Why no custom door panels?

I see so many people customize everything on their trucks, putting huge amounts of work into all sorts of cool mods.
Yet there are only a small handful of people who have recovered the little textured vinyl spot on the door panels and passenger side dash.

Why does it seem like these panels are the one part that people refuse to customize?


*Im going to be recovering mine this summer and wanted to see some others that people have done. I have a nice elbow dent in the drivers side after 60k of resting it there.

 

I like the idea. What are you thinking of using? Leather?

 

Im not really sure yet, I got some southwestern styled seat covers that I really like. Was thinking of putting a southwestern pattern on them.
But I have done interior work on plenty of other cars, and these trucks panels are probably some of the simplest to do this to.

 

People refuse to customize a little bit of door panel on a truck?

That's just about the weirdest fucking thing I've ever heard.

 

Probably because it usually looks bad (which is always relative). I'm sure there are color/fabric choices out there not as gaudy, but I've never really been a fan of anything color-matched interior


Color matched interior trim pieces just remind me of a clapped out 90's ricebox (just imagine any pimp-my-ride car).
Color matched interior trim thread | Tacoma World

 

Needs cool lighting, too.

 

The panels are plastic-welded on to the door card. Its not easy to disassemble one without irreparable damage. Its possible...but it ain't easy.

I just stuck 5 dollar pinstriping on mine. I actually like it better than the SR5's red door cards.

 

Yet for some reason vent rigs a hugely popular. BTW I agree with you about the late 90s early 2000s where everyone spray painted every panel inside their cars blue and white.

But a little accent color can look very good, the problem with when toyota did it with the red panels is that they didnt seem to offer a color that matched anything... it only looked halfway decent on a white truck, but then it didnt match the seats either.

 

The plastic welded parts are actually not that bad. People try to plastic weld them back together and thats when they run into problems because they just try to melt the posts back over again. You got to add enough plastic filler for the amount you removed when you drilled out the face.

I did LED piping once, but never actually installed it all as I didnt want to run the wires. It looked pretty neat at night, very light soft glow (picture looks brighter as the camera tried to compensate for low light)

 

Curious to what the answer is. I accidentally spilled super glue on that textured panel and for the life of me I can't get it off so there are super glue spots that really bug me

 

Well, you must not have seen MY post from a few years ago, when I totally had my interior redone in my 2019 TRD Sport! I hated the dang all black interior! I mean, it was so dang dark in there from the headliner, to the black seats, black door panels, black panel on right side of dash, black carpet, black dash! I mean even in broad daylight it was so dark in there! Well, I couldn't stand it anymore, so about 6 months after I got the truck, I finally made the decision to do what I did. I think you will like it as I documented the whole thing in video. I am not monetized, so this is just for my friends here in Tacomaworld to see and appreciate. Here is the video link: https://youtu.be/0ATAJZfua-4

 

I did see your post, your one of the few people who have done it. I like yours and actually showed it to my wife when you did it in 2020 (she was not a fan, but I love it).

 

OK, thanks! The colors actually look a lot brighter than they really are, so I can see possibly why your wife might not have liked it. Also, a lot depends on the color of your truck, but for my quicksand truck color, the interior colors I chose really make it "pop"! I can also say that it has been right at 5 years now, as of this date, that I had this done, and it has held up well and looks still, just like it did in the video!

 

X2

 

She is just bland when it comes to cars. She wanted a white car with black leather when I got her a new one.

Yeah truck color makes a huge difference, my truck is inferno, so not many options for me. But I got some nice southwestern seat covers with orange in them, and they look pretty good with the color. So I was thinking of expanding into the door panels.

 

This. I think the plastic welded pieces are just more than most want to tackle. I had my local katzkin installer replace my red SR5 panels with black leather. Replaced seats at the same time. I love the all black - tan headliner keeps it from ever feeling too dark I guess like someone else mentioned.

Before:


After:

 

Door panels and the center console, and right dash panel, are what I did, and I am SO glad I did! But it is a personal preference, but it just needed to be done!

 

As I mentioned elsewhere, it boils down to personal preference. I personally hate all black interior, and while leather looks good, I would hate to sit on them in either the hot sun or the cold winter! I just like fabric seats, but hey, it is a personal thing!