A new Idea for Attaching Upper Door Panels

[Chris 16409]

i almost posted last night that i saw some at Harbor Freight, but after i couldnt find the magnet(s) on their website.

I love harbor freight, but sometimes they will carry something for a short while and they get rid of it. I go there all the time, I'll have to see if they still carry them. I think that eBay is still the way to go. One of these days I'll do it with the lower door panels.

[TTait]

I just did this to one of my cars. I hated cutting out the old fir trees - we always feel so lucky when they stay in and here I was cutting them out.

I'll gladly confirm that this works well. Great idea Chris!

I got inspired and used the same magnets to permanently repair a warped A-pillar trim too! http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?11...2831#post12831

I'm a happy boy.

I just hope all these added magnets don't upset the gauss properties of the stainless steel body when using the flux capacitor.

[dn010]

Excellent notion. However, my panel seems like it is a bit warped, would these still hold it down? Thanks to the previous owner, my trim panels have never been exactly right, I hate it!

[TTait]

You bet. That was the whole point of my mod. Mine was all warped to hell on the inside surface, the one that sits against the A pillar and faces toward the rear view mirror. It was just flat material that was warped, once the plastic got to a curved area it got structural enough to stay in shape, on mine anyway.

That warped plastic all gets cut out and thrown away, and you use a steel plate to replace it. Much the same way you would cut away a rusty floorboard in another car and glue a thin piece of steel down in its place..

See the thread over in the how-to section for photos and more details:

http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?11...a-pillar-trims

[Spittybug]

I just did this mod to my driver's side door. It seems to work fine. I had to take a heat gun to the back of the upper panel's trailing end to increase the bend in it so it would sit flush against the door bracket, but that's about it. With the rigidity of the panel, the tabs that align it into the arm rest and the clip that holds it tight to the rear of the door, the magnets don't really have much to do. My only reservation is that the act of closing the door might, over time, stress the tabs into the armrest if the magnets allow any movement of the upper panel....we'll see. Overall I like it though and you don't have to worry about prying up fir trees and beating them back down again.

I used good old 2 part epoxy after roughing up both the door panel and the magnet surfaces. I don't think they are going anywhere.

[Chris 16409]

Recently,I added magnets to my passenger side lower door panel. This is a bit trickier since I had to not only glue the magnets to the door panel, but to the actual door as well. I still need to do the drivers side panel. I glued the magnets to the door panel first. Then, I placed a cut piece of a index card over the magnet and laid another magnet over the card. Next, I glued the second magnet to the door. The index card keep the glue from bonding the magnets together. The tricky part is to get the magnets in the correct position first, so that the panel lays flat against the door and that there is no excess gap between the two. Now that I've done the passenger side, I have a better plan of attack for the driver side.

[Spittybug]

Time for some moonwalking... The rear of the upper panel comes off too easily. The clip that goes into the door body and holds the panel tight to the other trim piece (that goes to the top of the door) just doesn't do the job by itself; it needs something to hold the rear of the panel in place. I'm going to try some alternates to fir trees however since I just hate those things....

[Chris 16409]

Spittybug, from your first post it sounds like you have the plastic upper door panels. They appear to be heavier than the fiber ones that I have. That may be an issue as well. One thing I didn't like was the fir trees would easily tear out of the fiber panels. That's what drove me to get rid of the fir trees. In your case the plastic panels are stronger, and I doubt any fir trees get yanked out. You may want to add more magnets to compensate for the added weight of the plasic panels. I probably would not have bothered if I had the plastic panels. I was just tired of the fir trees ripping out of mine.

[Spittybug]

Spittybug, from your first post it sounds like you have the plastic upper door panels. They appear to be heavier than the fiber ones that I have. That may be an issue as well. One thing I didn't like was the fir trees would easily tear out of the fiber panels. That's what drove me to get rid of the fir trees. In your case the plastic panels are stronger, and I doubt any fir trees get yanked out. You may want to add more magnets to compensate for the added weight of the plasic panels. I probably would not have bothered if I had the plastic panels. I was just tired of the fir trees ripping out of mine.

I do indeed have the plastic ones. I tried a couple of other fastener types but with no luck. A single tree in the last hole and magnets for the rest seems to be the best compromise.

[TTait]

One of my panels was in pretty good condition, and the clip at the rear was in place - that panel took only 5 screws.

As the clip was busted off the other one, I installed 7 magnets on it and its holding well too.

I have fiber panels.


Chris - for the lower panel, consider gluing a steel strip in place on the lower half of the door for the magnets to grab...