Replacing or reskinning front doors?

Hi Guys,

I have this dilemma ( probably the same as a lot of you guys) of whether to replace my doors or just weld and re skin them.

The bottoms of both my front doors on my ninety are gone pretty much so I have bought a replace plate for the bottom to experiment with as I know a welder. I have spoke to a few people who have said reskining the doors is a complete nightmare but when I look on the forums alot of people seem to be saying it is not hard but this very time consuming (which I do not mind).

So can anyone who has done this before let me know what it is like ( or point me in a direction of a guide because I cannot seem to find one anywhere)

Thanks

It's not difficult to peel the skins off. Not that time consuming either.

I've removed skins from two doors for rebuild and on one the skin was completely ruined by the end because of the adhesive, the others were fine. Be prepared for more rot around the hinge / catch areas, behind the window channels, everywhere really.

I removed a rear door skin not so long back to have the frame galvanised, the skin was trashed by the time I was done due to the adhesive being like shit to a blanket..
In the end I wasn't too bothered, as new skins are cheap (for rear doors anyhow) and just ripped it off.

LukeMcneil said:

Hi Guys,

I have this dilemma ( probably the same as a lot of you guys) of whether to replace my doors or just weld and re skin them.

The bottoms of both my front doors on my ninety are gone pretty much so I have bought a replace plate for the bottom to experiment with as I know a welder. I have spoke to a few people who have said reskining the doors is a complete nightmare but when I look on the forums alot of people seem to be saying it is not hard but this very time consuming (which I do not mind).

So can anyone who has done this before let me know what it is like ( or point me in a direction of a guide because I cannot seem to find one anywhere)

Thanks

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You don't say how old your vehicle is, but anything 20year plus, there probably isn't a lot worth saving, frames will be crumbly, and probably very thin and corroded skins.

Think I would go for replacement, that is what I did.

Like Turboman, I would go for replacements too. Mine were replacements (Britpart) which possibly explains why the adhesive wasn't so good on mine They came off very easily.

aaronmorris said:

I removed a rear door skin not so long back to have the frame galvanised, the skin was trashed by the time I was done due to the adhesive being like shit to a blanket..
In the end I wasn't too bothered, as new skins are cheap (for rear doors anyhow) and just ripped it off.

Click to expand...

Al2O3 said:

Like Turboman, I would go for replacements too. Mine were replacements (Britpart) which possibly explains why the adhesive wasn't so good on mine They came off very easily.

Click to expand...

Turboman said:

You don't say how old your vehicle is, but anything 20year plus, there probably isn't a lot worth saving, frames will be crumbly, and probably very thin and corroded skins.

Think I would go for replacement, that is what I did.

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The car is a ninety 1988 and the doors are actually in good condition for there age with only the bottoms which are rusted away.

I always planned on getting a new skin sorry for the confusion. I was just wondering how hard to reskin them was? alot of people have told me there a pain and just get new doors while others have said they arnt to bad

Thanks

How much is a full new skin?

Al2O3 said:

How much is a full new skin?

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Can get a galv ali one for around £70

You can't galvanise aluminium. Is it a galv steel one? Who is the seller?

Al2O3 said:

You can't galvanise aluminium. Is it a galv steel one? Who is the seller?

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My mistake sorry was looking at 2 different ones.. You are right yes, its just aluminium

Galv steel one is around £90

Nearly 2 yrs ago I paid about £250 per new front door. Took the skins off, had the frames shot blast and plastic coated (should have got them galvanised) then put the skins back on using adhesive on every bit of frame that touched the skin.
If your frames are going to be easy to repair, I would then get them dipped, galved and bond new skins on.

How good are the aftermarket doors, such as the Britpart ones.
Do they fit well?

The two front ones are fine. The rear one is slightly banana shaped. This would have been fine if I'd thought to check. I could have easily straightened the frame. Once the skin is bonded on and, more critically, you've had it painted you're less likely to want to bend it back.

LukeMcneil said:

Hi Guys,

I have this dilemma ( probably the same as a lot of you guys) of whether to replace my doors or just weld and re skin them.

The bottoms of both my front doors on my ninety are gone pretty much so I have bought a replace plate for the bottom to experiment with as I know a welder. I have spoke to a few people who have said reskining the doors is a complete nightmare but when I look on the forums alot of people seem to be saying it is not hard but this very time consuming (which I do not mind).

So can anyone who has done this before let me know what it is like ( or point me in a direction of a guide because I cannot seem to find one anywhere)

Thanks

Click to expand...

