To get the cards off the car, see door panel removal first. This guide picks up once the cards are on the bench.
Most of this comes from one owner's 2017 refurbishment of several sets, with a few comments from others. Nothing here has been tested by anyone else, so treat it as a starting point.
Repairing the card
- The cards are foam. Peel the old cover off, then fill holes and broken sections with a strong glue and sand it back.
- One owner repaired a card this way with polyurethane glue. He found repairing a damaged plastic door triangle "hard and not worth it", and looked for a replacement instead.
- Dents: an owner suggested that dents in the cards are commonly caused by a dangling seat belt buckle when the door is shut. That is one owner's view. If yours are dented, it costs nothing to tuck the buckles away.
- The surface under the original cover is not painted, and is delicate. Protect it.
Re-covering
- Real leather or fake leather: the owner tried 6 or 7 materials. Soft fake leather stretches a little and sticks, but he found real leather easier to glue and would use it again.
- Heat helps: steaming leather makes it stretchy (another owner), and heat helps fake leather too.
- Creases at the back of the card need extra glue, or stitching (another owner).
- The owner finished the edges with staples.
- Don't spray textured paint onto the card. Asked whether textured paint would work instead of a cover, the owner said paint would most likely dissolve the polyurethane card.
- Aftermarket arm rest covers: the owner found one make of rear arm rest covers fitted poorly. A layer of 3 mm foam scrim over them helped. He left the french seam crease visible on one part so it would not chafe when the door opened and shut.
Painting the silver plastic parts
- Use grey plastic primer. One owner who used standard primer and plastic primer found both reacted with the original grey coating.
- The owner who got the best result sanded all the original paint off with 120 grit, then smoothed it with 600. He had a reaction on a light switch piece when he only used 600.
- Clean with white spirit before painting.
- Matt lacquer from a rattle can spat on him twice. He resprayed once, then left the second one.
Holding the card on: clips, Velcro or tape
The original clips break easily (30p each in 2007). Options owners used, none of them proven long term:
- New clips. The most faithful fix. One owner who had used Velcro said the glue melted in the sun, and went back to the correct clips. See door panel removal for the other view.
- Velcro. It sticks well to the smooth back of the card but poorly to the rough surface of the door. An owner who replaced six clips with Velcro had trouble seating the card, and suggested heavy-duty Velcro. Fine as a temporary measure (2008).
- Double-sided foam strip, suggested in 2008 as another option. Not tried in the thread.
- Butyl rubber strip of the kind sold for bath splashbacks, also suggested in 2008. The idea is to stick it in a few places where the card meets the door. The card hooks over the top of the door so it can't drop. Not tried in the thread.
A cracked card and a rattle
One owner chasing a rattling window cracked a door card, broke a foam lug and broke the handle escutcheon. If a window rattles, check the window and its adjustment first (adjusting the windows) before you take the card apart again.