[ScottishBrick]

What you will probably end up doing is swapping the inserts out of the panels. 00 use a darker carpet so those little door carpet patches won't match exactly.

 

[JRL]

I was incredibly lucky.

The car Scottishbrick mentioned in his original response in Connecticut seems like it will work out!

I'll be heading up there to take a look at them, and unless they look significantly worse in person than they do in th epictures the seller has shared with me, I'll be picking them up.

Those are R door panels and will never separate, buy them you can always sell them if you bought them "right"!

If some have any flaws they can always be dyed and look perfect. If the entire center section is loose on any one of them now, while they are off the car, would be the time to shoot some clear or black silicone around any loose bead.

What you will probably end up doing is swapping the inserts out of the panels. 00 use a darker carpet so those little door carpet patches won't match exactly.

Seriously?
Every single carpet on every single P80 has faded, who cares if that tiny section is a hair off, no one will ever notice this except you, if you dwell on it!

 

[ScottishBrick]

Those are R door panels and will never separate, buy them you can always sell them if you bought them "right"!

If some have any flaws they can always be dyed and look perfect. If the entire center section is loose on any one of them now, while they are off the car, would be the time to shoot some clear or black silicone around any loose bead.

Seriously?
Every single carpet on every single P80 has faded, who cares if that tiny section is a hair off, no one will ever notice this except you, if you dwell on it!

I thought that it was just fade too but every 00 has a much darker carpet. T5XC, Emerald R, Emerald T5Ms new interior, GLTSE. I just swapped the 99 pewter wagon carpet out with 00 GLT carpets and it's fine now. Had the benefit of refreshing the floor nicely.

 

[mattlach]

What you will probably end up doing is swapping the inserts out of the panels. 00 use a darker carpet so those little door carpet patches won't match exactly.

Seriously?
Every single carpet on every single P80 has faded, who cares if that tiny section is a hair off, no one will ever notice this except you, if you dwell on it!

I thought that it was just fade too but every 00 has a much darker carpet. T5XC, Emerald R, Emerald T5Ms new interior, GLTSE. I just swapped the 99 pewter wagon carpet out with 00 GLT carpets and it's fine now. Had the benefit of refreshing the floor nicely.

Back when I had my 2001 Saab 9-5 Aero, it had a multi-tone grey-black interior where panels and seats and headliners were all slightly different in color from eachother, and I thought it gave a nice luxurious kind of texture to the interior. Later when I got my 2000 Saab 9-5 Aero replacement the GM engineers made everything the same flat grey, and it just felt a lot less premium.

I'll look at the panels when I get them and compare the shades of colors to what is in the car, but in the end, unless it really bothers me, I'll probably just do what is easiest.

 

[mattlach]

Those are R door panels and will never separate, buy them you can always sell them if you bought them "right"!

What do you mean by If you bought them "right"? Is there some sort of warning I should be aware of here?

 

[washdup]

He just means price. No worries.

 

[mattlach]

Just got back from my road trip to Connecticut to pick up the door panels.

I was worried they would be difficult to get out and I would spend hours there, but it went very smoothly in part thanks to this video:

The leather wasn't in QUITE as good shape as I had hoped, but still very excellent, and I think after some conditioning it will look very nice.

I had agreed on $200 for the four cards with the seller, but he took $50 off in exchange for me removing all the panels myself without him present.

Here are some quick pictures in my basement using my cellphone: (click for larger)

Driver's Side Front:



Passenger Side Front:



I was a little disconcerted about the discoloration on the left near the speaker grille on this one.

Driver's Side Rear:



This was the one I didn't have the picture of before going, and as I feared it was the worst of the four, with what looks like it might be some water damage and drying almost resulting in cracking, but not quite. Hopefully a deep conditioning will help this out out a lot.

Passenger Side Rear:



I'd greatly appreciate any tips and tricks and product recommendations for conditioning this leather.

 

[mattlach]

So I decided to go ahead and do a quick and dirty cleaning and light conditioning using an all in one product before bed.

I thought I had had a more thorough conditioning product, but I must have finished it years ago, and thrown it out, so I may need to go shopping for something new.

This Mothers All-in-One Cleaner and conditioner for leather, vinyl and rubber is what I used:

It's not what I would have chosen to use, but rummaging through my old cabinets for leather cleaning products, it's what I have on hand. A more thorough conditioning with real products will certainly follow.

Here are the results after the quick cleaning: (click for larger)

Drivers Side Front:



Passenger Side Front:



Looks like that discoloration I was worried about on this one must just have been dirt, as it looks to have come right out.

Drivers Side Rear:



The quick conditioning doesn't seem to have helped this one much. I'm hoping a deeper conditioning product will do better. I'd appreciate any suggestions. Even if it doesn't improve much, it's not terrible. I'm much happier with this than Vinyl that's coming apart.

