So I have some really chalky white door panels in my challenger. I would like to save them because they are otherwise in good shape…. and I’m poor. I have seen the treads where members have lightly blasted and painted panels, and sanded a lot and texture painted.

I have a dash and paintjob that is black. Is sanding the chalk off and painting black just asking for trouble/ bad looking scratches?

Has anyone used a heat gun or used fiberglass resin over the panels? I don’t care if it has the right texture.

Thanks folks

waste of time since they will continue to fall apart

Ir would seem a bit difficult to apply resin thin enough to do any good.Most likely would become brittle then even worst than what you started with.Don't know if a rattle can of SEM flexible primer surfacer might give ya some time.No matter what once the sun beats on something long enough with no protection it pretty well shoot ( look at some people who think it's great to get a super tan)

The sun has broken down the plastic that made the door panel. The only thing you can do is sand down the door panel until you reach "good" plastic. Find some product that could build up the area that you sanded (which I don't know of any). Re-texture the panel (which will never match the original).

So, your only real options are to replace your panels or send them out to Just Dashes for them to recover them.

Yeah , your better off either buying good repros or having them recovered by just dashes. anything else you do would not look right.

everyone here says all the repos for challengers are bad quality, not worth the money. What kind of $ would i be looking at for just dashes?

Once chaulky they are fried and if you sand them your grain will be gone. Most colors didnt hold up but good used black Challenger panels are not that hard to find and you can paint them white. Place a wanted ad in the Ebody parts section here on Moparts. I have a friend who probably has a set.

Yeah, a little patience and you will find someone with a set to sell. You can try e-bay too. Sometimes you can find a good set for a reasonable price there but a want ad here is prolly your best bet.

I have done this in the past with good results. Take the panels and wash them with Dawn dishwashing detergent. Actually I have poured the Dawn right on the panels. I used a soft nylon brush and scrubbed the life out of them. Rinse them off and repeat the process a couple of times. Dawn is great for getting grease and oil off of parts. I then put some laqure thinner on a rag and wipe the panels down. After everything has dried I painted them with a product from Krylon called Fusion. I put on several thin coats over a few days allowing time for everything to dry between coats. After the final coat has completly dried I put on a few coats of Krylon clear coat.

If these panels a trash this is worth the shot. It is quick, it is easy, and it is cheap. The panels on the Cuda I am currently driving was done like this and they have held up fine.

Jeff

I'm still finding good used black panels for less than $200

Get those and paint 'em

I see the nice original passenger Cuda door panels for around $150-$200, they have good finish and minimal scratches, no cracks, ready to install panels.

The drivers are around the same or a little more in the same condition.

What I dont understand is why nice originals dont sell for MORE than the repops if all the repops are so bad.

How much are the repops?

Your right, originals in mint condition should sell for a lot more then the repops.