Door panel base material?

[WinDancer]

I am redoing my door panels and want to use black Naugahyde to cover them.

My old panels were made over thin plywood.

Don't want to use or metal or plywood. Anyone ever use anything else? Pics?

TIA,
Dave

[VA72C10]

most i've seen when reading up on this will use mdf because it is dense and will hold an edge you put into it w/ a router

[Longhorn Man]

you can get plastic door panels in the shape of the original metal ones. I know LMC has them, and if they have them, then a vendor worth shopping with probably has them.

[ChevLoRay]

What's wrong with an OEM-type metal panel as the base? GM covered them with the original vinyl that our trucks had, if it wasn't a base truck. I just pulled the black vinyl skin off of one of mine, in preparation for the red that it will have.

How stable is the MDF, in humidity? I have fears that, left unprotected, it will be like the particle board in a mobile home.....

[bad6772]

I used 1/4 inch melomein<spell....In my 67 been on there for 4/5 years now and it looks great.....<My mother is a Home designer.....So the leather was a gift from her.......She is doing my seat in the 72 as we speak....Black leather also.....I can post some int pics if some are needed of the 67.....

[LONGHAIR]

Melamine is a low pressure laminate (plastic coating) it will stand-up to humidity and even direct water contact, but the coating is only on the faces. The edges are still exposed....if you are worried about that. Generally the contact cement and the vinyl itself will seal it up well enough though. In normal use, it will be fine. It wouldn't stand a flood...but nither will a lot of other things.
MDF is fine in humidity too, but direct water contact is not good. Paining it first would seal it up, and again the contact cement and vinyl will take care of the rest.

[utvaquero59]

In order to avoid starting a new thread, I'll revive this old one as it kinda relates.

Question to you restoration masters: I had a '71 CST with body-color metal door panels that I LOVED. My "new," '71 has what appears to be the metal door panels covered by vinyl trim. And, they look like crap. Is the metal underneath the vinyl the same as the "plain," metal door panels like my other '71? Can I just take that vinyl off and refinish the underlying metal panel? If so, how's the best way to go about removing the vinyl and refinishing the metal?

I'm thinking rust treatment as needed, spray-can primer, spray-can base coat and spray-can clear coat--unless somebody convinces me of doing it different/better!

[Shane]

X2 on the melamine ... cheap, easy to cut, last forever

[tinlid]

.125 ABS plastic is what Rod Doors uses and I have bought it locally. No reason you cannot use the metal ones underneath. A putty knife to slip between the old material and the metal to cut the glue as you pull on the material will get it reomoved. Afther that its just cleaning the old ones up. Just be careful not to bend or oil can them.

[Yukon Jack]

I used backer board like is used in bathrooms when I made door panels for my 69.

[RLONG]

I used the white plastic shower material for my side panel in my 71 k-5 where i put speakers i doubled the thicknes for support just glued the two pieces together for extra support works great better than 600.00 for new ones.