Don't know if this has been posted before, but has anyone had good sucess in repairing cracks in the door panel along where your elbow would rest? There has to be a better solution than buying new ones since I've already done that route and these ones cracked also. I've seen that you can buy some sort of padding that sits along the whole length of your arm but it tends to be obvious. For those who have them, no offense.

Thanks.

 

i have a small 3'' crack that runs aloung the armnrest, i repaired it with leaterique over the holidays and it re cracked. this time im going to use fiberglass resin to fill in the crack and re dye,then im hoping it wont recrack

 

No offense taken, but they aren't all that obvious unless you are looking for them. Perfect for a driver. Joe

 

How flexible would the fiberglass be Carl? I would imaging it would eventually crack also. Well let me know how you make out. Do you have any pictures of yours Joe, I wouldn't mind taking another look?

 

Door.
I'd replace the panel rather than using the patches they sell. The patches look bubba and if you replace the entire door panel and keep it supple with whatever you like such as Armorall or Leatherique it should last. The door panels in my 68 (which I have owned since 1972) still have no cracks and all I use is Armoral. Vaseline petroleum jelly also works very vell on vinyl as it keeps it soft especially if you heat it and/or park it in the sun. Try it, what have you got to lose. I periodically lightly smear vaseline on my vinyl dashboard and park it in the sun and then remove the residue. The vinyl is nice and soft and no cracks whatsover.
Kurt

 

first of all the panels are made CHEAP!! there a very thin material. i cracked my arm reat by placing my elbow on it and shifting my weight to scoot in the seat. a new panel is gonna crack again and i am not gonna keep buying them if i can repair it. i think the fiberglass will work. every thing else i have tried has failed.

 

I have them on both panels and they don't look bad at all. Perfect for a driver.

 

I have those armrest repair things too...I bought them from Ecklers. In more than four years no one has ever ever noticed them. My interior is black...that might matter.

 

If anyone has tried anything please let me know and let me know how the fiberglass patch worked....Carl.

Thanks

 

how big is the crack? can you post a photo? i probably wont get around to trying the fiberglass for a few weeks because i picked up a lot of work,and since i have been off since may 7th of last year im doing the work!! when i get a few days off ill try it.. first of all you gotta try a test piece,,,like a old door panel would be perfect... not for the glass but to see if the dye takes to the glass,,,the only thing with the glass is you have to keep the repair as small as possible because your gonna loose the grain pattern,,, i finished a origional seat back, that had hunks of glass missing,, i didnt like the way the repo seat back fit... i repaired it perfectly with the fiberglass,,but after hours of sanding,,,glassing when i dyed it i didnt like how it looked because all the grain pattern was gone...the dye covered the glass perfectly on the seat back so it should cover just as well on the arm rest

 

I have cracks like this in both door panels - have thought about recovering them in foam and leather. Was at a local leather worker's place a few months ago and she had done this to her Chevelle SS and it looked great. Maybe I will see if there is an Overhaulin' Great White North expedition and volunteer the vette for it. Chip if you be out there bud ...

 

There has got to be a better way, I've gone the route of new panels and they have cracked also. I'm also in Ontario gdh, maybe there's someone close that has done them. Has anyone had personal success in repairing them?

 

I'm with you Joe! Had them for years on my "driver" and no one ever noticed. They're a good, inexpensive stop-gap until you go Bloomington.

James

 

I think Carl is on the right track. Evidently this area experiences more stress than the vinyl can handle. The only way to make a crack repair stick is to mechanically fasten both sides of the crack together then fill it. I have a crack in this same area. Letherique suggests gluing a piece of vinyl under the crack backside to backside then filling the crack with Leatherique crack filler. Looking at my crack I'm not sure I could get a piece of vinyl back there without making things worse. I was thinking of trying small aluminum strips glued across the back of the crack since they would be easier to insert, I'm just not sure what glue would give me a rock solid weld. I'll have to test it on a piece of old vinyl first.

Now, Thanks to Carl, I'm thinking I could get a piece of impregnated fiberglass mat behind the crack to bond the two sides together since it will initially be more flexible than a piece of vinyl and give it a little extra reinforcement once cured. I think I would try and keep all of the resin on the backside of the vinyl and clean off any that got on the good side. Then finish off the repair with gap filler and dye.

Carl, even if you had to use the resin on the good side couldn't you cover it with gap filler which would most likely take the dye better than the fiberglass?

I was also thinking of trying to make a "vinyl pattern mold" that I could imprint the gap filler with as it dried. Any ideas on what I could use to make the pattern mold? I was thinking maybe tool dip rubber.

 

i have the pattern molds, they come in a kit from permitex called vinal & leather repair,you can find them at auto zone,for$10.00,but the little jars of leather repair ''goo''thats in there,, i have had no luck with at all...permatex is currently working out a formula for exactly what we are trying to do,,,i spoke with a chem tech over the holidays ,,so maby it will be out soon,,,, i know what you mean ,,i also was gonna try that, but you probably would have to ''grease '' the vinal pattern piece so it doesnt get stuck in the bond,, with what,, i havent figured out yeat. as far as the leatherique,, i posted a lot of pictures over the christmas holidays about my interior repairs,, the only one that didnt hold up was the arm rest... thats why im gonna try the fiberglas and if i can do a test run im gonna try some type of ''grease'' so the pattern doesnt get hung up in the bond,,,as far as dying fiberglass ,,,it works.. i did a seat back that was missing chunks of fiberglass.. the repair came out great and the dye also took fine,,, i just wasnt happy missing all the grain patten on the seat back,,so its back to the drawing board

 

im gonna show you a post of a map pocket before and after but i wanted to tell you that the corners of the map pock were gone so i took old plastic blue cross blue shield cards(like a credit card) and inserted them behind the vinal,,on top of the foam and glued them ,,,this replaced the broken molded backing...them i took foam and glued it to the plastic cards,,then filled in the cracks with leatherique and dyed--this first one is before dye showing the repaired corners---they were gone-------

 

here's the map pocket after photo------

 

Carl, I can see doing the seat back because it's hard plastic and doesn't need to flex whereas the door panel needs that flexibility due to pressure from your arm. (That's the reason why it cracks in the first place.) With fiberglass resin there is no flex so it will be a hard surface with no flexibility. I'm still curious if it will work on the door panel. What do you think Gator?

 

here's speaker hole repair,, removed the foam cleaned off old glue-glued old plastic cards....filled holes with leatherique-then after drying i drilled out the hol and re dyed-----------