Door panel recover easy DIY

Just did my door panels. Sort of easy but does take time. Think I averaged about 4 hours a door. But I took my time. And all supplies are cheap.
Will give some info in case anyone interest and some pics

The material is sold as headliner material. Stretchable and has a foam backing like OEM. And at least the brand I got. Is every bit as good quality as the OEM material. Link below.

The part to recover is mounted to the door panel. Has plastic studs that go thru the panel and the factory just melted the ends to have like a mushroom head.

Just grind off the head flush. A Dremel tool works good.
To remount. Best is to use
#8 x 1/2" Phillips Modified Truss Head Wood Screws. With a #8 x 3/4" fender washer.
No need to predrill the studs. They already have a hollow area in the center. Perfect size to guide the screw. You may not see it at first thru the melted plastic. But can tell once you start the screw.

Also on the very top row. Use 2 or 3 washers. Otherwise the screw may be a little to long and poke thru the fabric. Top row studs are not as long.

For glue use 3M #90 spray adhesive. Actually much better than the OEM glue and heat resistance.

If anyone interested I can even post some more notes.

Links

$30 Car Elements Suede Headliner Fabric with Foam Backing 60" W×54" L Auto Suede Headliner Material for Car Truck RV SUV Boat Home Roof Interior Replacement Fabric, Gray

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08VW4J3WX?ie=UTF8&th=1

$8 100 Qty #8 x 1/2" Zinc Plated Phillips Modified Truss Head Wood Screws (BCP1216)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CGMHLBPW?smid=A23TVO4Z9GSJEQ

$6 BCP Fasteners 50 Pack #8 x 3/4" 304 Stainless Steel Fender Washers (BCP561)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KQGV2SC?smid=A23TVO4Z9GSJEQ

$37 3M Hi-Strength Spray Adhesive 90, 14.6 oz., Industrial Strenght Spray Glue, Dries Clear, Use on Rubber, Glass, Metal, Wood, Foam, Plastic, Cardboard, Fiberglass Insulation, Drywall, and More (90-DSC)

https://www.amazon.com/3M-Hi-Streng...=1702783031&sprefix=3m+90,aps,118&sr=8-1&th=1

 

Ooh la la, that looks good and will be nice to look at every time you get in the truck. Thanks for the links to materials. Does this mean that your cab now needs new seats and carpets? Scope creep stinks.

 

No did those about 4 years ago. Wanted a brand new truck. But I could not find anything, at any price I liked as much. So spent whatever I needed to make my 2003 Tundra look new. Mine is a reg cab and wanted a 8 ft bed. Most of the other trucks with a large bed drove like a boat. Door panels where the very last thing on my list. For some reason the upholstery shop did not want to do them. Guess he was worried about how to reattached the panel.

 

That’s a pretty industry standard way to reattach. Any shop should be able to manage, unless they only like using sewing machines. Did they do headliners also?

 

Looks fantastic. That is something I’ve wanted to do for a while, but once I saw the melted plastic mushroom head I said nope. Now that I see yours, I do believe I will tackle mine. Great post. Thank you for sharing.

 

I had spent a lot of time looking on youtube. And could not find anything at all on the internet. For the mushrooms. I even bought a cheap $30 plastic welder which I planned to use. Until I figured out some of my screws would work even better.

 

If you are going to do. I may have some more pics I can post with some pointers. Will try to do that later

 

Oh, it will happen sometime in the new year. Hell, post everything you can to this thread just for those that will search this topic sometime in the future

 

Super weird, I've posted the instructions about 3-4 times on the forum. Here's one of the older ones, from 2020, with pictures: https://www.tundras.com/threads/1st-gen-lunch-table-general-discussion.60450/page-202#post-1837643

They do make those special nuts you'll see in my pics, so you don't need to grind down the post and use a screw, but I don't recall what they're called. Self-cutting nuts? Dorman sells them: https://www.dormanproducts.com/p-8413-45384.aspx

We had to do this all the time when I worked at the audio shop for show cars, we typically did custom inserts on doors, upper and lower. Pop it out, hit the fabric and panel with spray adhesive, wait for flash, install from center line outward. Then button it back up.

If an audio shop knows how to do this, any upholstery shop worth their salt knows it. They're either sew-only, or they want easier work.

 

Yes, I spent a lot of time searching even on other forums and could not find anything.

But it seems our trucks are different. My 2003 or my old 2000 does not have the nuts on the studs for the panel or the speakers. Nothing sticks out far enough for a nut. Yours would have been a lot easier.
At least for my year. They never used nuts. They just melted the stud down to a mushroom head. So if you grind off the head the stud is just flush with the panel. The tweeter speaker is the only thing you have to be a little careful on. With very small mushroom heads. The studs are to small to add a screw. I used a soldering iron and small screwdriver to pry up the mushroom heads when heated. It just barely leaves enough plastic for you to heat and push down to reinstall. But you dont need much to hold that. On one stud I added a little to it to make sure. Just cut a small piece from inside of door off one of the support ribs. So was same type plastic. And melted a little more to the top of one stud out of 6 with the 2 doors. Not sure I really needed to do that. It depends on how mush you are able to leave when you take them off.
But your 2006 does make it much easier. Since no plastic welding or as much to do.

 

Older year is the same thing as newer year, but with the older year they melted the tube down so it looks like a rivet. You can see it in the post I linked up, the tube I’m talking about, unmelted. I think the later year style is easier, but … it is what it is.

But there is and always has been a dedicated thread for the older models too, probably best to read the whole thread before thinking “but this is the same as the ‘06!”: https://www.tundras.com/threads/interior-door-panel-re-carpeting.88361

I believe there’s one more thread around here with a 2000/2001 that shows more details on how to manage things when there’s much less rivet to work with. @BubbaW has referenced out a few links for others in the past.

 

It wouldn't be a bad idea to add this link to the MEGA THREAD along with maybe something like THIS for headliner removal? As the fabric ages and folks start doing DIY stuff, ect...

 

I'm driving back to ATL in a few, gonna be on the road for a few hours. I'll dig on the other (I remember there's three) thread I'm thinking of, even though the principle is generally the same. Or I'll just edit my reply and link to the others, then link megathread to my reply and the headliner reply.