Acura RSX

First and foremost you need the supplies, I used
X-acto Knife
Goof Off 2
Weldwood Contact Cement
3M Adhesive Spray
Philips Screwdriver
Flathead Screwdriver
Butter Knife
Pizza Cutter
Nickel
Masking Tape
Fabric of your choice
Insulation ( this one will be optional, read on)
Iron(possibly needed, read on)

Here is a picture of the door before we take it off:

On to removing the door:
Start by prying off the mirror mount cover

Next you want to remove the shield behind your door handle, I used a small pebble to hold the door handle open while I was getting it out.

Unscrew the 2 screws behind the shield.

Pull the door handle out and remove the power connector on the right side with a screw driver:

To get the piece on the left off pull up gently on the clip holding it and rotate it sideways, pull metal piece up and out:

Unscrew the gold screw behind all this:

Underneath the arm rest two screws are in need of removal, remove them:

Gently push a flathead under your window regulator and pry it upward then disconnect the power connection:

It should now look like this:

Now to remove the door, start at the top corner where you removed the mirror mount cover and begin gently pulling counterclockwise around the entire door until all clips are free and then pull up to disengage.

Almost done with the door, remove the connector holding your power cable to the door, it looks like this:

Door should be off and look something like this:

Lay the door somewhere where you can work on it, tables work well! Then remove the screws holding the armrest and handle in place. Remove it once they are all out:

Turn it over and start removing the fabric and padding off of the door, I found it was much easier once I got it started to firmly pull while I ran the butter knife across the bottom to get it off:

This if where the Goof Off 2 comes in handy, remove any of the foam pieces that aren’t flush (for the most part) from the door:

I had high hopes of removing it all, but trust me when i say it’s a pain in the ass and unnecessary so just get all the big stuff off, mine turned out like this:

Now that you have the door prepped you want to get your fabric. Here’s where the optional portion comes in. I noticed when taking off the leather material it was padded with a foam. I didn’t exactly want to make the doors feel all hard and run the risk of whatever crap I didn’t get off the door to show through the surface so I decided to try to pad them. It’s optional, a pain and I have no idea how it turns out if you don’t pad it, because this is the route I took. However the fabric I used was thin and smooth if you used a thicker fabric it probably would still have some cushy-ness to it and not show the stuff underneath the surface, but I honestly don’t know.

So here’s the how. I couldn’t find a foam like the RSX had in it most were “at least” an inch thick so I went with this approximately 1/4 inch thick stuff called Insul-Bright. I did this a different way for each door, the second is the easiest the 1st involved a lot of cursing and me nearly throwing the shit in the trash. So hard way is, spray your 3M adhesive on the padding and “attempt” to lay the fabric of choice directly on top of it without getting any creases or flaws. SUCKS. However, round two the lesson was learned and a new route was devised. Lay your padding down and spray the edge with the 3M adhesive. Have your fabric of choice rolled up then line up the edges and press down on the adhesive. Next spray a little more of the padding, unroll and press down and on and on until it’s meshed together completely. This way was a lot easier and less agitating so I suggest you try it.

The fabric I used, as I mentioned, was relatively thin. Along with this the insulate padding I used had a lot of dimples in it and due to this the adhesive made the red fabric pick up all the surface level flaws and look basically like shit. AKA something I would never stick in my RSX. We tried pressing and flattening and to no avail, it looked like crap. Then we ironed it! Perfection! Lay a sheet over top of it and then iron over it to reduce the dimples. The fabric you use may not call for this step but if it does, try it.

Next I laid the old door inserts down, flattened them out and cut around them. No need to leave a large lip, because inevitably you’ll be cutting it down anyways. Just leave enough for any minor errors to be fixed, like this:

Back to the door, you want to next pull out the masking tape and put it right along where the crevice you’ll be sticking the fabric into is. It should look something like this:

Before I started gluing I laid the template I had down on top of the door and began pressing down, with the nickel, into the crevice where the fabric would be stuck into a border so when the glue was mixed in the equation I would have an easier time lining it up correctly the first time and not having to rip it back off, like this:

After you have the border on it, started putting your Weldwood contact cement down into the crevice and on top of the panel where the fabric will be laid:

After you got the Weldwood on pretty well spray some 3M adhesive just to be sure everything sticks well:

Use your self imposed line you did with the nickel to aide you in lining up the fabric before pressing it down, then begin smoothing it down. Use the pizza cutter to roll along the crevice and force the fabric down into it and use the scissors, or X-acto knife to cut the fabric down so that the excess will all fit into the crevice.

Now you just want to finish smoothing it out and forcing everything down into the crevices using your pizza cutter initially then the knife and nickel to get more of a straight down contact because the pizza cutter tends to pull it slightly as it rolls. Remove the masking tape and you will probably notice you got the Weldwood on the door panel. “Ideally” you should wait a bit so you don’t accidentally mess up the fabric by pulling and rubbing up against it before it drys but I just put a little Goof Off 2 on a paper towel and was able to get most of it off without disturbing it. Give it over night then go out and use more goof off for whatever you couldn’t get off and most of it will easily wipe off at that point.

Finished product looks like this:

And on the car: