Steps for Fiberglassing Doors?

[hdorre]

Can you guys verify the steps to glassing speaker rings to door panels? I havent found any writeups, so Im basing this info off of what Ive seen/heard. My questions will be bolded and green. Thanks

Remove door panels

Clean panels with soap, water, and rubbing alcohol

Dry doors completely

With blue painters tape, tape the part of the door that will remain stock.

Attach wooden speaker rings to door by using wooden dowel rods (What glue do I use to adhere the wooden speaker rings to the plastic door?)

Stretch fabric across speaker and door panel and staple it. Make it extremely tight. (What type of fabric do I use?)

Mix epoxy, resin, and white pigment.

Use the solution from the previous step, brushes, and chopped fiberglass mat and apply that on the fabric.

When the epoxy, resin, and pigment dry.. add another layer or two (with chopped fiberglass mat).

Sand the door panel (What grit sandpaper?)

body filler

more sanding

Blow the door panel clean with an air compressor.

Add a layer or two of paint to match the rest of the door panel. (What kind of paint should I use? I know that Mitsubishi calls my door panel "Charcoal," but how do I find the paint code? Do I apply a layer of clearcoat?)

Wait for the paint to dry, then put the door panel back on door.

Do I have the steps down correctly? Can you guys give me any tips.

[87chevyboi]

im no pro but ill tell you what i know, 1st question you have i always use hot glue, 2nd question is fleece or polyester i think thats how you spell it, 3rd question start at 35,50,80 what ever you want to and whatever you think is smoothing out your bondo or fiberglass and 4th question paint is completely up to you but my paint method is about 4 or 5 light coats of paint and about 3 or 4 coats of clearcoat inbetween coats i wet sand with 1000 then after clear 1500 then 2000 if needed but may not be needed

[Kevin M]

Can you guys verify the steps to glassing speaker rings to door panels? I havent found any writeups, so Im basing this info off of what Ive seen/heard. My questions will be bolded and green. Thanks

Remove door panel Keep any hardware or clips in a small bag so they don't get lost. It never hurts to buy a bag of extra plastic door pins for the doors mounting. I ruined a couple on an install and a few needed to be replaced.

Clean panels with soap, water, and rubbing alcohol

Dry doors completely

With blue painters tape, tape the part of the door that will remain stock. Foil and thin mil drop plastic works awesome for this and is alot more forgiving than the tape.

Attach wooden speaker rings to door by using wooden dowel rods (What glue do I use to adhere the wooden speaker rings to the plastic door?) You can use ca glue or hot glue.

Stretch fabric across speaker and door panel and staple it. Make it extremely tight. (What type of fabric do I use?) You can use t-shirts, grille fabric, polar fleece, sweatshirts. lol Any material that will stretch or mold well. I wouldn't use a bedsheet. lol

Mix epoxy, resin, and white pigment.

Use the solution from the previous step, brushes, and chopped fiberglass mat and apply that on the fabric.

When the epoxy, resin, and pigment dry.. add another layer or two (with chopped fiberglass mat) I would reinforce the rear of the fiberglass shell, or door panel you are building as well for added strength.

Sand the door panel (What grit sandpaper?) I would start with an 80 grit to rough up the surface to promote a good bond for filler.

body filler (Kitty hair, Dynaglass...etc)

more sanding

Rough texture paint. 80-120 grit

Carpet. 220 grit

Vinyl or leather. 440 grit

Paint/gloss. At least 6-800

Not hard and fast but a good rule of thumb.

Blow the door panel clean with an air compressor.

Add a layer or two of paint to match the rest of the door panel. (What kind of paint should I use? I know that Mitsubishi calls my door panel "Charcoal," but how do I find the paint code? Do I apply a layer of clearcoat?)

Wait for the paint to dry, then put the door panel back on door.

Do I have the steps down correctly? Can you guys give me any tips.

[hdorre]

Oh my god.. youre AMAZING!! You answered pretty much all my questions, and then "some." Thanks!

Ive slightly changed my mind though. I dont want to paint the doors. Getting the glassed part to blend with the rest of the door will most likely be problematic and extremely difficult. Im going to use either carpet or vinyl.. Most likely vinyl though.

Here's my stock drivers side door.

The grey piece to the left of the speaker sticks out and is removeable. When the piece is removed, it is flat and looks like this: (Please ignore the arrows.)

Im planning on just wrapping the bottom of the door with black vinyl or carpet. Only the outlined part of the next picture will be wrapped.

How do you guys think this would look? Would carpet be better than vinyl for me? Wouldnt it hide the holes for the screws better (as seen in the 2nd pic?)

[hdorre]

Somebody on a different forum said that mounting the tweets near the door handle would be better than by my feet.

Thats alright though, because it'd actually be easier. My Hertz tweets came with flushmount adapters, and theres a significant amount of room between the window and door panel.

What are your opinions? Do you agree that mounting higher would be better?

[Kevin M]

I would use some double sided tape and try them in the top of the doors as far forward as possible, then in the a pillars. Usually a good position is facing at an angle to the rearview mirror. Experiment with different positions to see what you like best. As a rule I don't like tweets in the door but that is personal preference. They can be really awesome in the kick panels too. The way i had them mounted you couldn't even see them but they still threw a wide stage and had good depth.

[hdorre]

I would use some double sided tape and try them in the top of the doors as far forward as possible, then in the a pillars. Usually a good position is facing at an angle to the rearview mirror. Experiment with different positions to see what you like best. As a rule I don't like tweets in the door but that is personal preference. They can be really awesome in the kick panels too. The way i had them mounted you couldn't even see them but they still threw a wide stage and had good depth.

These are really good ideas. I have no idea why I didnt think of them

I was told somewhere else that they should be mounted high. Is that just personal preference too? Would you mount your ONLY pair of tweets in the kicks? I could see it being feasible if multiple pairs of tweets were being utilized.

Im new with staging, so please be a bit patient lol

Thanks for all of your help though!!

[n8ball2013]

Ideally you want your tweet as close to the mid as possible. Putting them up in your door raises your sound stage some. I always feel like up high in the door looks off to me.

For material some of the easiest stuff to work with is called ponte its like an under armour type material that's high stretch

[hdorre]

Ideally you want your tweet as close to the mid as possible. Putting them up in your door raises your sound stage some. I always feel like up high in the door looks off to me.

For material some of the easiest stuff to work with is called ponte its like an under armour type material that's high stretch

It looks off to me too. However, Id slightly sacrifice cosmetic for sound quality. That is why Im installing the tweets in the first place. Part of me just wants to say "fuck it" and install it by the mid. Itd be easy and look better.

Ponte seems like its the easiest to work with and absorbs resin the 'best.' Im probably just going with it.

Thanks Nate

[pthyland]

ok im new to this, but ive been looking into doing this for the past couple of weeks and when you fiberglass shell from the door panel, you pull the shell off of the original doorpanel? and if you were to pull it off to use it, wouldnt the fiberglass shell be bigger somewhat?