Is the factory fabric on the top of the door panels a suede material? Has anyone tried to fix the sun damaged material? Mine looks like a suede, and I have looked around at dyes that can be applyed. I was wondering if anyone has attempted to fix these panels short of removing and replacing. I pulled the door panels off to get an idea of how it is attached. Looks like a couple pins at the top, and a bead roll on the bottom. Would like to look at dying the material before attempting to replace. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Fabric on door panels
- Thread starter Wildcat1
- Start date
MazdaSpeeder
Member
- :
- Protege5 (5-spd)
There's a whole thread on here somewhere with a number of guys who have replaced that material. I'm thinking it's in here, not in the How-to section, but if you search enough you should be able to find it. tons of good info in there!
bikingpro5
Member
- :
- 03 Protege5
so much easier to just rip off the old material and glue on a nice new piece of suede, I changed all of mine years ago and it took less then a day. Just use the pieces you removed as a template for the new ones. IMO not worth trying to redye the OE material
blkaznmartin
Member
- :
- 2003 Protg5
If there's a Hancock Fabric store near you, look at the vinyl they have. I recently recovered my door panels ("suede" sections anyway) and I used their red vinyl. It all cost about $10 for the fabric and the spray adhesive.
CR3 Motorsports
Member
Got pics?
blkaznmartin
Member
- :
- 2003 Protg5
I put the new fabric over the old. I like the panels being extra squishy now lol. I'll post pics in a bit.
blkaznmartin
Member
- :
- 2003 Protg5
Horrible quality but I think you'll get the idea.
CR3 Motorsports
Member
Lol Seen it on Facebook, Looks good!
Horrible quality but I think you'll get the idea.
How hard was it to put the fabric around the door handle and what not? Did you remove it and then put the fabric on?
blkaznmartin
Member
- :
- 2003 Protg5
I took my door panels out for convenience which meant the handles were already off. I popped the switches and the inserts around the locks out as well. To make sure everything went back in properly, I made slits in the vinyl and made sure the vinyl wasn't so stretched that it would rip and be visible. Basically my cuts ended up being the shape of the Union Jack. For the front passenger in particular, I just screwed the handle in without making a hole. It was pretty easy to just poke through.
BTW To get the fabric to stay nicely under the windowsill, I actually took the sills off (by bending the tabs underneath), then stuck the fabric on the tabs, and re-installed the sill. That way the fabric wouldn't be roughed up by shoving it underneath with a butter knife (which I tried) AND the fabric can be pulled and stretched without fear of it coming out.
BTW To get the fabric to stay nicely under the windowsill, I actually took the sills off (by bending the tabs underneath), then stuck the fabric on the tabs, and re-installed the sill. That way the fabric wouldn't be roughed up by shoving it underneath with a butter knife (which I tried) AND the fabric can be pulled and stretched without fear of it coming out.
