Replace just the fabric-portion of a 1998 Toyota Corolla Door Panel?

I just replaced the entire panel on my 1998 Toyota Corolla. It was difficult to even find a panel that was not all cracked and broken. The problem is, the one I bought did have a flaw: the fabric upholstery part of the door was a close-but-not-exact match to my car, plus it had cigarette burns all over it just above where the power lock and window buttons were.  I kept the old panel on my car, which had been cracked and broken, but the fabric upholstery on it is just fine and matches the car perfect. I believe that part is just glued on somehow. Is there a way to remove just the fabric part from both panels and just re-glue the good one from my old panel onto the one I just bought?


 

examine the back side of the old door panel??? see if there are any retaining clips... holding your panel insert in place...

if your old door panel is broken up...    break some of it away..  see how the insert is attached..

talk to an upholstery shop...  some are very creative...

toyota may still have some colors of door panels available.. new...

there is even a chance that there is at least one source of fabric to recover the panel..  there are several excess automotive fabric dealers scattered around the country that buy left overs from factory runs...   you would want to look at online toyota parts sites to attempt to figure out the fabric color name..  or code... then go from there with a google search..  

I agree with Wayne.  

It maybe just a few clips holding the panel on. Don't try to remove any of the door panels without the proper tools. They are inexpensive compaired to the cost of a replacement door panel...When you purchase the door panel tools, ask the counter guy which tool you need to do that job. Some door panels may require you purchase 3 or 4 different tools...  

Bob  

Hi all. After much patience, experimentation, and waiting, I just completed this and figured I might as well share the outcome. Looks like the 1998 Toyota Corolla's door panel fabric upholstery came in TWO DIFFERENT TYPES (this is important, so read on).

The one that was on the panel that originally came with my car was a piece of fabric that had a full-surface adherance to a cardboard-ish shell that held its shape, which was then in turn glued to the surface of the door panel with a yellow rubber cement that mostly only went around the outer perimmeter, and then some on the inside part. I added an image below to show the glue pattern just in case it might help someone later. I had experimented by swabbing different dissolvants on the glue such as acetone, alcohol, air-intake cleaner, brake cleaner, and others. This was all a waste of time. Whatever the glue is, it doesn't dissolve, even when fully submerged in stuff like acetone, or stronger stuff like air-intake cleaner. So I had to carefully pull it off centimeter by centimeter from the old door panel. Had to press down on the panel just under the peel area while tugging back on the cloth, because the panel itself has a surface fabric that will stretch if you pull too hard. The most difficult spot was along the top starting about six inches forward from where the door lock was because there was twice as much glue holding it on (two parallel lines). Had to be very careful. Then when I was done, I had to remove the glue again from the underside of the fabric-shell. I wasn't able to get all of it off unfortunately because it would have ripped clean-through to the fabric, but I did get most of it.

Now I had to remove the fabric on the panel that I had just put in my car as a replacement (the one with the cigarette burns in it). Turns out this one DID NOT HAVE A CARDBOARD-ISH SHELL TO THE UNDERSIDE OF IT. The fabric alone had a full-surface adherance directly to the door panel itself. It peeled off easy as though it were a piece of masking tape. I'm glad that my original panel did not use this type of adherance method, because if it did, this would have been a much more difficult task of re-adhering the cloth from my original door.

Anyhow, I got some headliner adhesive at at an auto parts store and just sprayed an even coat on the underside of my original door panel cloth-shell, and pressed it onto the panel appropriately, carefully making sure it was flat all over with no bubbles and placed exactly where the factory would have mounted it. Seems to be on there pretty good now. If I have any more problems with it, I'll post again here with a followup, but I'm thinking this worked out pretty well.


 

great work...

there are so many types of adhesives...  could have been some kind of epoxy...

could have been thermal... could have been???? hard to find something to stick really well to the door panel plastic..  

Graystranger

Great post for exactly what I am preparing to attempt this coming holiday weekend.

From what I read above, you really DO NOT have to remove the entire door panel?  I would assume there were no clips or ties through the door panel and I could just CAREFULLY separate the cloth backing from the leather/plastic door panel??

My cloth pieces have already separated from their backing, and I used them for patterns to make new cloth pieces for the door panels.

What type glue did you use to reattached the cloth backing to the door panel after you had glued the new cloth to the backing with headliner adhesive?

Thanks

Headliner next!!!! :-)  

there are so many adhesives that could be used....

3M/Yellow super weatherstrip and gasket adhesive
Part Number: 08001

3M/Black super weatherstrip and gasket adhesive
Part Number: 8008


3M/Yellow super weatherstrip and gasket adhesive
Part Number: 8002

3M/Super weatherstrip and gasket adhesive
Part Number: 08581

Permatex makes some also...

stay away from non 3M or Permatex brands in this stuff.. there are some clones that turn to Dust as they dry..

i actually like the permatex in black as it takes 4 days to get it off my fingers.. where the 3m takes 3 days to get off my fingers..


there are probably another dozen products that you can use also...

there was some neat 08051... feathering disc adhesive.. came in clear.. used to stick sand paper to sanders... but allowed them to be pulled apart.. but it does come off so its probably not what you want to use...

this is for exterior trim pieces..
3M™ Fast Tack Trim Adhesive, 5 ounce tube, 08031



this is what some people use to install headliners with..

3M™ General Trim Adhesive 08088 in spray cans...
Part Number: 08088
UPC: 00051135080887
Stock Number: 60455030050
Low VOC, clear, high strength adhesive for bonding automotive materials such as carpeting, jute pads, fabrics and plastics to metal and other surfaces. Has good heat and water resistance.  

that is some bada$$ glue

the new duct tape for rednecks  

Hi yall. Just thought I'd follow-up. Its been a while, and the headliner adhesive did NOT HOLD. The thing game off again. So this time I got some silicon glue and applied it over where the original factory glue used to be. I made sure to use silicon because I told the guys at the hardware store (hopefully they know their glues really well) that I may at some point have to peel this thing off again for some unknown unforeseen reason. So we'll see how this goes. I'll reply again if it comes off again in the future and this thread is still here.