6N - Removing & Retrimming Doorcards

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Polo96CL
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6N - Removing & Retrimming Doorcards

Post by Polo96CL »

Re-trimming Door Cards on a Polo MK4/6N

Door card material looking knackered or worn out? Or maybe just don't like the colour and fancy doing something different? This guide will show you step by step how to remove your door cards from your car, retrim the fabric material in the arm area and how to reattach.

For this tutorial you will need the following:

A Phillips Cross head or Posidrive Screwdriver – various bits
A thin and thick ended flat head Screwdriver
Scissors/Stanley knife
Pencil
Heavy Duty Spray adhesive (glue for material)
1m2 of your desired material
Hairdryer
Superglue – Loctite works well
Masking Tape
A wet wipe, toilet roll also works

*Optional Recommended*
Sandpaper

FAQ.

Q. I have a 6n2/Mk5 and your guide is for a 6n/Mk4, is the process the same?
A. Not exactly, from my research it seems that the 6n2 does not have a fold under lip on the edge of the plastic card coating, this would mean that the material you wish to replace would have to have a double edge, which would be achieved by folding the edge over and glueing it before it gets sprayed with the adhesive.

Q. You're using Vinyl in your guide, I have real leather and I have been told that I cannot use your process to fit it, is this true?
A. I cannot guarantee that using real leather will perform the same under the heating conditions which are used in this guide, however I wouldn't think it would be much different, simply because it is a process many major manufacturers use in the industry.

Q. I am unsure what material I should use, do you recommend any?
A. The Vinyl material I used in this guide was bought from a local parts fair for £8, however there are a wide variety of different types on the Internet. You could use Suede/Alcantara, Vinyl, Leather and even paper if you wanted.

Disclaimer - I do not take responsibility for any damage, injury, death or incidents that take place when you are following this guide to retrim the doorcards in a Polo Mk4/6N. It is up to you whether you decide to go ahead.

Removing 6n/Mk4 Door Cards

First step is to remove your door cards, starting with the grab handle, prise away the outer casing using the large flat screwdriver. Being careful not to scratch the surface, the cover will pop off and you will expose 2 large screws which are located in the holes. The screws are highlighted in red rings.

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Once the screws have been removed (it may be the case of waiting for the door card to come off before they fall out), the next step is to remove the mirror cover in the top corner. This is simply held on by clips, again using the large screwdriver, pop this off. You will then be left with something that looks like this.

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Now the next step is to remove the doorcard from the actual door, to do this, get the large screwdriver and starting at the bottom, wedge it in between them both and you will hear a satisfying click or pop to let you know its come off. Work your way round until you can feel that the door card is barely hanging on.

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Don't forget to take off the door lock pin, this is simply screwed on, just twist to remove.

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Now, carefully lift the bottom half of the doorcard until the handle of the door is pinning it onto the door, open the handle as if you were opening the door, and the doorcard will come away.

You will then be left with the following:

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Retrimming 6n/Mk4 door cards

Flip the doorcard over so you can see the back, next to where the grab handle used to be, you will find 7 screws (5 if you're doing the rear doorcards on a 5 door). Unscrew these and the plastic trim will fall out. I have highlighted them in red for your convenience.

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Now, this is where it gets tricky. The next step is to remove the old fabric from the door card, I found it was easier to start on the area which has an exposed edge, this meant I could get underneath the fabric with the flat edge of the screwdriver before I tackled the edges which are covered. Carefully working your way along, keeping the screwdriver edge flat as not to tear or stretch the fabric (this will be your template remember). You will hear the fabric pulling away, try if you can to get the material to part from the card without ripping some of the card, but don't worry if you can't as you can see in my pictures that it is a difficult process to get right!

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Be careful not to rip the material when you come to an edge, as you can see in the picture below. This not only takes a lot of time to recover the edge (remember you want to use this later as a template) but it can also stretch the edge. Another thing to be wary off is not to lever the screwdriver too much on the edge of the card, otherwise you will find that it can rip.

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Now you've got the hang of removing the fabric, you will find that the edge of the card has this lip which is glued to the material. There is a technique for getting this edge to separate from the material without it damaging, the trick is to use the flat head screwdriver and edge it down the side of the fabric, the picture below shows how to do this.

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Use this technique until the entire fabric edge at the top is off, here is a picture of how far you should be.

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The next step is to get the bottom edge off, you will have got the end of the top and be able to roll it down so it folds over on itself. This is great because it means the fabric pulls away from the greenish covering and not the fibrous card.

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Now using the same rolling technique, pull on the fabric so you get to the edge of the bottom. The picture below shows.

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Using the same technique as first stated on prising the edge away using the flat head screwdriver, pull away the remaining fabric and you will be left with a bare doorcard.

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Here are a couple I've done using this guide.

