Has anyone found a “reasonable” priced source for the hard doors? Living in Washington the soft doors on the 02 don’t cut it for keeping the rain out…
I decided to go with soft doors for this build due to cost. I chose the GEMCARDOORS.com set as I am really not happy with the doors on the 2002 E2 I have, they don’t fit well and allow the water to come right onto the seats.
Please let us know they work out.
I’ve considered doors to extend my season in NE Ohio but was never certain how well they would work in rain and snow or how long they would last.
I have found the sunbrrlla canvas like material to be very Durable and easy to maintain/clean. I’m not sure what manufactures are using that material and what ones are Not but I personally would have no issues in the durability of this material compared to the plastic window like material used entirely on doors like the ride for fun doors. I would think the plastic that’s down low by the rocker panel would take a beating and not last long
I’d guess that GemCarDoors uses the Sunbrella material (or something similar) for the canvas portion of their product. R4F doors are entirely a clear vinyl product.
I like the look of the clear doors better but wonder about their durability over time. OTOH the GemCarDoors product looks pretty “nasty” to me but I like the idea of having a “frame” of sorts for opening closing vs “roll up”. I suspect that door material would last better - not sure about the window portion. Also they have a fairly basic color selection IMO.
In either case I know that “marine grade vinyl” does a better job of staying clear (vs yellowing through UV exposure) and not cracking w/ heat/cold cycles. I’d guess both sources use that for the window portion.
I keep dithering and thinking “maybe next year”.
The GCD product does use Sunbrella material which I use for my Winch covers etc and it does hold up extremely well. I chose the gray Tweed because it matches the interior gray colors of the seats and dash etc. I plan to paint my 2005 so I figured the gray would work with anything vs. black that will show all of the muck from driving in the rain around here, or the blue / green options since that would limit my color selection. I currently have the older style NEV accessories framed doors on the 2002 and I absolutely hate them as they do not seal the openings at all and with the magnets can be a pain to open for people who have dexterity issues. They also have worn through the fabric where the cross brace of the door is on both sides which looks terrible. I plan to sell them to someone who does not need the waterproof nature and who has the talent to sew a racing stripe or patch on the doors to make it look good again. So if anyone is interested in a set of them please let me know.