poston lower door patch

[usetaboost]

was wondering if anyone has used them and if the quality was good? My current doors have the bottom lip rusted on the inside and I am assuming both need to be replaced beings there is bubbling on the driver's side door corner also. What needs to be done to put these patches on? Do I have to empty the whole door and take the skin off? How does one go about doing this? Or should I bit the bullet and do as much as I can and have a body shop do it along with a patch for my rear quarter.

 

[QuickBuick87]

I am having the ones from Sherman Associates put on my GN at the shop now. I believe these are made by the same company. If you like, i'll let you know how well they go on. The shop told me they looked like a quality product. Anything beats them trying to repair the rust to only have it come back in a couple years or so.

Ken B.

 

[87gninpa]

Ken, my car is in the shop getting a complete skin on the drivers door as we speak. The passenger door has only a little bit of rust ont he bottom, so I think the Poston patch would be the way to go. COuld you let me know how it goes? Also, what did the body guy think about the work involved? If its as work intensive as an entire skin, Ill just go that route....thanks!!

 

[usetaboost]

That's what I"m wondering. The way I see it would have to be done is gut the door, take it off, pop the whole skin off, measure, cut, weld, then put it back on. Just guessing, I'm no body man. Another thing, is everyone getting the entire patch put on or cutting them up for what's needed? I don't thing labor would be that much if you were to do as much as you can yourself.

 

[pm87tb]

Poston patch panels

Those poston patch panels or lower replacement door panels are no walk in the park . if you dont know how to do body work i would sugest taking it to a good body shop...

 

[87gninpa]

Those poston patch panels or lower replacement door panels are no walk in the park . if you dont know how to do body work i would sugest taking it to a good body shop...

In my above post I said the car was in the body shop for a complete driver skin. Was wondering if a lower patch would be easier for the body man so I can keep some control over the bill:biggrin:

 

[pm87tb]

A good bodyman should be able to put them on. when you replace the whole skin you punch holes around the edges for your spot welds but you still have to take your time and line it up . when you put the lower skin on there is a factory edge on the bottom but the sides have to be bent and rolled by your bodyman then you have to weld a seam across the top where you your splicing the two together if he's good he will not have to use that much body filler becuase if he leaves his gap big enough he can make the welds in between the panels and just grind them down and apply a skim coat over the seam . me i chose to use the lower patch panels becuase i had another set of door laying around to play with and the lower skins were not that expensive to purchase plus i could never find i door skin for a resonable price. a lot guys i know say putting the lower panels on are easier then doing a whole skin if i had to pay somebody i would do the lower patch panel it should not take a good bodyman that long to install and he has less chances of messing the factory body lines of the door up and to answer your Q's to me the lower panels would be cheaper you can get both sides for like $40.00 dollars a piece i cant remember what whole skins cost...hope this helps..

 

[87gninpa]

Thanks, thats exactly the info I was looking for. Only reason I used a complete skin on the driver side is because a local member had an NOS one in the GM box for only $150! Figured I could never find a cheaper one, so I went that route. Also got rid of all my little door dings from years of daily driver duty. Pass side door is straight as an arrow, so I guess ill just go with the lower skins....thanks again!

 

[Red Regal T]

A good bodyman should be able to put them on. when you replace the whole skin you punch holes around the edges for your spot welds but you still have to take your time and line it up . when you put the lower skin on there is a factory edge on the bottom but the sides have to be bent and rolled by your bodyman then you have to weld a seam across the top where you your splicing the two together if he's good he will not have to use that much body filler becuase if he leaves his gap big enough he can make the welds in between the panels and just grind them down and apply a skim coat over the seam . me i chose to use the lower patch panels becuase i had another set of door laying around to play with and the lower skins were not that expensive to purchase plus i could never find i door skin for a resonable price. a lot guys i know say putting the lower panels on are easier then doing a whole skin if i had to pay somebody i would do the lower patch panel it should not take a good bodyman that long to install and he has less chances of messing the factory body lines of the door up and to answer your Q's to me the lower panels would be cheaper you can get both sides for like $40.00 dollars a piece i cant remember what whole skins cost...hope this helps..