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The Retrim

Now that you've got your bare doorcard just shouting to be covered (unless you're going for a rat look?), you will need to get your material ready to be cut. It is at this point you can choose to lightly sand the exposed card area, I didn't but it could be useful. Using your old fabric which you've removed, place it over your roll of material. Using the pencil, mark out the area which covers the template, but remember to leave a good inch around as the template will not flatten fully due to the concave in the doorcard.

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Cut out the new material and place it on top of your doorcard and emulate it to size. It will be at this point you realise whether or not you've cut it to a good size!

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The next step is the hardest, you have to get your material to fit the concave and area of the original fabric. Now, find the area which width wise, is the longest in length, and take the pencil to draw a straight line across. On the 6n, this will form the top ridge of the doorcard rest.

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Now, using the scissors, cut the material along this line. This will allow you to start the top of the door card. The next step is to lift that lip up on the edge of the doorcard, use the masking tape to hold this in place. You want to get it so that you can quickly place the material you want to use into the edge when its glued.

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The next step is to spray glue on the area of the lip where you will place the material, make sure you shake the can of adhesive thoroughly so you get a good even coverage. It is also advised at this stage to use the masking tape to cover any area's that you don't want damaged by the glue, as it can be a right pain getting it off surfaces. Once the glue is covered evenly around the underside of the lip and slight in front, press down your materials straight edge under the lip. You will now have something that looks like this.

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Now, draw a rough line from ¾ of the doorcard in. It will be from this point you will use the glue to spray down the contour of the doorcard.

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Spray up to this line (don't worry about minor overlap, the line is simply a guide).

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Start by using the wet wipe to rub down the material flat onto the surface of glue, the reason the wipe is used is because it is easier to smooth down over the surface of the material. You may find if using anything like fabric that this might not work, try using a dry towel if so.

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You will notice that some area's of your material overlap the area's which need covering (for example the handle slot), for the handle slot, simply use scissors to cut away the excess and fold it over underneath.

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You may find that it is easier to stretch the material round by heating it up before, as I found to get maximum coverage it was easier to do this. Use the glue to hold it in place as so:

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It should look like this from the front

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Now you should try to cut any excess you have off as it will not be required. Start with the edge of the door card, and cut enough off so there is an inch or so left. This allows us to wrap it around the side and give a tidy finish.

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Using the same masking tape technique of holding back the lip of the doorcard trim, repeat this to the lower side of the card. Once this has done, start warming up the hairdryer.

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Spray glue on the top section and press down hard, you will notice at this stage there may be some kinks in the material but don't worry, we'll iron them out shortly!

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Now get the hairdryer and press the remaining material into the space lifted from the edge, make sure you keep the heat on this part as this will stop the material from going soft. Push it into the gap and keeping tight pull on the material so you get rid of the creases, at this point I found it useful for a friend to rub the creases out by getting a wet wipe and rubbing against the surface, again keeping the temperature of the material heated. If you're lucky, your hairdryer should have a “cool” button which blow out cold hair. Any excess length just cut using the scissors. Do this for 2 minutes until the glue has set.

That's the hardest part out of the way!

You will now have to reglue down the edge lips, I used Loctite glue because it was effective but its very risky if you get it on the material you want to use. I also chose to glue the edges down when it was on the car, but it is up to you when you want to do this bit.

At this stage you should have it looking like this:

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To refit to the car, reverse the process of fitting.

Hope thats cleared a few things up for people :)
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VWking
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Re: 6N - Removing & Retrimming Doorcards

Post by VWking »

Thanks! This guide was really useful! :P
What size speakers are you using in your doors? I really want some fusion one's for mine :)
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Polo96CL
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Re: 6N - Removing & Retrimming Doorcards

Post by Polo96CL »

I think the speaker sizes were 6.5? Its just the generic size I would say :)
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VWking
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Re: 6N - Removing & Retrimming Doorcards

Post by VWking »

They must have been expensive, fusion aren't exactly cheap although they are well priced compared to others :)
Will have to shop around and just see what I can find, have you changed the speakers in your dash? I was gong to get some fusion tweeters but I don't know if that will be enough, and I should get 3.5" speakers? Don't know :S
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Polo96CL
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Re: 6N - Removing & Retrimming Doorcards

Post by Polo96CL »

I don't think they cost a lot at all to be honest with you, a reasonably priced Componant kit. The kit came with the 2 door speakers, 2 front tweeters and the crossover boxes. I can't remember the exact size, but its the same size as the "generic" size.
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VWking
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Re: 6N - Removing & Retrimming Doorcards

Post by VWking »

WOW! cool thanks, I will deffo be looking around, I have already found a good vibe component kit for £50 which is quite good :D
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Re: 6N - Removing & Retrimming Doorcards

Post by Tim_GTi »

Great guide as always Daz!
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gilbo-6n
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Re: 6N - Removing & Retrimming Doorcards

Post by gilbo-6n »

great guide :D
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