HAS ANYONE RESTORED PLASTIC DOOR PANELS?

The style that early E bodies and later B bodies had. That plastic that seems to dissolve over time. Lighter ones are worse?

Has anyone tried to do this? What did you use?

Once they dry out & start turning to powder, there is NO WAY to restore them. Question is, are there any good reproductions? I do need a set of white ones for my '72 - F&R.

There was a compoany that used to do a "restoration" of sorts but it was an obvious fix.

They would sand down the plastic and vacuum form new vinyl to the panel.

It was obvious it was not OEM, but it did look really good. Good enough that anyone who didn't know what OEM looked like up close wouldn't know they were not original. IMHO

EDIT

Just dashes is the company. Thank you TJP for the info.

Might try just dashes LINKY

From the other site, First link post 67 he discloses the process he used. Second link the OP is still on his journey.
https://forum.e-bodies.org/interior/6/interior-plastic-restoration-journey/18703/

https://forum.e-bodies.org/interior/6/repairing-wasted-door-panels-and-textured-plastic/24815/;topicseen

it depends on what level of restoration you are looking for.

exact copy of the original texture is impossible and nobody has ever done it.

basically the panels are made out of a polypropylene based plastic. epoxy based glue and paint really don't like bonding to this type of plastic without adhesion promoter.
you can get a so so repair by sanding away the chalky part. them apply a adhesion promoter. them give it a coat of epoxy primer. after this dries then give it the proper coating of a textured paint or apply a coat of spray texture then top coat with the proper dye.

Thank you. I had my companies wrong.

Weren't there some reproductions that were REALLY NICE though? I'm talking almost exactly like the OE texture & sheen - I have seen them before. I know there have been several efforts to reproduce them from different manufacturers, but only the ones I'm describing looked good enough for me to get interested in, & I'm pretty fussy. I have several sets of good originals (black), but I really don't want to have to revert to dying them white for my '72.

Are the ones Year One sells not so good? We installed a set in 2016. They seemed ok back then. That was just a driver quality car.

I thought Mancini was carrying the "good" ones??

Nobody is making repo's for late B body door panels, or interior panels.

I'm talking about E-Body.

Late B's used the same material.

That may be your only course. Since black seemed to survive the best. Of course changing black to white is best wrt coverage..

Thanks great information Larry. Thanks for sharing that thread. Should work well on a Late B panel as well.

friends of mine are on a budget and restoring an original 60k 74 road runner. white interior and it was pretty chalky and rough. they asked me if i could do anything with the parts (all the plastic in the interior as well as medal a pillar trim and fabric on the panels)
i own a specialty media blasting company so said i would try it. anything too aggressive will destroy the grain obviously so i went with vapor blasting (cabinet based water/ #10 glass bead mix) other than filling my cabinet up with old chalky plastic it worked very well. retained the grain and brought the panels back from the dead. perfect? nope, but very nice for stuff that should have been replaced. Door panel upholstery come out the best looking like a NOS part when finished. (material was in great shape)
if you have anyone local you could have them try vapor. try on the backside first or a spot you cant see once installed to be safe.

i have great luck with mopar plastics and vapor. might be an option

cuda radio bezel. vapor again