When I did my 90 rebuild I re-skinned one door and bought another (friend of a friend sold me a year old take off door for £75!). I had a load of stuff going into the galvanisers so I welded the frame up with profiled 2mm steel bases and verticals, I welded in a much bigger piece in the midsection where the skin sits flat to offer the door some more strength and so the skin was better supported (you can dent defender doors by pushing them too hard when you are trying to get the sodding lock to lock when it goes in a huff in the cold - ask me how I know).

So I welded up the skin, had it chemical dipped then galvanised. Now ali and zinc on the basic galvanic table are shown next to each other, in reality there are a couple of other metals in between but this is excellent news as it means that you could have the ali skin hard up against the zinc and it would take a long time for galvanic corrosion to start. Steel and ali are miles apart, hence why defender aluminum oxidises and falls to pieces.

Anyway, I didn't just bed them together, I etch primed the whole door frame, then I painted seam sealer onto the door frame where the skin makes contact and then while it was still wet quickly set the skin in place and folded it all over. The whole lot then got another coat of etch and then 2 or 3 coats of 2K. I do fully expect this door to last a long time, it is the drivers door so that't good as it obviously gets more use and when parked on the road is exposed to more road spray from passing traffic.

The other door I stripped down, seam sealed gaps between the skin and frame so when water does get in it runs over the top, sorted the massive water ingress route via the window seal with black mastic which you cannot really see so looks stock, I then injected a load of Dinitrol ML which is there very thin oily cavity wax, until it was literally running out of the bottom. That reminds me, I might garage the 90 for a week or two to dry out and redo it all - that was 3 years ago.

Anyway, I am happy with both of my doors, I think it's about time and some thinking as to how to reduce the outcome when water gets into these door.

discomania said:

When I did my 90 rebuild I re-skinned one door and bought another (friend of a friend sold me a year old take off door for £75!). I had a load of stuff going into the galvanisers so I welded the frame up with profiled 2mm steel bases and verticals, I welded in a much bigger piece in the midsection where the skin sits flat to offer the door some more strength and so the skin was better supported (you can dent defender doors by pushing them too hard when you are trying to get the sodding lock to lock when it goes in a huff in the cold - ask me how I know).

So I welded up the skin, had it chemical dipped then galvanised. Now ali and zinc on the basic galvanic table are shown next to each other, in reality there are a couple of other metals in between but this is excellent news as it means that you could have the ali skin hard up against the zinc and it would take a long time for galvanic corrosion to start. Steel and ali are miles apart, hence why defender aluminum oxidises and falls to pieces.

Anyway, I didn't just bed them together, I etch primed the whole door frame, then I painted seam sealer onto the door frame where the skin makes contact and then while it was still wet quickly set the skin in place and folded it all over. The whole lot then got another coat of etch and then 2 or 3 coats of 2K. I do fully expect this door to last a long time, it is the drivers door so that't good as it obviously gets more use and when parked on the road is exposed to more road spray from passing traffic.

The other door I stripped down, seam sealed gaps between the skin and frame so when water does get in it runs over the top, sorted the massive water ingress route via the window seal with black mastic which you cannot really see so looks stock, I then injected a load of Dinitrol ML which is there very thin oily cavity wax, until it was literally running out of the bottom. That reminds me, I might garage the 90 for a week or two to dry out and redo it all - that was 3 years ago.

Anyway, I am happy with both of my doors, I think it's about time and some thinking as to how to reduce the outcome when water gets into these door.

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Wow just wow

Thanks.
This is the frame before:


The bottom had been previously repaired at some point (this was already a secondhand door) so it wasn't the total rusted out base like my passenger door where every time I closed it I could hear rust fall out.

discomania said:

Thanks.
This is the frame before:

The bottom had been previously repaired at some point (this was already a secondhand door) so it wasn't the total rusted out base like my passenger door where every time I closed it I could hear rust fall out.

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My door is no where near that.. Pretty much just the bottom has completely gone.. I have bought a bottom place which I am going to get weldered in and see what happens.. I will buy a galv skin and see what happens.. Do you suggest I put anything in between the skin and the door frame? I plan on putting some dinitrol in there after it has been painted to prevent further rust

LukeMcneil said:

My door is no where near that.. Pretty much just the bottom has completely gone.. I have bought a bottom place which I am going to get weldered in and see what happens.. I will buy a galv skin and see what happens.. Do you suggest I put anything in between the skin and the door frame? I plan on putting some dinitrol in there after it has been painted to prevent further rust

Click to expand...

Seam sealer - paint it on to the whole skin that contacts the skin. Do it quickly and get the skin on, don't go too thick. It starts to skin quickly so working quick gives better results - you can add thinners to think it a little.