Anyone recover rear trim panel w/ arm rest?

[Stainless]

My bolster was broken loose by someone sitting in my car back in 2015. Over the weekend, as I was removing it to attempt a fix, I discovered that the vinyl has all but torn where it mates around the door underneath the weather stripping. There's hardly any connected material left to adhere it around the door. It is looking completely sad and I think it's time to completely overhaul this thing while I go about figuring out how to best reattach the bolster. It's quite the complex panel with the speaker holes, seat belt, unique shape, etc.

https://store.delorean.com/p-10070-trim-pnl-armrest-lh-blk.aspx

What materials and adhesives have you used to successfully recover/restore yours? I'm not willing to relocate my rear speakers at this point, so whatever I end up doing, I'll have to figure out a way to punch holes for the speakers. Hopefully that's not a deal-breaker.

[MikeWard]

My bolster was broken loose by someone sitting in my car back in 2015. Over the weekend, as I was removing it to attempt a fix, I discovered that the vinyl has all but torn where it mates around the door underneath the weather stripping. There's hardly any connected material left to adhere it around the door. It is looking completely sad and I think it's time to completely overhaul this thing while I go about figuring out how to best reattach the bolster. It's quite the complex panel with the speaker holes, seat belt, unique shape, etc.

https://store.delorean.com/p-10070-trim-pnl-armrest-lh-blk.aspx

What materials and adhesives have you used to successfully recover/restore yours? I'm not willing to relocate my rear speakers at this point, so whatever I end up doing, I'll have to figure out a way to punch holes for the speakers. Hopefully that's not a deal-breaker.

How broken are you talking? A trimmer should be able to restore the bolster and reattach it.

Lee Pattison in the UK has fix for the torn vinyl by the door, he adds a new 'flap' of leather which is fixed to the edge of the panel, and you glue that into place on the car. Looks pretty neat once it's done and in place. Some pictures here http://www.deloreaneurotec.uk/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=5593#p74197

[Stainless]

That's the best solution I've seen so far. The result appears to be fantastic! What's the best way to get in touch with Lee?

[MikeWard]

If you scroll up on that link Lees contact number is in the first post, along with some other examples of his work.

[dmcnc]

I got mine done through just dashes. They did an awesome job and the material is thicker (better) than original. For a pretty penny though...
56977

[r00b]

Did they recover the bolster as well? It looks like it's has the ripple pattern.

[Stainless]

I got mine done through just dashes. They did an awesome job and the material is thicker (better) than original. For a pretty penny though...
56977

Also, how much is considered a "pretty penny?"

[dmcnc]

The bolster is original although they did fix a small hole/tear on the bolster
I got the job done last year, and they charged me $400 each panel plus $100 for color matching.

Did they recover the bolster as well? It looks like it's has the ripple pattern.

[dn010]

I was able to recover mine with upholstery material but I've been unable to find a way to punch holes for the speakers so I put the vinyl back on them. I have the same problem with the dashboard - I recovered it but I've not been able to get the holes so now I do not have front speakers.

[FABombjoy]

I was able to recover mine with upholstery material but I've been unable to find a way to punch holes for the speakers so I put the vinyl back on them. I have the same problem with the dashboard - I recovered it but I've not been able to get the holes so now I do not have front speakers.
Not a big loss IMHO :) I run kickpods and removed the rear speakers entirely. Stereo imaging is improved with only 2 channels in such a small cabin.

[Stainless]

I was able to recover mine with upholstery material but I've been unable to find a way to punch holes for the speakers so I put the vinyl back on them. I have the same problem with the dashboard - I recovered it but I've not been able to get the holes so now I do not have front speakers.

What about a hollow hole punch for the speaker holes? Would that work?

[dn010]

I suppose it is worth a shot, but to find a small enough one to match the holes already in the cardboard panel may be difficult. I may look into it and try it on the dash, that one doesn't really matter how large the holes are since the speaker part underneath with the holes has been removed.

[Stainless]

Here are some pics of my sad rear trim panels. I realized today that my passenger side is torn all along the seam near the weather stripping, meaning I need to have both sides overhauled. I really appreciate the two leads, which I will explore. If anyone else has restored/recovered their panels themselves, any additional info about materials, process, etc. would be greatly appreciated!

[dn010]

My end caps look about the same as yours if not worse- all ripped up and broken (I have gray interior so the black plastic underneath them is showing). The vinyl on them is discolored in places close to the door opening and of course the vinyl is cracked and broken where the seal is however the broken sections were able to be hidden by oversize inner door seals. I used a very tough material that looks very close to leather but it doesn't have the "ripple" though for the parts that are originally leather. I used the same on the dash but I can't remember where I got it from or what it was called, I can look at the card tonight and tell you. If you're good at upholstery you can lay the material down and work out much of the ripples and wrinkles, I do have numerous photos of this process somewhere I'd have to find. When it came to the speaker area I tried cutting holes, burning holes, punching holes (although I didn't use a hollow punch) and nothing worked. When I found I couldn't replicate the holes, I dejectedly removed the material and glued the original vinyl back down. I should have recovered the actual leather portions but to date I have not. For the actual vinyl I searched for heat shrinking vinyl in gray that I could try to use and came up short. The original vinyl goes down and into each hole for the speaker so cutting holes may not even have a nice appearance but at least the area is in the back in the dark. Maybe I can find a different material to try but for now, I'm just dealing with the appearance and enjoying driving the car instead. The bolsters are the worst part of my car's interior, the carpet is second.

