Tan door panel
 

The tan door panel insert has bugged me for some time. Despite what it looks like in the photos this panel is color matched plastic.

Has anyone tried removing it and having a custom color matched leather panel installed? How hard would it be to get a match?

Is it only the tan interiors that they used plastic on or do all the leather interior cheap out on that part?

http://images.cars.com/supersized/DM.../J52466.10.jpg

Plastic...? What you mean by that? hard plastic....? I dont know what you talking about, I have red inserts and they are soft... same material as my seats.

The big tan mid section in my door panels are defiantly plastic...must be just the 05 Shinkas. Which is disappointing. I would love to replace them with the same material as the seats. It's one of those things that will never bother you till you notice it....and now it's all I see.
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Well... I have never heard of any other being plastic.

But I have cloth.

You can 100% go and get them custom done. The color may be a bit off... it is really worth it though?

it'll be a few hundred and yes its a hard vinyl/plastic material

are all the leather interiors like that or just the shinkas? i coulda sworn when i was shopping the black and red one was leather

weird. mine's leather, i think. guess you could swap it.

is the shinka sand the same as the o7 sand?

Mine is an 04 non-shinka and I'm pretty sure my door panel isn't leather. It's some sort of vinyl or something.

yeah, just checked mine. it's soft but not leather. i wouldn't call it hard plastic though.

I'll look into that...

yeah im sure its not leather either, i have an all black leather interior and it sure does not feel like leather, but some form of soft plastic with a leather texture

Regardless of the color (tan, red, black) , all door panels in cars equipped with leather seats are leatherette/vinyl. I've thought about changing my vinyl red panels to real red leather as well, but I don't think it's really worth the time and money. And unless the upholsterer does an excellent job, it's not gonna look as nice as stock. Plus, you'd better waterproof/treat leather door panels often because it's more likely exposed to rain water and snow than, say, your leather seats. I still treat my vinyl door panels, but I don't really have to worry about them because they can definitely take more abuse than real leather.

If money is no object (I'm guessing at least $500 for both front panels) and you can find a top quality shop, I'd say go for it. Post pics when you're done!

I'd be fine with "leatherette/vinyl" hard plastic though is annoying...just gotta find the part number for the upgraded tan insert.

Not hard I just did it myself, I had a red sueade that was dirty as hell and i just did the whole right side door panels with new black microfiber for a race look and I will say I did it for 22 bucks and it looks aammazzing I think. Its a ton better than what was in there....as long as you know what your doing when you lay the material your fine.