Mustang Tech

Coming along nicely. 17mm of what? They say that it rained here once but I don't believe them.

That’s just what our little farm weather station tells us. It’s been pretty good so far.

I don’t believe the BOM’s “area” reports, they are rarely accurate for our location. However it’s been drizzling all day and we had some decent rain last night and yesterday. Not enough but better than nothing...

So as I was choosing a walnut wood grain vinyl wrap for my overhead console I thought I would check the grain matches between my door panels and dash etc. When I opened my box of door panels from "Distinctive Industries", that I bought new from Mustang Depot just on 4 years ago I though great, lovely juvvely. (see 1st photo) But low and behold on closer inspection both the wood grain inserts (just vinyl wallpaper I think) have bubbled up! Bollocks.

So I have to ask, has anyone else here had this kind of experience? I was told DI stuff was good, for example their seat covers use real comfort weave, not the sweaty look-a-like stuff used by TMI etc.
The TMI door panels at CJ's are a bit more expensive, (suspiciously the DI ones are on sale), so anyone had better luck with TMI door panels?

In truth I'm a bit ticked off that something that's barely 4 years old and never even been unboxed, in dry dark storage the whole time, could fail like this. Worse still at 4 years I'd imagine there is no warranty...
I did email DI but have had no reply.

I am toying with the idea of trying to coax the vinyl covers off their fibreboard backing and seeing if I can replace the wood grain inserts. As the door panels are flat I could even try to use some thin self adhesive real walnut veneer. I know some guys in the USA use that with bigger classic American cars. At least that won't bloody well bubble! But then I hear the 3M wrap type products can be very good.

Anyone have any experience with replacing wood grains? Thanks in advance.

now that is a bugger!

Well I received a short email response from Distinctive Industries today. Expressing little interest, just instructing me to talk to the retailer...

As I bought these as part of a large order from Mustang Depot in Las Vegas, the best I'll get is probably I pay to ship them back to NV and they'll think about it. The cost of shipping would be 1/3rd of the replacement cost, and then I'll have to pay for shipping to OZ ex LA (my freight forwarder's location) as MD won't ship overseas. In other words, a lot of hassle and not worth it financially. Wouldn't it be nice if a manufacturer actually stood behind their product and saw this as an opportunity to protect their reputation, instead of handballing what is plainly a manufacturing fault to the customer & retailer?

As I previously mentioned, CJ's have all their DI door panels on special. I wonder why?
So I think my options now are buy a pair of TMI's door panels from CJ's or investigate repairing these ones. I have in mind using real American walnut veneer or at least some 3M veneer wrap. I imagine the black vinyl is glued on so a fair chance I'll bugger the panel trying to remove it. But what I have got to lose. I don't really want to fit these as is, and I'm already on the prowl for some good walnut veneer wrap for the overhead console.

Anyone here have experience with the TMI versions? Any good?

Lesson learnt I guess.

I would try and get some veneer wrap from 3m if not super expensive and at least see what it looks like. If good then you could apply it to some new backing material. It may be that the backing material is cardboard and absorbed humidity from the air and caused the issue or that the glue is not good quality and failed.

The backing is just black vinyl. I’ve already entrusted the problem to a local car wrapper / sign writer who has done a few Ford woodys and woodgrain interior parts already. He has a nice woodgrain vinyl print with a laminated wood grain texture overlay that looks very nice. I’ll post photos when he’s done them. Way better product than the junk I found in my Scott’s Console insert or my Distinctive Industries door panels.

So back home again and collected my décor wood option parts from Scott Williams at Slipstream Signs in Sunbury, VIC.

I couldn't be happier with the result, (overhead console & door panels). Nice match for the other woodgrained parts (Instrument Cluster & dash inserts, etc), very flat and bubble free. Nice bit of wood texture feel too. Its a quality adhesive wrap that's heated as its applied. The optional wood texture was laminated on after the grain was custom printed on UV fast vinyl and before application. Nice feel to it.

The iPhone photos really don't do them justice, the feel and look in person is very nice IMHO. Just no comparison to the SCOTT DRAKE book wrapping junk vinyl paper I bought from CJ's... Cost me $80 + GST all up, bargain IMHO.The owner (Scott) is a serious cart racer and does a lot of V8 supercar wraps etc. So is into doing a good job for car people. Happy to recommend him.

They came up great mungus, nice one.

Looks Shit!

Hot!!

Very nice job.

On you roof console you should see the edge of the alloy on the insert, around the perimeter of the wood grain

Yeah I know. But he offered me the choice and I opted to wrap it around. As he mentioned he can easily trim the edge off later if I don’t like it. I do like it that way so far. But time will tell...

Well on the topic of those dodgy door cards, Distinctive never did send a replacement set as they claimed they would. Been 14 months+ now so I think its fair to say I won't ever see them. Guess who I won't be choosing next time...

Anyway finally home for a few weeks after a long time away. So I got the rear seats finished.
TMI cover set and the trims and fasteners from Scott and AMK, etc. Came up OK. Pleased to see the tag had survived and its date correct...

Anyway one more job done. COVID has been a bugger, losing most of a year from the project, but we'll get there in the end. The photos look way worse than the parts do, something about my use of iPhones inside my barn with the flash etc. Anyway you get the idea.