Have Any Tips for Fixing a Few Things w/ My Car?

[Ro_Laren]

I have a car that is over 10 years old that I’m trying to nurse along. There are a number of cosmetic problems with my car, but it still runs well and has less than 65,000 miles. This past year the interior door fabric has been coming loose on each of my doors. Does anyone have any recommendations on how to fix it? Should I just super glue the edges and try to tuck the fabric back in the door? Look at the pic below of the driver side interior:

Also, today when I was getting out of my car the interior door handle broke off! I was going to buy the part and try to replace it myself (I saw a Youtube video that made the repair look pretty easy). I know that I can buy the part on-line… does anyone recommend any particular on-line store? There are so many! Part of me is afraid that they will sell me a handle that doesn’t perfectly match the interior and I have been thinking about just buying the part from the dealership (though I know it will be a lot more expensive).

My questions probably have obvious answers, but I was interested to learn if you guys ever fixed any similar things with your car.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

As far as the fabric, what does it look like behind it? Could you remove the fabric & be happy with the looks of it?

For the handle, make sure whoever you buy it from guarantees it's an "OEM" part (original equipment manufacturer). A dealer would probably have it (or could order it - it is a 10 YO car), the cost would be a LOT higher there, but you'd have it sooner.

 

[Scout101]

for the fabric, just put some glue behind it, as well as a line along the top edge of the door area (just below the crack it came out of, and then use a butter knife or something similar to wedge the fabric back in. between the two, should stay up...

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

^ Too much glue behind the fabric could bleed through.

 

[J.T.B.]

3M makes a spray adhesive specifically for car trim that works pretty well, just make sure the surfaces are clean, follow the directions and mask off surfaces for overspray.

Is it an Elantra?

 

[Marc]

As far as the fabric, what does it look like behind it? Could you remove the fabric & be happy with the looks of it?

For the handle, make sure whoever you buy it from guarantees it's an "OEM" part (original equipment manufacturer). A dealer would probably have it (or could order it - it is a 10 YO car), the cost would be a LOT higher there, but you'd have it sooner.

Given the age of the car why go OEM through a dealer

A car wrecking yard would make a good place to start - you could probably find the exact part without the price gouging.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

If there's a fair number of boneyards, or at least one with a lot of cars, definitely an option.

There used to be 3 or 4 in my area, including a couple you could wander around & pick your own parts off the cars. Now there's 1 & it's not that impressive.

I think EPA laws make it much harder to have a place like that, due to potential leakage of oil/gas/etc.

Of course my "problem" is, I have a 2013 and there's never anything that new in a boneyard. I got an OEM trim piece from a Jeep parts website for a pretty good price.

 

[Ro_Laren]

3M makes a spray adhesive specifically for car trim that works pretty well, just make sure the surfaces are clean, follow the directions and mask off surfaces for overspray.

Is it an Elantra?

Yup!! Good eye! I have a 2003 Hyundai Elantra. I've seen plenty of door handles on-line, but it is the color issue that make me want to get it at a dealer. Someone above said that if I buy the door handle on-line, I need to make sure it is OEM. Does that just mean that the sealer got the car part used from a junk yard or do you think they realistically bought it from the real car manufacturer (in my case Hyundai)??

I'll look into the 3M spray adhesive! Is this it?? The description says it is used to attach upholstery cloth to paint or bare metal. However, the part of the door that the car trim is attached to isn't metal: it's more like a thick plastic.

 

[Captain Ice]

OEM could mean they got it from the manufacturer directly, that they bought it from the place where the manufacturer bought it (and it is made to manufacturer specs), or that they bought the old dies and presses from Hyundai and are manufacturing the part for the replacement part market.

With a 10yo car, it could also be that they bought a bunch of NOS (New Old Stock) parts from Hyundai at a cheap price too.

 

[J.T.B.]

I'll look into the 3M spray adhesive! Is this it?? The description says it is used to attach upholstery cloth to paint or bare metal. However, the part of the door that the car trim is attached to isn't metal: it's more like a thick plastic.

