Int: DIY Painting Door Panels

[trubluryder]

What's up everyone, I just got done painting my door panels. I went with a two tone color scheme. The door was already painted black. In this DIY, I will do my best to explain how I painted the carpet inserts in the doors (coupe). I'm not professional and I've never had experience doing this prior to this DIY... But If I can do it, anyone can . This is my first DIY thread, I will try to explain this DIY as best as I can

PS. Once you paint your carpet inserts, it WILL NOT feel as smooth as before. Some will say it feels crusty, hard, etc( IMO, I don't think it feels that bad)....But over time, it will feel better. DO NOT DO THIS DIY IF YOU DON'T WANT TO LOSE YOUR COMFORT FEEL...LOL.

First I would like to say that I am not liable nor responsible for any damages incurred, if you choose to follow my DIY. I'm just trying to pass on info to all fellow CB7tuners what I learned from my experience.

Now that we have that taken care of, here are the list of things you would need :

-Phillip Screw Driver ( To remove the door panels)
-Flat Head Screw Driver ( To pop off the caps on the doors, to reach
the screws)
- One roll of painters masking tape
- Lots of newspaper (Help masking up unpainted areas)
- 1 Can of white Dye paint or2 cans if you have a sedan. This will be acting as a primer ( I used Sem's ColorCoat,
they are pretty expensive at $12 bucks per can. But are the best in my opinion. You can use other brands such as
Duplicolor Dye etc.)
- 1 or 2 cans of Dye Paint or 2 if you have a sedan ( . This will be your color of choice. ( In my DIY I used grey, since that was my color scheme. But you can use any color you want your interior to be.
- A Lint roller...LOL, you will understand why later.

Procedures:

1.) You will need to remove the door panels ( sorry I don't have any pics for this step). There will be 2 philip screws in each of the door handles, and one more once you take the handles off. Now the panel is only being held on by self holding clips. Carefully take your flat head screw driver and pry slowly around the panel.



2.) Once the door panel comes loose, be extra careful because there will be wires still attached to the panels(If you have power windows, doors etc). There will be plugs for the power window/locks, side mirrors, and interior stepping light. Unplug all.





3)Now that you got panels off, you then will need to remove the arm rest/handle. There will be screws holding them into, see pic blew. Once all the screws are removed, you will then need to remove the bottom clips. This part can be a little tough. Pry them with the flat head or whatever tool suits you best. Once all the screws and clips are removed, you can now take the Arm rest/handle off.



The screws



The clips




4)Once the door handles are removed, the next step is masking. With your masking tape, carefully tape around the door inserts. Its where the leather part meets the carpet insert. What I found easiest is masking that small area first with the tape, then use newspaper to mask the larger areas. See pics below.

Go around the edges with the tape first.

[trubluryder]

Now mask the rest of the area with newspaper




5) Once everything is masked up and ready to go, grab the Lint Roller. Use the lint roller to pickup any lint,hair, etc from the carpet. You want the area that is being painted to be clean and debris free.




6) Now that everything is cleaned and ready to go, its time to paint. Grab the White spray can. This will act as the primer. I went with white because it covers up the old maroon/black/blue or grey carpets best. If you skip this step, your color of choice dye paint will suffer. Because the old carpet color will prevent your color of choice of dye to not be its true color. For an example, when I painted the insert on my maroon door panel with light grey, it came out to be a dark greyish color. At certain angles you can still see the maroon seeping through. With the white, it helps seals the original color.

When spray painting, paint from a side to side motion. Try to keep a distance of 6"-8" from area. Let each coverage dry for about 5-10 mins, make sure you read the directions of the paint. Different brands tend to be different wait times. With the dye paint that I used from Sem, I painted as soon as 2-5 mins in between coats . Remember this step is to try to get the original color covered. You don't need to go crazy, 2 coats will be fine

Here is with two coats of white dye. Notice it won't fully cover the original color but no need to worry. Also if you notice, the handle/armrest part is not fully painted. The reason is because once you put it back on, you wont see the old color carpet, so no need to waste paint in that area




7) Now that you have covered most of the original carpet with the white dye. Its time to paint your true color of choice. In this DIY, I went with Sem's Warm Grey. Its a light grey that matches well with my suede inserts on my seats. Follow the same procedure as step 6 for painting. Two coats will be fine or you can stop whenever you feel is best. REMEMBER to let each coat dry in between, you don't want the carpet to be soaked with paint . It will be bitch, lol.