My question on it would be, if the door is rusted on the inside of the bottom of the door, or inside and outside, you replace the outer piece ... I get that, but what is it you weld it to. When you cut away the outer bottom of the door, the inner frame is still rusted. You can't weld rust. When you cut away the rust, there could be wide gaps where steel used to be. Seems like a lot of work to end up with an unsolid bottom of your repaired door.

 

[87gninpa]

It shte bottom of the skin thats rusted, no rust through or foor frame rust. You are correct, this would not work with a heavily rusted or rusted through door. A new door would be in order if that were the case

 

[pm87tb]

My question on it would be, if the door is rusted on the inside of the bottom of the door, or inside and outside, you replace the outer piece ... I get that, but what is it you weld it to. When you cut away the outer bottom of the door, the inner frame is still rusted. You can't weld rust. When you cut away the rust, there could be wide gaps where steel used to be. Seems like a lot of work to end up with an unsolid bottom of your repaired door.

On doors that are that bad poston sells the replacement panel for the inside to. What i would do is take the front skin off first then clean all the loose crap out of there then you can use a sand blaster, a small hand held would do it blast the bottom edge of the door so you can see how bad the rust is once you clean the area up you can cut it out then graft in the replacement panel line in up right and the factory holes where the weather striping goes will be in the right spot. Once you finish welding it in clean the welds up then use a sealer like a por-15 on the inside lip so they are not unprotected when water gets past the door felts. Water will sit on the new metal at the bottom of the door just from washing the car also i would drill a couple of extra drain holes so the water would drain a little quicker and is not just sitting there at the bottom then after you do that you can install the front panel .I would also seal the bottom of the panel with por-15 to before installing it on the bottom lip all you would do is drill holes every 4'-6' and secure it with spotwelds and a factory seam sealer..

 

[QuickBuick87]

Ken, my car is in the shop getting a complete skin on the drivers door as we speak. The passenger door has only a little bit of rust ont he bottom, so I think the Poston patch would be the way to go. COuld you let me know how it goes? Also, what did the body guy think about the work involved? If its as work intensive as an entire skin, Ill just go that route....thanks!!

I'll let you know how it goes. Just checked on the progress today and they still have'nt started on the doors yet. He said it shouldn't be very tuff to do the lower door skin, in fact he said he wasn't even going to use the whole panel, he is going to cut it and use about 4" of the panel from the bottom of the door up. I would have used whole door skins but the asking price on them are way more then i'm willing to spend. $150.00 is an AWESOME price and I would have grabbed them up myself if I had the chance at that price. I can't wait to get the car back and it's been only a month!! I'm having TBWS........That's 'Turbo Buick Withdrawl Syndrome'

Ken B.

 

[87gninpa]

Thanks Ken, thats what my guy said. Hes only going to use a little bit of the patch for the very bottom of the door. I know how you feel, its been two weeks for me and Im dying to get the car back!

 

[pm87tb]

door skin

Thanks Ken, thats what my guy said. Hes only going to use a little bit of the patch for the very bottom of the door. I know how you feel, its been two weeks for me and Im dying to get the car back!

Hey the patch that he is using is that the whole skin or just the lower panel?I would not let him cut 4'' off a whole door skin that is a waste if he is not using the whole skin he could have ordered a lower patch panel for you..

 

[87gninpa]

No, hes going to cut the lower patch panel....I would never let him cut an NOS GM skin!!!! Besides I needed the whole skin on the drivers side to get rid of all the little door dings from over the years...Im going to be really careful not to slam the door anymore:biggrin:

 

[usetaboost]

I was told it would be cheaper to buy new doors. I'm gonna get a second opinion but they told me around 1200 bucks for both. DOn't know what going rate is for body work but that averages to about 100 bucks ann hour:frown:

 

[87gninpa]

If the car is a basket case, then doors are the way to go. Otherwise, if everything works in the door and the window is properly adjusted (not to mention the RPO sitcker on the drivers side), I would go with skins or repair. Also, its nearly impossible to find rust free doors from a G-body parts car. They seem to only be found from wrecked low mileage garaged cars which are very hard to come by. My car only has 50k on it and has been garaged for its lifespan, and I still have the little bit of rust on the bottom of the doors...