Upper Door Pads? What did you do?

[mikes68charger]

I have a 68 and I painted the front upper door pads and they look great 8 out of 10. No cracks or missing material, 2 little dents tho, but not notable. The rear on the other hand suck. I have 2 complet sets and they both suck. Major cracking and misshing vinyl. I know just dashes will recover these but at what cost? I'm happy with the fronts but If I recover the back I would have to do the fronts to match    I have been thinking, of just recovering the front and back with new vinyl, doesn't look to hard. I know I will lose the grove down the center, but I have heard just dashes will charge a but load. My charger is a driver and maybe a show or two. I hate to install my new window felt on sothing I'm not happy with.

What have you guys done? I know not everyone has sent there stuff to just dashes.  I was told I could use the steel rear door pads off 68-70 road runners, etc. what you think?

what did you do? Thanks Mike

[Shakey]

I asked about Just Dashes a few weeks/months ago and got some pretty decent information.  I called them for prices and it was around $200.00 USD each and about 8 - 10 weeks lead-time.  Poke around a bit and you'll see some existing answers to your questions while you wait for others to post some more.

BTW - I haven't done mine yet as I have plenty of other things on the go.

[Mike DC]

 
$200 wouldn't be half bad for the long front pads.  You could send them a really cheap busted-ass set of cores.  You'd end up with both the upper door pads in good shape for many years to come for only about $500-600 invested, even after all the shipping & a fresh coat of vinyl paint. 

Spending $200 each on the rear upper pads sounds less fun, though.  They're smaller and they don't get as much wear & tear in the first place.

[68 RT]

Bought some off ebay.

[Charger-Bodie]

i watched the for sale ads ritght he on dc got a real nice set of 4 for 245.00 shipped the had a couple small reairs needed but very minor and they look great now! ................there is some fairly good word that be/a is in the process of repoping them as we type!! so keep that in mind also

[41husk]

I had mine done through just dashes, and was happy with finished product, but they were about a month longer than they said it would be.

[Corellian Corvette]

Can you post pictures?

[Rolling_Thunder]

I sent a pair to just dashes and got them back in 13 business days 

[Charger-Bodie]

I sent a pair to just dashes and got them back in 13 business days 

Did they do anything to them??? lol.....just kidding . were you happy with them cause ive only seen 2 sets that they had done and was not impressed ecspecially for the cash the get for doing them.

[Shakey]

Here is some more information from others on the site:

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,26677.0.html

[Rolling_Thunder]

I sent a pair to just dashes and got them back in 13 business days 

Did they do anything to them??? lol.....just kidding . were you happy with them cause ive only seen 2 sets that they had done and was not impressed ecspecially for the cash the get for doing them.

well...    wasnt my money...     customer wanted them redone to exactly factory...     i wasnt extremely impressed but they were the only game in town at the time.

[Charger-Bodie]

i actually ment the time frame part they are ussually VERY slow......im not impressed with there quality either thou

[troy.70R/T]

I have used the steel pads off of road runners before. To match them to the front door all you need to do is remove the top pad and weld the holes shut. you can always drill the hole out later if you find good top pads. However doing this does make the interior look cheaper.

[bull]

I buy most of my good used interior stuff off Ebay because I've yet to see anyone do a factory-correct job on upper door pads, arm rests, dash pads, etc., basically all the repro soft interior stuff (except for door panels and seat covers) has a long way to go before it's good enough IMO. By the time it's all said and done the reproduction stuff costs the same as the good used stuff and it doesn't look correct so why mess with it?

[41husk]

You said you have two sets of rear pads.  I would try to recover a set on my own or at least one pad and see how it comes out before you flop down a butt load of cash.

[JimShine]

My buddy Chris works over at The Paddock. Chris helped us out tremendously on the Lee1 project and in turn, has been working on getting more Charger parts for their inventory.

Chris told me last week that they have been approached by a guy who is tooling up to make reproduction upper door pads. The initial samples were done and there are some tweaks they need to do to the embossed lines. Hopefully this is going to happen.

[41husk]

That will be great if they can come in under Just Dashes restoration price

[professor-patrick]

I recover all the upper door pads (front and rear) in each of my charger builds.  I use vinyl that matches the seats/doorpanels.  You do lose the groove down the middle, but you retain the medallion in the center.  It's a smooth look that my customers seem to like.  I charge $300 for all four, and it takes about 2 weeks.  See some examples on GL12, 13 and 15 on my website www.scotleaidolrods.com

[JrJohnston]

I cover them out of vinyl and it works out,you lose a little detail on the center grooves,but you can still see it.And if they are covered out of tweed you lose none of the detail on the grooves. And yes I have covered them in tweed.

[JimShine]

Jr, those look pretty darn good! The attention to detail on those lines is awesome. It would look like a high school book cover otherwise.

[JrJohnston]

Jr, those look pretty darn good! The attention to detail on those lines is awesome. It would look like a high school book cover otherwise.

Thank's.
I have been doing them that way for 10 years now,and starting to get good at it....LOL

[Corellian Corvette]

I just covered mine in vinyl this week. They came out good - not as good as yours.

What type of Vinyl are you using? What about adhesive? Tips!?

[JrJohnston]

I just covered mine in vinyl this week. They came out good - not as good as yours.

What type of Vinyl are you using? What about adhesive? Tips!?

  I just used roll stock vinyl from my local supplier,but I cheated and found the one that would stretch the most.As for the glue I use Landau top adhesive sprayed out of a paint gun.
As for tips; Make sure you sand/scuff the old hard cover with 60 grit sandpaper,wipe it down with a GLASS cleaner and then with laquar thinner or acetone,glue it and let it tack up.I use some 1/4'' wood dowel rod's to keep one end of the vinyl off the glue while I work the other,and I use a little heat and a "clean" cotter pin pull to to work it down in the grooves after the heat.

       Pretty simple

[68charger383]

I went into Just Dashes, they did not seem to know what was going on. They could not quote me a price for anything...I asked about a 68 dash bezel in the case, how much was it to restore his, and they could not tell me???

I guess it was "bring in the parts and write a blank check"...I didn't feel comfortable with the answers I was getting from the guys in the front who were busy spraying raid on the ants all over the orders forms on their desks

[JrJohnston]

You should be able to have it covered in vinyl,I have one comming in for me to cover in black vinyl here in a couple of weeks,and I'll try to post befroe and after pictures.