[DMC1890]

A PO cut my panels to install replacement speakers. I've removed the driver's side panel to repair the armrest mounting, and while thinking about how to remount the panel, this caught my eye:



Lee Pattison in the UK has fix for the torn vinyl by the door, he adds a new 'flap' of leather which is fixed to the edge of the panel, and you glue that into place on the car. Looks pretty neat once it's done and in place. Some pictures here http://www.deloreaneurotec.uk/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=5593#p74197

This looks good, but I can't tell from the pictures how Lee's repair strip mounts to the edge of the panel. I wouldn't think that mere glue would survive a swipe from my fat butt. Anybody know?

[BABIS]

A PO cut my panels to install replacement speakers. I've removed the driver's side panel to repair the armrest mounting, and while thinking about how to remount the panel, this caught my eye:



This looks good, but I can't tell from the pictures how Lee's repair strip mounts to the edge of the panel. I wouldn't think that mere glue would survive a swipe from my fat butt. Anybody know?

58009 58010

[DMC VIN 6639]

I added bias binding to the panel with 3M tape. Just search for Auto Carpet Bias Binding on ebay. It is 1.25" wide and 10 yards for $13. Looks good.

[DMC1890]

Thanks guys. Really not sure now what I will do. I might recover the panels, forget about the speaker holes, and move/replace the speakers to the rear shelf.

[CriticalB]

If you can’t find a good way to punch speaker holes, or if you try and it doesn’t look as good as you’d like, you might consider some cheap speaker grills from amazon. They have some low profile options that would mask any damage or unfinished portion.

[Jason]

I just recovered my rear panels. I shopped around locally for someone to do them, but no one wanted to touch them, so I decided to try it myself.

My panels had a single piece of vinyl covering both the panels and the arm rests. When I removed the vinyl underneath on the arm rests was another layer of what looked like perfectly good fabric backed vinyl, except that while the passenger side was the correct black the drivers side was grey.

I removed the arm rests from the panels, and glued a single piece of fabric backend vinyl on each panel. The fabric wouldn't quite stretch enough to down all the way into the seat belt recesses, so I ended up cutting it and then gluing a rectangular piece of fabric over the seam. If I had sewing skills I probably could have made it look nicer by stitching in some fabric instead.

I used black paint for vinyl on the arm rests to get the colors to match, and then reattached them to the panels.

For the speaker holes, I punched holes through the fabric with a small screw driver, and then put a rubber grommet in each hole to cover up the rough looking fabric edges.


58071

Not perfect, but not bad for just $60 in materials.

[81dmc]

I removed the arm rests from the panels, and glued a single piece of fabric backend vinyl on each panel. The fabric wouldn't quite stretch enough to down all the way into the seat belt recesses, so I ended up cutting it and then gluing a rectangular piece of fabric over the seam. If I had sewing skills I probably could have made it look nicer by stitching in some fabric instead.

58071

Not perfect, but not bad for just $60 in materials.

I have a little experience with recovering without sewing after fiddling with my cracked dash.

Best way is to first glue in the deep recess. After that glue dries, start to work the leather or vinyl out from the recess. It will give a few flush wrinkles, but I imho, that adds some character to it.

Here's a few pics of my dash pad. Notice the glovebox recess. 581465814758148

Someday, maybe I'll try recover my beat up quarter trim panels as well...
:)

[cbateman]

How broken are you talking? A trimmer should be able to restore the bolster and reattach it.

Lee Pattison in the UK has fix for the torn vinyl by the door, he adds a new 'flap' of leather which is fixed to the edge of the panel, and you glue that into place on the car. Looks pretty neat once it's done and in place. Some pictures here http://www.deloreaneurotec.uk/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=5593#p74197

Mike,

Your pictures of Lee's work with the rear trim panels is exactly what I'm looking for. I stupidly cut my panels off (instead of using a heat gun) when I replaced my rear speakers and now the trim is all crap. I had the idea of stitching on a new piece of vinyl and luckily found your post! When re-installing the panels, did you wrap and glue the new trim piece around the door and add clips, or did you just wrap and clip? Has the stitching held up after years of getting in and out of the car?

Your Panel:
69719

My Panel:
69720
69721

[painterdave72]

I have posts on delorean nation and the resto page.. i am currently revacumm forming these pieces just to let you know.. they are not quite as perfect as justdashes does but so far they are coming out very nice.... Dave..and for reference they are charging 1300 dollars to redo these now with out speaker holes and also an additional couple hundred to dye them