Door painting??

[craig-ultima]

I've painted the inside of the doors (the back side of the GRP). What have people done with the actual inside of the door itself - the black plasticy piece.

I had the factory fit the doors before the kit was shipped, and they smoothed around the edges of the door, so that is a dull grey in color.

I've noticed a couple of other bumps and joins that I would like to sand down. If I do all that, it would then be best to re-spray the whole inside of the door - matt black maybe?

What has everyone else done?

[tblackey]

Mine came the same way. I sanded the door smooth and hand painted inside the grab hole in the door. I then sprayed the door semi-gloss black. Your other option is to have it covered in vinyl or leather.

[BigAl1]

I used StealthKote sound deadening paint inside the door shell to seal the GRP. The inside of the door black surface I sanded and painted dark blue to match other interior trim colors and the headliner.

Allan

[ultimarobert]

I had the doors completely covered in black leather, except the oval indentation which is yellow leather. The leather and seaming match the dash. Quite happy with the results although it weights the door somewhat.

[craig-ultima]

Thanks.

Robert - that is a nice look on the doors. I may come back to something like that later. I'm sure that the door lifters can be changed for others if you start to weigh the doors down with extras.

I've found too many little bumps and edges that needed sanding down, so I am taping off the whole door and painting the black plastic in a semi-gloss black.

Thanks everyone for the advice!

[canam-phil]

Wots this about door lifters? If you mean the black cylinder thingies behind the door hinges, then mine are not working as they do nothing to assist door lifting of a standard canam door. They seem totally without effect either up or down. (They were ever thus!)

I was going to ask this question at the open day and try a few other doors but went to Spa and Nurburgring instead!!!

[k wright]

My doors are factory finish!! There were too many other things to spend time on.

[davefiddes]

I sprayed my doors matt black and also painted the inside of the door through the handle so that it wasn't translucent blue fibreglass coloured. Made it look a lot more professional. I also carefully mixed the gelcoat and applied a thin skim on the edges of the door all the way round when all the sanding and filing needed to fit them was complete. Made a lot of difference to the quality of the finished door.

I'd be wary about putting too much weight in the doors as it will quite likely upset the balance when closing.

[steve_D]

canam-phil said:

Wots this about door lifters? If you mean the black cylinder thingies behind the door hinges, then mine are not working as they do nothing to assist door lifting of a standard canam door. They seem totally without effect either up or down. (They were ever thus!) I was going to ask this question at the open day and try a few other doors but went to Spa and Nurburgring instead!!!

The gas struts simply hold the door in the open position. You will feel little effect of them helping to open the door until it is almost fully open.
If you increase the weight of the door then stronger struts may be required. This may simply be having the existing ones re-gassed and set to a higher pressure.

Steve

[cliveg]

Dave, how easy is it to work with the gelcoat? I have removed a small bubble just under the screen on one of my doors. I have polished it and you wouldn't notice it unless you looked closely, but was thinking of grinding it down a bit more then filling with gel to see if I can get a better finish.

[davefiddes]

Gel coat is a bit like your common or garden expoy glue for consistency so it's pretty easy to work. You do need to vee out chips and the like to get them to key properly to the new stuff. Watch out for bubbles in the new gel coat and you'll need to be careful too about sanding away too much of the surrounding material when making things flush. I fixed several dodgy bits in my mirrors and I think they're better than the original but it does take a lot of work...

[steve_D]

Gel coat also takes a long time to harden.

Steve

[cliveg]

Thanks guys. I'll have a go.