What do you think of these door panels?

[Bellum]

SO I finally got the courage to do my door panels. I purchased red diamond stitched alcantara from redlinegoods to replace the garbage vinyl that ford used.

I had to slightly modify the inserts and remove the foam that redline goods used and glue my own 2mm foam to the entire door panel insert. I then spent many hours removing the hard felt backing from the door panel and sanding it smooth. applied 2 coats of contact cement to the door panel and the insert then installed with a brass scraper and razor blade, quite a bit of trimming required, but it was easier to install than I originally expected however it was a multiday many hours long process to even finish just 1 door panel. I will be finishing the other door panel tomorrow.

Ive attached images to show some of the process and the end result. Let me know what you think! I think it looks amazing, feels super nice and the threads match the car !!!

P.S I have zero experience doing upholstery and after doing this project I dont think i ever want to do upholstery again haha

[mpbsrSaleen]

Looking good.

[Specracer]

Well done!

[87 vert]

Looks great

[Bellum]

Thanks guys! Here's a couple other pictures of the door panels finally back in the car, it was dark in my garage so not the best pics

[Tirefriar]

Battled the issue with door panel inserts and so far I'm still on the loosing end. About 3 years back I took the panels to a shop who attempted to "rescue" the original perforated inserts. They removed and cleaned them, ground down the old adhesive residue on the panels and re-glued the original inserts. Now, after 3 years of mostly sitting in the garage the inserts have pulled away from the edges.

I've been considering finding a set of stock Shaker door trim panels or going with hard inserts such as these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/14456294417...%7CMake%3AFord

Bellum did a fantastic job here but I don't have the time to dive into a project of this completely level. Any recommendations?

[Bellum]

Originally Posted by Tirefriar

Battled the issue with door panel inserts and so far I'm still on the loosing end. About 3 years back I took the panels to a shop who attempted to "rescue" the original perforated inserts. They removed and cleaned them, ground down the old adhesive residue on the panels and re-glued the original inserts. Now, after 3 years of mostly sitting in the garage the inserts have pulled away from the edges.

I've been considering finding a set of stock Shaker door trim panels or going with hard inserts such as these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/14456294417...%7CMake%3AFord
Bellum did a fantastic job here but I don't have the time to dive into a project of this completely level. Any recommendations

Honestly... I didn't really have the time for this or the experience, I work 3rd shift, I'm a landlord and a single dad, I had the car down for about a week total. I had to make the time to work on them for an hour here a couple hours there a few hours over there.. I really tried to find an upholsterer to do this project for me but that was unsuccessful, I couldn't bring myself to just reglue the originals or to put something ugly/cheap in the saleen, I feel like it deserved something nice so I said screw it and did what I thought needed to be done.

I have nothing against the coverlays, i just wanted something better. you're pretty much just turning the "premium" door panels into base door panels with them.

To be perfectly honest though, unless you remove the hard felt like backing that ford glued onto the plastic of the door panel, then I don't think any fix will be permanent, no matter how much you scrub and clean it, I don't think anything will ever adhere to it permanently based off of my limited amount of experience tearing that garbage off the door.

Whatever you do, just watch a bunch of videos to get an idea of what you need to do so you don't go in blind, I was overwhelmed at first until I said screw in and jumped into the deep end ��

[Tirefriar]

@Bellum thanks for some sound advice.