Wrinkled door cards

[Eddy Matthews]

Has anyone sorted out badly wrinkled doorcards on a 960?

I'm after any hints and tips on doing them, apart from simply replacing with new or secondhand parts...

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated....

Regards
Eddy

[Jim760]

ther eisnt much really you can do about it.. ive heard of people going at them with heat guns, pealign the material back and trying to re-stick it.. or even pealing it off alltogether and painting the cards instead.. personally id just replace it... not ideal maybe, but the best option.

[Oilydad]

Try injecting clear adhesive with a small, thin syringe (most chemists will sell you one if you tell them what its for). and then using a a hairdryer. Not as severe as a heat gun, and with some care it can make them look a bit better.

Not a job to rush though.

[jpliddy]

my door cards failed too . i even spoke to a bently interior specilist i live not far from crewe . the best addvice was get a set from another 940 . so i did from ebay any cars that have not crinkled by now wont .

[Eddy Matthews]

Thanks guys,

I appreciate the advice - I've placed a "wanted" ad on the forum to see if anyone can help with some door cards - With luck someone might just have a set?

Regards
Eddy

[Jim760]

there was talk of this before, now i think of it.. im sure its the later 940 ones that dont wrinkle.. as there was different glue or something used? might be worth doing a serch on it

[gpl1968]

My 1997 945 came with wrinkled door cards. Luckily I had kept the door cards from my previous, 1990 945(scrapped) which were identical and not wrinkled, and these were fitted.
The reason for the wrinkling was apparently the use of useless eco-friendly glue.
You may be lucky finding a good set. If not, you might find an upholsterer that can apply leather strips to the top of the door cards maybe.

[4 forty]

Originally Posted by Eddy Matthews

Thanks guys,

I appreciate the advice - I've placed a "wanted" ad on the forum to see if anyone can help with some door cards - With luck someone might just have a set?

Regards
Eddy

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Brand-new-old-...item255d397474

are these any good eddy,or anyone else?

[Eddy Matthews]

Originally Posted by 4 forty

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Brand-new-old-...item255d397474

are these any good eddy,or anyone else?

Sadly no good for me 4 Forty, I need beige ones, but thankfully I've managed to sort some fairly decent secondhand cards...

I'd just spotted those on Ebay and was just about to post a message myself, you beat me to it!

Regards
Eddy

[Steve 940]

Hi Eddy,

Am currently in process of doing this on my 940, cards were really badly wrinkled on all 4 doors. Rears done, front still on the to do list!!!

As others have said, it seems a common problem to certain years and some eco adhesive that was used, not with great success long term judging by the state mine were in.

I did look on eBay but on mine, all the doorcards and map pockets etc. were virtually unmarked, only let down by top edge. I took the view to DIY a test on the rears, as if all failed, I would have to just source replacement somewhere online.

I was going to do a full write up with step by step photos, and I will do this when I do the fronts.

Basically get cards off, good guide on this forum.

I removed the metal strip that holds the rubber window scraper, this you need to do very very carefully. I had door panel on blanket upside down, and used some trim removal tools that had cranked levers to gently pry up inside edge. You can see where it has been crimped on the card with a number of dimples.

I took probably 20-30 mins gradually easing this strip off, using additional thin strips of timber under the ‘head’ of the lever as it gradually opened up the channel.

Once the strip is off, hairdryer on hot and with a plastic trim removal tool without sharp edges, gradually ease loose the wrinkled areas. Need to asses yours, my rear panels were bad right the length of the door card, but front cards only need each end 4-6".

On my rear panels I had to loosen the whole top section down to the roll line where panel goes vertical, as it had stretched so much. With panel upside down I clipped clothes pegs along the vinyl edge to help hold it away from the card.

Do some dry runs if you can just to get in your mind the amount of pull, stretch you will need to apply when re-gluing.

Evostick impact adhesive, red tin. Apply very thin smooth coat of adhesive to card and vinyl, make sure you don’t get lumps of adhesive. Wait 3-5 mins till touch dry.

Big deep breath, i done from centre to door hinge end first, stretch in middle and use small pressing tool, I used wallpaper joint roller around 1.5 inches wide, then gradually work your way to end of the door card. As I got to the end, I did have to tuck a fold in due to excess stretched vinyl. Can’t really see it, as in door hinge shut but will probably cut and glue on my fronts.

Area along to the locking knob cut out is worse to deal with as it's usually no longer a round hole in the vinyl, but will have stretched way out of shape.

I took decision to glue from middle to mid point of rear of locking button hole. Then from the corner pill and stretch the vinyl towards the lock, I ended up with overlap, then leaving around 20mm unglued I used a scalpel to slice through both layers. Then just need to glue the two sections butting up together.

I was obviously stretching it a bit when cutting as they didn’t butt together perfectly, around 1mm gap that I will ‘fill’ with several layers of grey undercoat paint. Still on my to do list, will do all 4 cuts, once front doors are done.

Then you need to trim any vinyl that is past the card edge, so that you can get metal strip back on. I then used a scrap strip of straight metal around 4-5mm thick and around 6" long to go into channel that was on a absolutely flat surface with a protecting blanket to gradually hammer open the channel further. Still wouldn’t easily go over card edge so I added a 12” steel rule alongside the metal strip, to again hammer the channel open wider.

Need to be very careful not to warp or scratch the metal strip.

After around 20 mins, channel simply went over card. Then need to work out how to re-crimp it back to the card. I used a pair of nail pulling pincers and with a hard plastic trim and removal tool over the metal strip to protect it from the pincers, I then gradually crimped strip back on the card. Seemed to work, but care is needed.

Then put everything back.

Couple of photos of completed rears enclosed with cut joint, not perfect by way better than they were. Of course we don't know how long the glue will last or if it will suffer in summer.

One photo of NSF door to give an idea of what I started with.

Cheers
Steve
Steve