Allright, here we go! Both my third gen Camaros doors suck. They all look as if they have been beaten with a hammer or something, they also have alot of "door dings." I am about ready to start working on the body of the Camaro and I was wondering which would be the better path to take? Do I need to possibly start a hunt for doors that are in better shape? If the doors are fixable as is, is there a way to have them fixed as if they have never been damaged? I have thought about just replacing the door skins with new ones,is this worth looking into? Thanks in advance to all your comments.

 

I say skins if the inside is solid

 

I'm in the same situation. How do you change out those door skins? That looks to be the best route.

-Matt

 

Actually unless your dealing with rust you're better off repairing the doors you have. Even if you ordered brand new doors (major bucks) they won't come in perfect. The manufacturers use very little packing and it's impossible to get doors in perfect shape, much less door skins.

Dents, dings, scratches - fix your originals.
Panel stretch or warpage from accident or dealing with rust, replace skins or whole door.

It would be a good time to replace the upper and lower hinge at the same time. Third gen doors are long and heavy and wear out the hinges pretty fast.

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Um bondo or new skin??? I still say skin if a factory skin isn't perfect it will be close. You will have to pretty much skim the whole door with bondo to get it flat bad idea. i say even if you have to do one spot ona new skin its better than the whole door.

 

Durn, I wish I had a digital camera! If you guys only knew what shape my doors are in. The insides are good, just the outside of them is bad. Ever see a "reversed dent" A dent that pokes out instead of in, very fuggly. Anyone know what is involved with changing door skins?

 

Your factory skin is laid up against a door shell, the edges are rolled over the shell and then it's spot welded. Basically you will be drilling out the spot welds with a spot weld drill bit. Then grinding the edge all the way around to release the old skin.

Then dress the edges and clean up, lay the new skin on, align, roll the edges over and spot weld. Grind welds and putty coat where necessary (if necessary).

There are new composite sealants out now days that can eliminate welding. It's actually as strong or stonger than welds in non-structural components (frames, etc.) This eliminates the possibility of warping the panel from welding.

http://www.eastwoodco.com

Makes a door skin removal tool and a door edge roller tool if you have extra cash hanging out of your pockets.

It's not a real easy task for someone inexperienced in this field. When you remove the old skin and install the new one your door shell becomes weak and subject to going out of alignment. You have to make sure your "square" so to speak.