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This is my how-to on re-upholstering the door inserts.
Discretion
I want to warn you guys before hand that once you go through with this mod, the old fabric on the doors will be ruined so if you are trying to sell the car after DO NOT go through with this mod or if you'd like get spare door inserts.
What You'll Need
1. Exacto Knife
2. Scissors
3. (1) Can of 3M Super 77 Adhesive Spray (many people would advise to go with the stronger one...I think it's called 3M Super 90 Adhesive Spray but personally I do not recommend it because it is very wet and can go through the fabric and stain it. The 77 will do fine)
4. Phillips Screw Driver
5. Epoxy
Before You Begin
Please you a mask when using the adhesive spray. This stuff is terrible to be inhaling. Also if you can, do this in a well ventilated area.
Process of Re-Upholstering
1. First you want to start off by taking the door panels off. Go here for a how-to on that.
2. Once you have the door panels off, behind the door inserts you're going to see that it is held together by plastic tabs. You're going to want to cut those plastic tabs with an exacto knife in order to release the door insert.
3. Once you have done that you'll have this (I'm using the rear doors as an example. They are harder to do as well so I thought it would be better to base the how-to on them instead...sorry my door insert is dirty...I had already done this once but the fabric got really dirty over the past two years):
4. As shown on the image above you're going to want to start with that bottom end going up when upholstering. I decided to use Micro Suede for this. Begin by spraying the 3M spray on the top part and edges. Spray at a fair distance, as you would with a regular spray can. Be generous with it but do not have the glue bubbling up in one place. Once you've sprayed the surface have a piece of fabric cut out to the size of the door insert (just a bit bigger because you're going to want to wrap fabric behind it) and then lay it on top of it. Begin by pressing the edges down and then the actual top surface. Be very patient with it. If you lay it down and it doesn't look perfect you can pull it off and try again with that same fabric. You have time to move it around before the glue dries! Here is what the first part of mine looked like:
This is what it looks like from the other end:
5. Now you're going to want to work your way down to where the hole is. Spray the surface and push the fabric down. Make sure you cover the curves well to avoid bubbling in the future. Cover the hole and don't worry about it for now. Here is what it should look like:
6. Begin spraying the rest of the surface and press the fabric down on it. This part gets tricky. You'll find yourself constantly lifting the fabric and pressing it down again to get it right. You may have to spray and then pull the fabric towards yourself and get it a bit of a stretch to avoid wrinkles in the fabric but believe it me it is possible to have it look close to perfection. Here is a shot:
7. Once you are done that you're going to want to trim a bit of the fabric around the door. Leave a bit around it so that you can flip the door insert around and spray the back. Once you spray the back pull the extra fabric and glue it to the back. Also now you can take an exacto knife to where that hole is in the door and cut it open. Take the pieces glue to the back as well. This is what your end result should look like:
8. Now you are going to want to put epoxy around the trim of the door and put the door insert back on it and press it down until it dries. Let the epoxy cure for about two hours before you try to put the door panel back on. Here is what it should look like:
9. Once you're done that, go ahead and install it back on to the door.
Alright guys hope this helped. If you have any questions please do not PM me. Post your questions here on the forum so I can answer it on here for everyone to see.
Happy modding
