Door panel color swap?
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Intermediate
Joined: Dec 2016
Posts: 38
Likes: 11
From: Atlanta GA
Door panel color swap?
My arm rest area is cracked and delaminated (typical), and I'm looking for a replacement in Oak color but the usual places seem to have no supply of clean, undamaged ones. Is the bottom 'half' separable without breaking anything? Could I swap my tan bottom onto a replacement all-black door panel?
Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2017
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From: Virginia
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I've never heard of that being done. Have you tried Vettenuts? The other option is that you could send your door panels to apsis. It's not cheap, but would certainly look great.
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Joined: Apr 2002
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looks like ecklers has them:
Corvette Door Panel, C5, Leather, Left, 1997-2004 | Eckler's Corvette (ecklerscorvette.com)
but.. I do rememver when I was looking into this, one of the manufacturers sells just the skin, they had instructions on how to separate the bottom from the top. If I remember correctly, it involved a heat gun, as the two are really one piece (along the seams bewteen the two there are plastic pads that connect the two, they have to be cut)
I woudln't try to separate them though ... I thought about it for all of about a minute.
Corvette Door Panel, C5, Leather, Left, 1997-2004 | Eckler's Corvette (ecklerscorvette.com)
but.. I do rememver when I was looking into this, one of the manufacturers sells just the skin, they had instructions on how to separate the bottom from the top. If I remember correctly, it involved a heat gun, as the two are really one piece (along the seams bewteen the two there are plastic pads that connect the two, they have to be cut)
I woudln't try to separate them though ... I thought about it for all of about a minute.
Pro
Joined: Sep 2003
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From: N.Canton Ohio
with a heat gun, the upper and and lower panels can be separated by heating the melted tabs. A soldering iron tool with a paddle attachment can be used to re-weld/melt the tabs.
Or the lower portion of the replacement panel can be painted with vinyl paint.
Or the lower portion of the replacement panel can be painted with vinyl paint.
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Take a look at this file I saved from a thread on the forum. It should give you an idea of what is involved in separating the upper from the lower part of the door panel.
