A new Idea for Attaching Upper Door Panels

[Chris 16409]

I really dislike having to remove my upper door panels. The fir trees are pain. Every time I remove them, one of fir trees is inevitably ripped out of the panel. So I was thinking, what if you glue magnets to the door panel around were the fir trees use to be and use them to keep the panels on. A magnet should adhere to the black metal bracket the fir trees stick into. Here is some magnets I found on eBay. There pretty much have the same diameter as a fir tree. The three millimeters of thickness should be enough to make contact.

http://cgi.ebay.com/10-Pcs-Neodymium...item415b7d17ff

Has anybody else done this? This would literally turn the job of removing the upper door panel into a 2 second task.

[Bitsyncmaster]

Good idea but I don't think they will be strong enough to hold the panels on. Maybe there is some different kind of clip that could be found.

[DavidProehl]

Great idea! The auction you linked to doesn't say how much weight they will hold, but other magnets could work. I found these on Amazon that claim to hold over 2 lbs per magnet! Anyway, my point is that I think you could find strong enough magnets if you wanted to give it a shot. I'd love to see this in action if you do it.

Edit: Here are some with over 6 lbs of force per magnet - http://www.amazon.com/Neodymium-Magn...ef=pd_sim_ac_2

[Chris 16409]

These are the ones I ended up ordering:

http://cgi.ebay.com/10-Pc-N42-1-2x1-...ht_2284wt_1013

They have a pull force of 5.25 pounds each. I will try five per panel and see if they hold. These Neodymium Magnets are really strong. This seller is in the US, and the other was in China. I'd rather buy from a US seller, and it only came to $5.80 for ten magnets.

[dvonk]

if you can secure them properly to the vehicle & headliner, there are magnets that will surely hold. one issue i could imagine is the magnets having more attraction to each other than the glue (or whatever you use) and pop off and stick to each other when being removed.

also--depending on how powerful the magnets are--i would suggest embedding them in or covering them with a thin pad or shock absorbing material of some sort. super strong magnets will snap together with such force they will actually fracture and crack bits off each other.

[ramblinmike]

Magnets stick to stainless? They don't stick to my fridge.

[dvonk]

depending on the strength of the magnet, the attraction to the stainless would be very mild at best due to the low content of ferrous metal in the alloy. it would not be enough attraction to support the weight of the headliner.

he would need to secure the magnets in some manner--a bracket, glue, etc. or, conversely, install the magnets in the headliner and attach ferrous metal strips to the doors.

[Chris 16409]

I was only going to use the magnets for the upper door panels. The black metal brakets that the door panels rest on are not stainless, so it shouldn't be a problem. You are correct in that the magnets won't stick to the stainless, so using them to attach the headliners won't be a good idea.

I plan on using this stuff called Goop to glue the magnets down. It's pretty strong. And, I'll be positioning the magnets far enough apart where they shouldn't attract each other.

[dvonk]

i suppose i couldve read the actual title to the thread and noticed that nowhere are headliners mentioned, but that would make too much sense.

sounds like youve got it all figured out... let us know how it works!

[dhaney]

I am curious why the need to take the panel off? I have taken the door panels off exactly 3 times in 26 years. Are you using it as a storage area?

There are also tools availible to work the fir trees out gently. Check this out less than $3 from DMCH...

http://www.delorean.com/store/p-1050...oval-tool.aspx

Dan