poor door panel fitment

[chrismoore701]

I picked up a new set of door panels for my 79 from Classic Parts and they were cracked. They are going to replace them, but said I can install them for now so I have panels while I wait. The fitment is horrible. I have never heard anything good about the fitment, but damn. They are so far off I can’t lock my door. I know you have to cut and tweak on aftermarket parts, but not sure how to tweak these to make them fit. Seems like they push to close to the glass near the lock, making the holes not line up. Any ideas?

[TKCR]

That sucks Chris. I had gotten mine from LMC, they were direct replacements, not reproductions. Mine fit great and I could reuse all the original trim.

There is also the truckandcarshop.com, they have "replacement panels", not reproduction.

[chrismoore701]

What is the difference in replacement vs reproduction? Mine are hard plastic with minimal flex and all around junk

[TKCR]

This is what LMC states about "replacement":

These new replacement door panels (not reproductions of the originals) are made from brand new tooling to more exacting standards than previously available. These door panels are manufactured from molded, heat-resistant plastic and then painted in the available colors. The paint is mixed with an ultraviolet inhibitor to help prevent damage from the exposure to sunlight.

Door panels are sold in sets of two and include pre-attached window weatherstrips.

Door Panels have precut holes for window handle, power window switch, power door door lock switch and door panel trim. Easy-to-follow illustrated instructions detailing this process are included.

LMC Exclusive Replacement Door Panel Sets accept all your original accessories or you may purchase new ones.

And I can speak from my own experience, the panels I got fit perfectly. 1st pic is the set I got from LMC. 2nd pic is a reproduction that I painted. Of course the pic doesn't show it, but the problem with this panel was the window felt. There was at least 1/8" gap between the felt and the panel. I put foam in there until I finally got new panels. If you look real close, you can see the felt showing where I didn't get it on real straight. I hated how it looked.

[chrismoore701]

Refund coming. Lmc order soon

[chrismoore701]

Holy crap. New panels from lmc. 10 times better fit

[Matt Man]

Originally Posted by chrismoore701

Holy crap. New panels from lmc. 10 times better fit

Glad to hear, my door panels are also from LMC and they fit dam near perfect and have held up great so far.

[TKCR]

Originally Posted by chrismoore701

Holy crap. New panels from lmc. 10 times better fit

Glad to hear you are happy with them

[Firebirdjones]

Originally Posted by chrismoore701

Seems like they push to close to the glass near the lock, making the holes not line up. Any ideas?

If you run into this again, usually the hooks for the upper door panels are adjustable. What I find when doing new panels on classic cars is that the new panels with new window rubber sometimes will fit much tighter up against the glass, and those hooks have to be adjusted slightly to make things happy. Not uncommon.

Been a long time since I've had my panels off my 79 pickup so I can't remember if it has the adjustments or not. Just thought I'd throw that out there in case.

Or it could be that you got a bad set of reproductions too :shrug:

[chrismoore701]

Bad set of repops. There is no adjustment