Yes
A PIA to do, but doable.
Afterall Volvo themselves had their own repair kit which involved swapping the center section of the door panel.
Your best and easier bet would be to find someone in Canada like these guys who can refinish the panels.
THESE were just refinished, (and just installed) and look literally as good as new now!
They were just awful when I bought them but since they were the only ones in this color available anywhere, I bought them.

 

They're glued in. Jim and Justin have done the swaps. I think careful prying with a bone tool is called for but I would wait for them to chime in.

Edit: Jim beat me to the post above.

 

More than a bone tool involved but most of the time these days, the inserts just fall out with a gentle push!
THEN there is a lot of cleaning and prep in the area

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I just brought them inside from the garage and I think they are the wrong color. My interior is real light tan, and the panels I just bought look like the ones JRL just had refinished, beigey taupe. One of my original ones is torn, I think I'm going to experiment with that one and try swapping the inserts. If it works out I may have to swap all of them. I'll have two-tone door panels. Or sell these ones and search for another set of light tan panels. I really like the stitched leather, they're hard to find.

 

Its pretty easy to change the panel inserts. I managed to get my hands on one of the no-longer-available Volvo replacement panels (thanks Rsterns!!) and was able to remove and fix my sagging panel in about 15 mins. I think I have pictures here somewhere

 

Light Tan one color = SAND
Medium Tan with lighter inserts-two tone= Oak/Arena
Dark tan, one color (like mine)=Taupe

I have ONE (1) complete R/R door panel in light sand that's perfect, $25

There is only one tan R door panel, thecenter section is a hair darker than the surround so yours seem to be what would come in an R.
My dark SE taupe panels are almost non existent

Post a picture of your panels

 

JRL I think you're right. The ones I picked up are tan not taupe. When my kid brought the car home I took one outside to compare and they appear to be the right ones. The insert is a bit darker as you said.

Andyb5, I hope you can find those pics.

3 of the panels are in good shape, i just have to replace the speaker grill on the front passenger side. I would like to try to pull the insert off the driver's side and replace it. Other wise I may have the T5 panel repaired, it has a few chunks missing on the outer edge from slamming the door on the seat belt buckle, and the leather needs a respray.

 

I have a set of four (4) tan R door panels for sale that do NOT need restoration if you or anyone else may want them.
(Sorry, not breaking up the set)

 

Here are a few pics. Three of the panels are like the first pic. Drivers is the worst. JRL, looking at the close-up pic of the damaged panel, is that fixable?
Rear door:
http://volvoforums.com/forum/album.php?albumid=907&pictureid=3621
Drivers door:
http://volvoforums.com/forum/album.php?albumid=907&pictureid=3622
Close-up damage
http://volvoforums.com/forum/album.php?albumid=907&pictureid=3623

 

Here is a photo of the back of the panel. In the red box there is a black plastic piece that is glued to the panel, it holds the window switch trim piece in place. I assume I have to "un-glue" that trim piece inorder to remove the leather insert. The insert appears to be glued from the other side, do I just peel it off? Won't the foam backing on the insert peel off as well, ultimately damaging it? Will it be re-usable?

Pic of panel back
http://volvoforums.com/forum/album.php?albumid=907&pictureid=3625

 

Pic of panel back
http://volvoforums.com/forum/album.php?albumid=907&pictureid=3625

Needs to be glued back
As I said above you need to be VERY careful with the foam.
Much of it will disintegrate when you try to get it apart

 

Fixable (those are standard tan R (or SE) door panels
(in fact that is almost a twin of what my driver's panel looked like, condition wise, maybe worse on the ends)
but you really do need someone who knows what they're doing.

I can have it done for you the right way but I'm not sure how much shipping costs would be back and forth to Canada and if it would make sense for you to do that
My guy would charge at least $100 to repair that one, (not a very nice one and pretty well chewed up)

 

JRL, have you heard of Fibrenew, its an American franchise with locations here in Canada. $100 sounds fair but shipping will probably double it. At the end of the day, its still going to be a 13 yr old car with 180k on it.

 

Looks like the same deal, go for it

 

They want $180. I bought all 4 for $80! If I can"t find it cheaper I'll wait for a clean driver panel to pop up.

 

Well that's Canadian dollars which would translate to what, $120 or so US?
That would be retail here and that panel needs a LOT of work
You paid 80 bucks great, you stole them! You paid under market value, so make it up on repairs
Hardly anyone sells ONE R door panel and the drivers always look worse than the others so pony up, get the repair done and install them

 

Well that's Canadian dollars which would translate to what, $120 or so US?

Heh, actually $180 Canadian would be about $185.31 US at the moment...