Passenger Side Rear:



So, as mentioned above, I'd greatly appreciate any suggestions regarding technique or product when it comes to a more thorough conditioning!

 

[mattlach]

What you will probably end up doing is swapping the inserts out of the panels. 00 use a darker carpet so those little door carpet patches won't match exactly.

You know, I didn't think I was going to do this, but it turns out the rest of the door cards (outside of the leather inserts in the center) are in much better shape on the ones already in my car, so I'll probably swap in the leather inserts as you say.

Any suggestions on how to get them out? The top seems to be loose once removed from the door (must be held in place by the pressure) but the bottom seems to be held on by the door handle cup, which seems glued in somehow.

The guide over at redline leather says they are adhered with wax (??) and to use a dremel ( ) to cut them out. I'm not sure I like that idea.

Any suggestions?

 

[ScottishBrick]

You know, I didn't think I was going to do this, but it turns out the rest of the door cards (outside of the leather inserts in the center) are in much better shape on the ones already in my car, so I'll probably swap in the leather inserts as you say.

Any suggestions on how to get them out? The top seems to be loose once removed from the door (must be held in place by the pressure) but the bottom seems to be held on by the door handle cup, which seems glued in somehow.

The guide over at redline leather says they are adhered with wax (??) and to use a dremel ( ) to cut them out. I'm not sure I like that idea.

Any suggestions?

They pop out. 3M trim tape is the best way to put them all back together. It takes a while but I've had no issues for a year and agravadr did that to his years again and they look great.

 

[mattlach]

If some have any flaws they can always be dyed and look perfect. If the entire center section is loose on any one of them now, while they are off the car, would be the time to shoot some clear or black silicone around any loose bead.

How would one go about this dying? Do you have any links? I've never really worked with leather before. Maybe I could just use black shoe polish?

They are mostly great, but as one would expect from a 20 year old car, there are some small nicks here and there.

 

[mattlach]

They pop out. 3M trim tape is the best way to put them all back together. It takes a while but I've had no issues for a year and agravadr did that to his years again and they look great.

Ahh, I did this today. I didn't expect them to come apart like this, but I understand now.



I'm going to have to figure out how to get this door handle cup out on the driver side front, as the bracket with the screw hole is cracked. I figure I can replace it with the one that is already in my wagon, but first I'm going to have to figure out how to defeat this gooey yellow adhesive.

 

[ScottishBrick]

Ahh, I did this today. I didn't expect them to come apart like this, but I understand now.



I'm going to have to figure out how to get this door handle cup out on the driver side front, as the bracket with the screw hole is cracked. I figure I can replace it with the one that is already in my wagon, but first I'm going to have to figure out how to defeat this gooey yellow adhesive.

Washer behind the cover

 

[mattlach]

Washer behind the cover

Yeah, but unfortunately, the crack is in the wrong place to help with that. You can't tell from this pic, but it is cracked where that screw pillar that sticks out from the handle cup, attaches to the handle cup. It's only holding on by a hair.

I can either try to somehow glue it back to the cup, or just replace the entire cup. I figured, since I have a perfect one in my car, why not?

Is that yellow goo really that difficult to work with?

 

[ScottishBrick]

Yeah, but unfortunately, the crack is in the wrong place to help with that. You can't tell from this pic, but it is cracked where that screw pillar that sticks out from the handle cup, attaches to the handle cup. It's only holding on by a hair.

I can either try to somehow glue it back to the cup, or just replace the entire cup. I figured, since I have a perfect one in my car, why not?

Is that yellow goo really that difficult to work with?

No idea, never tried to separate it.

 

[mattlach]

No idea, never tried to separate it.

Hmm.

Maybe I'll just pick up some cyanoacrylate and try to get some in between and clamp it down and hope for the best, before I try try replacing the entire cup.

 

[JRL]

It's an incredibly hard job

 

[98v70t5man]

Out here they sell panelpads, not the most beautiful solution either but better than mentioned above. And they're 80$ for the 4 and way easier to install.

https://www.ronaldjan.com/panelpads

Interesting solution, Yannick. I emailed Jan and he says the screws are short enough to support removing the door card in the future without any problem. This is what it would look like on mine. Jan does claim that it looks better in person and matches well to the gray trim. Hmmmmm.

 

[yannickdv]

I haven't seen them in person just yet, but might do so soon. Very curious to see how it looks. On video the quality seems good.

 

[mattlach]

I just used the trick in the videos below to restore the door panels, and they look amazing now. I had bought a leather repair kit to fill in some of the small nicks and cuts, but I am not even sure if I need to do that anymore. It looks scary and potentially dangerous, but worked like a miracle with next to no work and gorgeous results:

Worked so great on the door inserts that I did the ailing drivers seat in my S80 as well.