1 coat of grey dye



2 coats of grey dye


3 coats of grey dye


8) Once everything is dry, reinstall the arm rest, and then reinstall the door panels. Now take a step back and enjoy your new badazz two tone door panels.

[trubluryder]

here are the results







Installed











If anyone have any questions or issues while doing this DIY, just hit me up.

Later

[JoshM]

Your interior =
Nice write-up!

[JunyAccord]

kick ass write up! im guna do it in the near future

[trubluryder]

Your interior =
Nice write-up!

Thanks mang

kick ass write up! im guna do it in the near future

I think that everyone on this forum should paint their interiors...Just for the front and rear doors, you're probable looking at about 25-40 bucks depending on what brand of paint you use... $40= badazz looking doors

I think its just more of a time consuming thing. Take ur time when you do urs bro, and it will turn out great

Keep us updated

Later.

[konig52r]

Sick!!!!

Hey bro, i have a ? did you use the stock paneling that was on your car?
And is it possible to use the same method for the bottom carpet strip?

[trubluryder]

Hey bro, i have a ? did you use the stock paneling that was on your car?
And is it possible to use the same method for the bottom carpet strip?

Thanks bro. Yeah I used the stock door panels. A few months ago, the whole interior was maroon. I painted everything black and grey. The only thing that wasn't painted were the seats. If you look at the door panels, the bottom carpet strip is black ( used to be maroon)...They used to be maroon.

If you want to paint them the same color of the carpet insert in this DIY, just follow the same instructions and you should be good

Below are pics to show how to paint the leather part of the panel. To prep anything that if vinyl, leather or plastic, I used rubbing alcohol. This will take out any dirt, grime, and most importantly, oil or wax.

[trubluryder]

Oh I forgot to mention to everyone. Painting anything that is vinyl, plastic, or leather wont take up much paint. On the other hand, when paint the carpet parts, it takes more coats of paint. So don't be surprised if you run out of paint, lol. Buy more paint then is needed, cause when it comes to painting, having more is better

[Sneakerhead28]

WHAT A F-ING KICK ASS DIY!!! I have a question tho.. how did u do the panels in the back seat section cause i have a 2 dr too and im trying to go for the whole black/red set up... what would u recommend as primer for red?? and u see the little fur on the bottom of the front door panels by the little light.. would u do the same steps for those??

[trubluryder]

WHAT A F-ING KICK ASS DIY!!! I have a question tho.. how did u do the panels in the back seat section cause i have a 2 dr too and im trying to go for the whole black/red set up... what would u recommend as primer for red?? and u see the little fur on the bottom of the front door panels by the little light.. would u do the same steps for those??

Thanks man. For the back panels, it will be the same process. You would need to take it out. If I remember correctly, there will be 1 screw in the handle, one at the bottom of the panel and one on the top rear ( you may need to take off the rear seats, back cushion and bottom too. ). Once the panel is off, you can take the handle/armrest off, there will be screws behind the panel.

For red, I would still use white as the primer. It will make your red the true red you are looking for. If not, it will become a darker red Make sure if you paint the leather part of the doors, clean it well with rubbing alcohol, if not the dye/paint will peal etc. To paint the bottom part of the door, you will prepare the same steps as the insert. IF you have anymore questions or need any help during your project, let me know

Later

[moetan]

I wasn't sure how this one was gonna look when I clicked on it but i have to say you did a hell of a job man. keep up the good work

[92-cb7]

How is the paint holding up? any cracking?
Do any vinyl cleaning products pose a problem? (pain rubbing off, etc)

[trubluryder]

I wasn't sure how this one was gonna look when I clicked on it but i have to say you did a hell of a job man. keep up the good work

Thank man

How is the paint holding up? any cracking?
Do any vinyl cleaning products pose a problem? (pain rubbing off, etc)

Its been holding up pretty good. I have used Meguiars products on everything and it looks even better . If you prepped the interior good you shouldn't have to worry about the paint coming off. As a matter of fact, even the carpet is holding up very well. The only parts that looks faded on it (carpet), is where I sprayed only light coats because a floor mat will cover it...didn't want to waste paint on places where people won't see