I am thinking of having a go at building a replacement set of door cards for my B10 as the ones on it now are looking pretty old and worn out.
 

 
The vinyl is stained & ripped, and the card is warped and weakened from water dammage.
 
My question is... what is the best material to use for the card part of a door card?
 
I intend on spending quite a lot of time on trying to make these.
So I am trying to find a wood/hardboard or what ever the best material to use is that will now warp in the future, weather it be from heat or moisture.
 
I do intend on backing these with a sheet of plastic like most cars have between the door card and the door itself, and also replacing all the door seals down the line.
Hopefully that will help with any moisture issues.
 
Any advice would be much appreciated.
 
Ash.

The original material board is called masonite, well thats what its called here. I still think its the best stuff for the job. Its very cheap and easier to work than wood or plastic.

^^^oh yeh MDF is what I meant by "craftwood" ...showing my age /(

mate done it for me sorry
 
mdf would be easiest and is pretty cheap especially if you stuff up one or two, have you looked at any of the diy videos floating around? its fairly easy and should only take you a weekend

I went down to Bunnings and bought a 3.2mm piece of masonite.
 
It is good to work with (Cuts easy), but I need to find it in maybe 2.5mm or even 2mm thickness.
 
I tried to glue a small piece of foam and vinyl onto the masonite to check out how it will finish up.
Still a little too thick .
So I will have to look about to see who has thinner sheets of masonite.
 
Ash.

you could cut the foam 5mm shorter so that where the card inserts into the braket there's only vinyl and timber if you get what i mean

I am now waiting for my contact adhesive to go off on my second test piece.
I rushed my first test piece, but the thickness is spot on without foam on the edges.
So this door card idea is looking promising.
 
Im now trying a second test piece and wieghing it down on the edge to really let it set for a day or so.
My first one isn't behaving how I hoped, but I suspect it is because im rushing it. (Drying times and what not).
 
If this is successfull i'll wait until the industrial & manufacturing supplier shops open up again and do it in full scale.
So im probably out for a week or two on this project.
 
More updates to come then I guess.

I bought a 4 litre can of contact adhesive from Nolan UDA before the holidays.
The guy had the 3m stuff there, but reccomended this stuff over the 3m can.
 
He claimed it had the same bite as the 3m stuff and at a few bucks more than one can of the 3m it worked out far cheaper for me. (Hopefully this was an honest sell and what I have is ok)
 
But yes. any product made by 3m is awesome.
I have never been dissapointed with any 3m product, EVER.
 
 
I know it is just me doing it wrong, I have since looked up some how to guides and changed how im doing it.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsBTN8ZZH8k
So pressure for 24 hours is what I get out of this If I want a good bite on the top and bottom edges where the foam wants to lift up the vinyl away from the board.

 
http://www.adhesiveadvice.com/how-to-apply/applying-adhesive/
I also now know that I should have used a second coat on the foam surfaces because it gets absorbed too much with only one coat, creating less stick.
 
 
Thank you very much for all the advice guys.
Good advice helps alot when doing things for the first time.
You guys have certianly saved me time and money on this project, and also helping me to keeping it fun.

No worries Leith, I think i am where i need to be with my learning and experiments
I'll get there in the end.
So far im happy with where im at and with what i've learned.

I bought an el-cheapo spray gun with a big pot from bunnings today.
This way glue is for the glue gun and paint is for the paint guns.
So maybe in the next few days i'll give this a try.
 
Untill now it has been all brush work which is not too even with the application process and so the foam becomes uneven once pressed down with handling and pretend use.
I have been giving my tests a hard time to see how they can fail with use and abuse.
 
Nothing worth taking pics of yet, It's just offcuts doing the wrong thing for now.
Once I commit to full scale, the pics will come for those who are interested in my progress.

great work,
I'll have some for my two VB's thanks...