That looks like the stuff but they have changed the can since I used it. I actually used it to attach headliner fabric to metal, so I don't know about fabric to plastic. It certainly seems sticky enough to hold whatever you'd want, but I guess you'd better check the label.

We had an '02 Elantra. They are good cars and you probably have many more good miles ahead of you, but a lot of trim and minor things seem to just "let go" around ten years.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

OEM could mean they got it from the manufacturer directly, that they bought it from the place where the manufacturer bought it (and it is made to manufacturer specs), or that they bought the old dies and presses from Hyundai and are manufacturing the part for the replacement part market.

With a 10yo car, it could also be that they bought a bunch of NOS (New Old Stock) parts from Hyundai at a cheap price too.

This is correct. The car maker has parts made at many different factories, to their specs. Those handles get made at a factory that does plastic parts, probably for many different car brands.

That factory can (usually) also sell to parts stores (if those stores want to carry OEM parts as opposed to the generic crap we usually see) and online parts dealers.

The trim piece I bought for my Jeep had the Mopar stamp and was an exact fit & color match. The color match can be a problem because a 10 year old car's parts, even the interior ones, will have faded somewhat due to sunlight and age.

 

[Captain Ice]

Just looked it up. The stuff I used to use to reattach the fabric trim to the interior panels on the doors of my Grand Am is called 3M Super 77 spray adhesive. Should be available in any office supply store or auto parts store.

 

[farmkid]

I've gotten a number of parts like that on eBay recently. There you can find OEM, pulls, and 3rd party parts. My luck with 3rd party parts has been not so great, so I would suggest looking for pulls or OEM. You can probably find it for $10-$30.

If there is a salvage yard nearby you could go look, but I wouldn't be surprised if you came up empty. Many salvage yards are now listing a lot of their parts on eBay, so you'll probably have better luck there.

 

[Ro_Laren]

OEM could mean they got it from the manufacturer directly, that they bought it from the place where the manufacturer bought it (and it is made to manufacturer specs), or that they bought the old dies and presses from Hyundai and are manufacturing the part for the replacement part market.

With a 10yo car, it could also be that they bought a bunch of NOS (New Old Stock) parts from Hyundai at a cheap price too.

This is correct. The car maker has parts made at many different factories, to their specs. Those handles get made at a factory that does plastic parts, probably for many different car brands.

That factory can (usually) also sell to parts stores (if those stores want to carry OEM parts as opposed to the generic crap we usually see) and online parts dealers.

The trim piece I bought for my Jeep had the Mopar stamp and was an exact fit & color match. The color match can be a problem because a 10 year old car's parts, even the interior ones, will have faded somewhat due to sunlight and age.

I didn't even think about the fact that my interior might have faded!!

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

It's surprising how even light, metallic paintjobs change color.

You don't even notice till you get a brand new part, but it's a door handle, so maybe not so noticeable.

If it's the kind of thing you'll keep thinking about, start looking in boneyards first.

 

[137th Gebirg]

I think EPA laws make it much harder to have a place like that, due to potential leakage of oil/gas/etc.

Mmm...you'd be surprised at how clean some of these places can be. A lot of the yards I've been to in PA were actually quite a bit ahead of their time with regard to hazmat collection for junkers. Many of those guys don't want to work around puddles of spilled gas and other caustic fluids, especially if the owners are smokers! Antifreeze spills are also not terribly condusive to keeping around guard dogs at night. No, most yards are pretty clean. The less reputable ones may be a problem, but I never go to those more than once if I get a bad vibe from the employees and/or surroundings.

Now the impact that you DO directly get from the EPA on places like these are federal tax credits for early recycling of junked vehicles back into the system, for steel, plastic, rubber and other car-making raw materials. I heard that story several times from my mechanic and yard owners that I used to frequent. I couldn't figure out why it was getting so difficult to find parts for my 10yo+ vehicles, when back in the 80's or 90's, I could still find 20-30 year-old vehicles in the rows. Many yards now find it more lucrative to quickly recycle their cars than it is to keep them around for 5-10 years for potential customers that may or may not show up for them. That's why I've gone strictly eBay when it comes to finding parts.