Interior and Upholstery 89 vert rear quarter panels

Just found your post regarding covering 'vert quarter panels. In answer to your question..yes, I have re-covered mine in my '91. I redid my complete interior as it was trashed. I bought a TMI upholstery set from LMR for the seats and then called TMI directly to order matching vinyl to cover the quarters. I ordered 3 yards to be on the safe side...and am glad I did! The vinyl will stretch by hand and follow the curves. The only place you need to heat the vinyl to conform is the depressed area at the top/rear of the panel.

The old vinyl definitely stretches more , but sourcing it could be a problem. It's primarily held on by some kind of light tack adhesive over the majority and is reasonably easy to strip off. There are a few small stubborn areas and I used a nylon brush wheel on low speed in a dremel to buff it off. Be prepared for repairs to the plastic shell. They're brittle and crack easily. You'll most likely find cracks you didn't know were even there once the old vinyl is off.

I repaired or rebuilt broken/cracked areas with "kitty hair" fiberglass filler. It there was a crack I stop drilled the ends of the crack and ground completely through the crack with a dremel cutoff wheel. Then I backed the opening with aluminum tape on one side and pushed the filler through from the other. The filler won't stick to the tape and it makes a good backing. I repaired one of my front fender spats the same way and you can't tell it was ever broken!

In the high stress areas where the boot snaps or screws go through I laminated in plates made from 22 gauge aluminum (especially the flimsy "tab" area on top and at the back near the top assembly). It's strong enough to reinforce but thin enough not to affect the installation height. It took me about 3 hours per side to strip off the old vinyl, make all of the repairs and then scuff and have ready for new vinyl.

I'd strongly recommend not getting cheap and get some top quality upholstery contact glue and have a helping had when you apply the vinyl. It's pretty much a one shot try so when it's down, it's down. I ruined my first attempt and had to trash the piece of vinyl. It takes a little over a yard to do one so that mistake left me no more room for error!