Removing door skins easy? hard? How do you do it?

[mattyq17]

I have a set of doors that seem to be in good shape structually but the door skins are messed up. How do you remove them and where do you purchase new ones? Thanks

Matt

 

[t.lay]

Several of the vendors sell skins - mine are from JBG. Pretty straightforward - removal is just take a grinder to the edges to separate (not to overstate the obvious - take your doors off first - mark them for alignment later). Then clean up the back side of the frame. Fitting is just taking your time placing the skins - clamp or tack the skin in place and slowly work the metal up and around the door frame with a body hammer. Don't try to bend the skin all the way over in one shot - just work your way around the door a few times bending the metal over a little more each go round.

Do a search - I think some folks may have some pics or a better description. I thought it was pretty easy.

 

[allenfahey]

What t.lay said but when hammering the edge on.... use a rubber block on the face of the door. Don't use a metal dolly. We have a bodyman at work that uses a hard rubber sanding block as a dolly. He very rarely has to put body filler or grind the edges of the new panel. Work it a little at a time and you will do fine.

 

[t.lay]

Good tip on the sanding block - leather faced wood slapper dolly would work too.

 

[BroncoJAK]

I use a steel heel dolly and a ball pen hammer. I rarely have to do more than finish sanding. But then I've been doing it for 25 years.;D

 

[NGABronco]

Somebody caution him some more about the alignment thing. I don't know how, I just own 2 doors that the skins were not aligned properly.;D ;D

 

[JB Fab]

Make sure to check the that the body lines match and the door is square to the hole prior to finishing the crimp on the edges.
The last set we did, the body line was 3/8" too low on the skin, meaning the top of the panels would not have been even at the glass, and the wing window would not have opened.
The way I look at it, I would rather pay $100 more for a skin and get one that fits, than spend 4 hours beating some cheap aftermarket piece into shape, just to find that the holes for the handle are off by 1/4".

My 2c