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vinyl repair on 2007 Malibu door panels

Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2021 10:32 pm
by vicstric
Hey guys!
Time to do a small (hopefully) project for myself. I have a 2007 Malibu where all four doors have the vinyl cracking and one door had the fabric pulling away from the insert. I thought ,"well how hard can it be"... lol

The door panel has a lot of curvature to it. I removed one door panel and pulled the vinyl off. On the main section of the door, the vinyl peeled away from the backing material.. The backing is not fabric. It is like a pvc material about 1/16 inch thick, not really foam. That seems well glued down. The insert seems to have a very thin foam under it. I found some other people in a goodgle search where that area is a problem for may different vehicles. Kind of like what headliners end up doing. The foam deteriorates and that is the end.

I am concerned fabric backed vinyl will not make the curves. They have 4way stretch vinly but it is a little pricy. I am wonderinf if they make a quality vinyl for auto use that does not have a backing? It seems like something like that would be easy to heat and stretch to fit around pronounced curves. Should i try to remove the backing that is still seemingly stuck pretty good? or just glue over?

On the insert, the piece is like a formed fiber piece. Not very substantial. Should i clean and reuse or is there and alternative material that would work well? Would the best foam be something like headliner material?


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Re: vinyl repair on 2007 Malibu door panels

Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2021 2:15 am
by John
Oh boy... I think your in for a big project unfortunately. Those panels look like the material was vacuum formed to take the shape. Some of it you will be able to wrap with vinyl no problem but other parts you will probably need to add seams to get it fitting without wrinkles....

Re: vinyl repair on 2007 Malibu door panels

Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2021 6:10 am
by vicstric
gee thanks... lol leave it ot me to bite off more than i can chew. after pics forthcoming.

Re: vinyl repair on 2007 Malibu door panels

Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2021 5:25 pm
by John
Yeah sorry... I promise you will learn a ton though! Biting off way more than I can chew is exactly how I learned so much so fast. Lol just be glad its a personal project so it doesn't mater how long it takes :thumbsup:

Re: vinyl repair on 2007 Malibu door panels

Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2021 5:59 pm
by Mark M
I would check in your area for a local maker space setup or someone that had a vacuum table - who knows, might help

Re: vinyl repair on 2007 Malibu door panels

Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2021 2:11 am
by vicstric
Ok, i did a little mock up on my door panel. Looking for opinions. Do you guys thing seams in this location is ok or should I put another seam on the inside of the arm rest? I was thinking about a french seam around the outsie edge and leave the rest a regular seam. addition thoughts requested. Like all my other projects, "what have i done?!" .... lol

FYI the part on the forward armrest toward the bottom where I just turned and went straight down will be hidden under the polastic panel that goes at the bottom of the door.

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Re: vinyl repair on 2007 Malibu door panels

Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2021 4:55 pm
by John
I think it would look good with some french seams.

Re: vinyl repair on 2007 Malibu door panels

Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2021 10:13 pm
by vicstric
french seams for sure. This was just a mock up since i have no idea what I am doing. Those inside curves are rounded so I didn't know if it would look better with a seam there or just glue it down.