On another note; I though I was getting a good price on charcoal R door panels at $50 each, haha. I want them just as spares.

 

Pulling the insert and re-applying is still an option, I'll see if I can find someone to do it. I've got it in the trunk of my car, looks like I'll be shopping for a good repair shop. I'll keep you guys posted.

 

For anyone curious about having their door panels repaired.

OK, so I went to work on my front door panel, and in the process took some photos.

1. I bought four door panels for my 1998 V70. All 4 door panels in my car have separated in the armrest area. I found a set of V70R or T-5 SE door panels which have leather armrest inserts. They don't separate. The driver panel is in worse shape than the one in my car, so I want to swap the armrest insert.

2. I used a dremel tool to grind the 4 globs of melted plastic used to secure the speaker grill to the door panel. Rear grills are easy to pop out, be careful with the front grills they are brittle and crack easily. When re-installing the speaker grills I just popped them back in, no glue or fasteners. Now I can remove them without removing the door panels.

3. I used a small putty knife and worked it between the two panel pieces, slowly prying them apart. Where the glue has really dried out the two separate easily, but mine had sections where I had to pry them apart slowly so I didn't damage the inner panel.

4. Work the edges.

5. The door pocket assembly, is attached to the armrest and it comes off as one unit.

 

Clicked submit by accident.

The inner and outer panel finally separated.

The Inner panel. This is a panel I bought because it has a leather armrest insert. The one in my car is vinyl and separating. My plan is to remove the one from my car, separate it into two pieces, and combine my outer panel with the leather inner panel I bought. I'm doing this because the outer panel from the one I bought has major gouges in it, and the one in my car is quite clean.

This is an inner panel from a rear door. You can see that it had separated and it has a rip in the vinyl. I guess at this point you could peel off the vinyl and bring it to an upholstery shop and have them recover it. Then re-install it yourself, save a bit of money.

Backside of rear door panel (similar to front). In order to peel off the vinyl, you'll have to remove the plactic trim piece that holds the power window switch. To do so you have to separate the black rectangle plastic piece, and the plastic tab below the door pull from the inner panel. The are glued in pretty good.

 

How the kit worked that Andy mentioned...

 

Is your door panel for sale?
A PIA to do, but doable.
Afterall Volvo themselves had their own repair kit which involved swapping the center section of the door panel.
Your best and easier bet would be to find someone in Canada like these guys who can refinish the panels.
THESE were just refinished, (and just installed) and look literally as good as new now!
They were just awful when I bought them but since they were the only ones in this color available anywhere, I bought them.

[/QUOTE]

 

Gluing door panels that have come undone?

anyone have a successful method for this? I have tried some tube adhesives with no luck. I figure hot glue is next, but that is royal mess, so if it does not work, it's pretty much sayonara to the panels.

of course, the plastic pins have broken off at various points, so I also have those to contend with.

tx for any suggestions.

 

If your issue is with the arm rest portion of the panel, and the material shrinking and pulling away, not much you can do. Volvo at one time made replacement inserts, but they are long long ago no longer available. The plastic punch pins that hold the panel to the door are replaceable.

 

If you're referring to entire panel separation use some good automotive silicone
Remove the panel, set it down, silicone it and put weight on it overnight.
I've done several of these.
Also you can silicone those pesky "legs" back and let sit overnight
If you mean the center section, there is no fix for that, it's shrunk

 

I think the original question was about the two large pieces of the door panel separating and I was wondering the same thing. I even had mine into an upholstery shop and I was shocked, they said they didn't know what would hold these together or the plastic legs onto the inside of the panel.

As for the center armrest section that shrinks, if you can find a donor R, just peel the leather off of those panels, remove your shrunken vinyl panels, have the new ones dyed to match your old ones, fit the new pieces to your old card and now you have a nice upgrade. I have pics that I'll try to get up in one of my threads sometime soon. This is actually a pain to do and doesn't come out perfect. Well the fit is great but you may have rings / creases around things like the mirror switch and plastic trim rings if the placement of the leather doesn't exactly match that of the old car but these minor things are not very irritating to me, I only have one crease I notice. Way less irritating than shriveled up vinyl on the door panels.

 

==delayed response==

yes, it was about the two parts of the total panel coming unglued. It seems to have happened to all the panels on my 00. i'm going to try to do what JRL suggests.

how to fix the guide pin problem, though? buy new pins, I imagine, but some of the holders are busted.

(man, the 01+ panels are a big improvement in this regard)

 

(man, the 01+ panels are a big improvement in this regard)

Not really, at 125k my driver's door center panel came detached from me opening the door with my elbow and now it rattles. I need to re-glue it but I'm also going to put a piece of stiff foam behind it so the glue joint doesn't take the force of door opening.