Rubber door panel

[KenR]

I haven't seen the original style corrugated rubber that acts as an inner door liner. Are those available, or am I just not looking at the major catalogs correctly? Are people using an alternative? I've got an old one that was folded and turned brittle over the last 3 decades..
thanks,
-ken

[Rot]

Ken:
The usual sources do not have the rubber panel material you are looking for as it just isn't manufactured by anyone. Depending on where you live you may be able to find very similar rubber material at places like hardware stores etc. You might want to check with Austin Healey Spares in the UK but last time I looked they didn't have it.
Good luck with your search.
Roy

[Bugzy59]

I found material at the local Ace hardware store. As I recall, the concours folks argue over whether it is 7 or 8 ribs per inch.

[KenR]

Just to close out this thread. My local Ace hardware stores are great, and very willing to order me a 50' roll...not what I needed, so I ordered directly from a West Coast Manufacturer. www.rubbercal.com , a small order was no problem for them. A small word of caution is to make sure you orient the horizontal ribs to be horizontal with the opening in the door. I'm not sure how a rubber mat manufacturer can create a roll of rubber mat and not have the ribs be parallel with the the length of the mat, but they were able to do that... Product sure seams the same to me as my 50 year old sample, just a lot more flexible . Blue painter's masking tape doesn't stick to it, so I'll probably experiment with some different slow acting glues to figure out exactly what will work. I will need to do some re-positioning of the mat once I get it laid down in place in the door. I had some small bridges welded in place between the inner and outer door pan right where the inner door panel cracks just above the top of the cardboard door panel. I saw several sets of nicely painted doors at the British Field Meet and they were cracking in this area of flex. The bridge is a piece of horizontally located sheet steel, so I just slit the rubber mat along a rib and slide it over the bridge. These little bridges really help tie the inner door and outer door together and are not very noticable. Now I just need to figure out how to glue it in place without making a huge mess on my freshly painted doors or on the occupant facing side of the mat itself. Maybe my kid's small hands will be helpful...
-Ken

[D.Valentino]

Ken, Carpet glue! I used that on the rubber floor in my trailer. Coat both side, wait for it to dry, then stick them together. Make sure it is where you want it before you press them together.

[KenR]

I now have cut rubber door panels ready to glue into place. However, my car is Old English White with Cherry Red interior. Should I try SEM or equivalent Vinyl Color to dye/paint the rubber ribbed door panels, in theory to match the rest of the interior? I'm not sure if the vinyl paint/dye would put up with the folding/unfolding routine which I'll have to go through to place/glue the rubber door panels into place. I suppose I could paint it on by hand after the rubber door panel is glued in place, but I certainly don't want to approach my nicely painted doors with a spray can. Any suggestions on changing from black rubber door panels to non-black interior color?
thanks,

[D.Valentino]

I now have cut rubber door panels ready to glue into place. However, my car is Old English White with Cherry Red interior. Should I try SEM or equivalent Vinyl Color to dye/paint the rubber ribbed door panels, in theory to match the rest of the interior? I'm not sure if the vinyl paint/dye would put up with the folding/unfolding routine which I'll have to go through to place/glue the rubber door panels into place. I suppose I could paint it on by hand after the rubber door panel is glued in place, but I certainly don't want to approach my nicely painted doors with a spray can. Any suggestions on changing from black rubber door panels to non-black interior color?
thanks,

I'm not sure if dye or paint would work on rubber? I'm reading Anderson's book on restoring the 100 and it says to dye the Armacord (which is the covering for most of the car) the interior color. Not sure how that is going to look or even hold up, so I'm thinking about doing my interior in black instead of the red. That paint might roll off the rubber when you go to put it in place. If you have it set in your mind that you what it red. My suggestion would be to put the rubber in place, mask everything off and spray it in place.

[Rot]

Ken - This is reaching a bit but a look at the web is free. While channel surfing early one morning recently I came across a show on Speed called "Gearz" hosted by Stacy David (he used to host "Trucks" on Spike). He did a demo on changing colors of an interior but I can't remember the product he used but if you went to the Gearz website I'm sure you could find it. Like I said, a bit of a reach but may be helpful.
Roy

[spritenut]

I used rustoleum plastic paint on black rubber door inserts to make them red.
I forget the exact color but it worked very well and 2 years later it still looks good, no cracks or peeling.

[healeynut]

Ken,

I sprayed SEM on my door mats to change the color from Black to Blue. My local painter's supply tinted the color to match my original rubber floor mats. Your supplier can tint your SEM order to compliment your trim and carpets if you like. I sprayed my mats after I pre-cut them and before I installed them in the doors. It worked out very well and has held up for 10 years. The nice thing about SEM is if you do encounter a nick or wear down the road, one can cover/touch it up with left over material...Save what's left, it may come in handy. Be sure to give SEM ample time to dry/cure before you try to install the mats...you shouldn't have a problem.

Regards,

Brian

[TimothyMit]

Thats the idea Im going black to match the trim above it and also doing the swtch panel/door pull.