , did not replace foam backing
mongrel job getting the old broken down sticky stuff off.
I initially took the card to the upholsterer to glue new piece on and he had lots of trouble
and gave up using a one piece , he ended up making it with stitched joins , he presumes the
original vinyl that the beetles use was machine heat stretched so no amount of glue on new
vinyl would stretch or remove the creases , the stitched ones he made looked factory after I glued and
and replaced the inner door card which you have to break off the plastic welds.
Some vids I watched tonight show them using solder iron to plastic weld the inner card back
on however I used a urethane glue where the plastic welds were and have not had any issues
the last 12 months.
If your going to use a cloth that maybe easier to stretch but it would need a good backing so the glue
doesn't come through the material ??

This guy will show you the process but dont like his end result using cloth.
How To PERMANENTLY Fix your MKV GTI Saggy Door Upholstery | For Under $80! - YouTube

another good one
Sostituzione tessuto pannello Golf 5 - YouTube

This guy does it without removing the inner card but I wouldnt do it like him , id want the material wrapped around the back.
Come sostituire il tessuto ai pannelli dell'auto - YouTube


search youtube or google vw mk5 door card material replacement or door card removal

Same boat here Neil.

My hesitation with the faux leather is the longevity of the fabric for the efforts of the job. It's really not upholstery grade fabric is my first concern. It will tare easily if not flake off before too long due to the grade of the fabric and it'll give more and more over time.

I have just had the roof-lining and pillars done and the marine upholsterer said minimum 200$ a door card, FYI. Purely because it's a nasty job. As you have done the cards before, would you recommend any YouTube videos of best way to tackle the replacement, please?

My conclusion is to do the replacement myself as I am in Far North Queensland the faux leather just won't last. I'm looking at leather by the metre from a Saddlery and Spotlight have a small range up here too.

Fortunately, when studying at uni I worked as a PT furniture upholsterer. So, I'm hoping to use the existing cards as a template for cutting the fabric. Although, do you recommend replacing the thin layer of foam or skip it entirely? Based on your experience? I have seen other vehicles come up well both ways. Ideally I would like to avoid the foam all together unless the armrest is too rough without it. Essentially, I'm hoping that the good quality of the leather will soften the door card and not require the foam. What are your thoughts?

Any insights or tips from your previous experience would be awesome.

[SairMcKee]

Awesome Neil, thanks for the links and tips.

I just watched the videos, totally agree with you and not a fan of the fabric finish either. It's very tempting to leave the panel in, but with leather I don't think the finish is top notch and will eventually fray.

Please keep me updated on how you are going with the replacement.

Thank you mate!