Making door cards

I wouldn't use hardboard unless you can guarantee it'll always stay dry.
If it's fairly flat then thin exterior ply will cope with the damp better.
I've always used impact adhesive the spray stuff is easiest but pricey.

I did mine on the derby as I wanted to fit some speakers and didn't want to hack up the original door cards.

I used 5mm MDF as it doesn't warp and has some noise cancelling qualities.

Anyway I did it like this:

Cut the new boards using the originals as a template. I smoothed the edges of the new boards using a plane to leave a smoother edge on the new panels.


Buy some appropriate length internal panel fixings (these were from Halfords)

Spray glue the foam to the board and then match the fixings positions from the original panels. If your using foam place the original panels over the new ones and add some pressure. The old fixings leave marks in the foam

As the foam I was using was around 5mm thick it meant that the window winder wouldn't fit anymore. So mark the radius of the turn on the foam, check it is circular with dividers, cut the circle and remove the foam. I cut the circle so the edge of the foam is at about 45 degrees not a straight edge.

Spray glue the foam and the vinyl

Pull it tight and smooth out any areas of wrinkles or bubbles. Turn it over, cut the excess vinyl off, spray glue the vinyl and the back of the board and pull tight to get nice clean edges.

I then stapled it all down with a staple gun. eh voila!
Repeat with anything that needs doing:





The only problem I found was that when I put the door cards on, the top of the fixing pin could be seen. As it all settled this did go a way quite a bit. When I do it again I'll put the fixings through the board but not the foam so this wouldn't happen.

you can then add speaker mountings to the panels if you wish:





just make sure that the tweeters don't catch on the edge of the dash. (cough cough, that's two different installs where I've made this mistake. You'd have thought I'd have remembered ;D)

Hope that helps.

Lots of good advice above, I used a spray-on advesive and it worked fine ;D

Before fitting the new door cards, make sure the waterproof membrane / poly-sheet on the inside of the door is in place and not torn - it will stop water getting onto the back of your new cards

Hopefully this is allowed - Mods please let me know if not

There's a similar thread running here
www.rodsnsods.co.uk/forum/tech-discussion/making-door-cards-51831

Millboard seems to be the correct stuff to use, East Kent Trim Supplies should have what you need.

Hope it helps

Yes millboard is really the only thing to use as its flexible,durable and water resistant. I've done loads of door cards and panels with millboard and never had a problem. You will also need a padding between the vinyl and millboard. It takes a little practice to do panels successfully but is easy after a couple of goes, I use my wife's hairdryer to take out little wrinkles but not too hot, I also use a mixture (in different places not together) of a hot glue gun and a good spray adhesive.
I would recommend Woolies (www.woolies-trim.co.uk) as the best people i've used and they will offer advice and stock everything you need.
Colin