anyone know how to get the insert apart from the actual door panel? I have the whole door panel off and I took off the lil screws from the bottom part of the insert but the rest is held on with plastic rivet looking things that have been melted.. iono if I should drill through them or find a way to pry them off..? also, how would I put it all back together afterwards? .. I'm trying to wrap the inserts so any help is appreciated. thanks!

 

yeah... all the plastic rivets you can drill out.. and then the insert will come off... when it comes time to put it back on... you can either get some small stinger screws to hold them on or if you have a butane soldering iron you can melt it back together... just i trick i learned working at a upolstery shop...

 

I have been wondering how to do this as well. Hopefully, I will have time to try taking it apart this weekend.

 

Easiest way.... cut the plastic weld tops off... unscrew the screws.

 

Do not drill it out.... believe me makes it a pain to reinstall correctly

 

So has anyone figured out the easiest way to do this? I tried using a razor blade last night and almost took off the tip of a finger. I think I might try to get a large drill bit after work today and try to just take off the tops of the plastic rivets.

 

How about using a dremel with a cut-off wheel to take the tops off of the plastic rivets?

 

I tried using a cutoff wheel last night and it didn't work very well. I ended up using my dremel with a sanding drum on the end to sand off the melted "rivets". Worked pretty well. Now, I need to figure out how to clean the chunks of foam off the plastic so I have a good surface to glue the leather to.

My plan on putting it all back together is where I used the dremel to sand off the melted part of the rivet, I want to drill small pilot holes in the center of the rivet, then use large headed screws to hold everything together. We'll see how that works.

 

I used a ravor blade knife cut em clean.......

 

dont drill a pilot hole, there is already a hole there, if you cut the top of enough you will see it. If you are going to use screws to put it back together you want to cut the things down enough so the screw head will hold both pieces together will no gap or play. I also used some locktight on the inside and out to make sure the screw didnt come out.

 

Oh, I didn't realize there were already holes in the rivets. Good idea on the locktight.

Now for another question...how do I get all the glue and foam off the insert? I have been using a 380 grit sanding block, but I think that is too fine for getting all the stuff off. I looked at adhesive removers, but I was scared to use it on the plastic for fear it would eat through. Any suggestions on a plastic-safe adhesive remover?

 

just go down to 120 grit. if you're wrapping it in vynl (which i know you are) you just need it smooth enough so it wont show any wrinkles in your vynl. I have some 120 grit on an orbatal that i'm gonna use for my suede.

 

Save yourself a headace. Go to lowes and get this

then get you a spay bottle, spray a little section and use a scraper and just scrape it off. This will save you so much time and will not hurt the plastic at all. Once i got all the foam off then i took some 100g sand paper and smoothed it out. make sure you let it dry completely before you spray your glue on there. You want to make sure you get the foam off of there so you dont have any bumbs in your final results and also so you dont mess with the adhesion of your fabric and the plastic

 

I wrapped my inserts in suede without removing them. Then bought carbon inserts and where I removed the melted rivets I was able to throw some screws through.

 

I got one door panel done finally. Looks amazing. I also got some small screws and washers to hold the panel together. You have to be careful not to strip the threads, but if you are careful, it works great. The only problem I encountered was securing the 3 places on the thin strip on the side of the door. Since the panel would put pressure on that piece, I just left it unattached and it hasn't given me any trouble yet.

 

anyone installed the FWW CF door panels? i gotta get my regular inserts uninstalled and then get the CF ones in there....