Al Knoch Door Panels

[Roger G.]

Re: Al Knoch Door Panels

Yes. If you use AK, I highly recommend having them recover your original door panels. They remove the skin, do any needed repairs to the fiber backing, then reskin them. This method helps ensure they fit your doors.

In contrast, I had terrible fitment problems with their new ABS panels.

Thanks. My originals were probably exposed to water at some point, some damage to the paper fiber backing. One has a dent in the vinyl at the bottom where there's a lot of padding. If he can repair or replace the backing panel, reskin with new padding, that would be ideal. I don't know how their processes are set up, whether this is practical. I'm waiting to hear back from them in response to an email asking similar questions. My other option may be to buy new paper fiber backed panels from them. My concern with those is whether the top steel plate which the panel is built on fits the contour of the top of the door. The pair I bought back in the mid 90's does not, causing the panel to sit high on the door, lock shaft is misaligned. It's been many years now, I'd give them another shot if I can be certain they'll lay flat on the door, top of the panel follows the contour of the door.

[Richard G.]

Re: Al Knoch Door Panels

On mine, I stripped off the steel backing from the panel (C2's). I prepped and shipped the top steel panels to them. The panels I received have originals steel tops and fit great. I have CA panels and they would have been fine if they were assembled correctly. Guy must have been hung over as the obvious line up marks were no aligned when the panel was stapled together. Because of this the SS/chrome trim didn't fit either.
The current reproduction top steel panels have the dog leg in them unlike the earlier reproductions. Customer service was great from All Knoch.
No where in the literature or on the internet did it mention that you could provide your own steel top panels. I had to call to find this out. Using my own panels saved me $90, minus the cost to ship them to them.
Rick

[Roger G.]

Re: Al Knoch Door Panels

On mine, I stripped off the steel backing from the panel (C2's). I prepped and shipped the top steel panels to them. The panels I received have originals steel tops and fit great. I have CA panels and they would have been fine if they were assembled correctly. Guy must have been hung over as the obvious line up marks were no aligned when the panel was stapled together. Because of this the SS/chrome trim didn't fit either.
The current reproduction top steel panels have the dog leg in them unlike the earlier reproductions. Customer service was great from All Knoch.
No where in the literature or on the internet did it mention that you could provide your own steel top panels. I had to call to find this out. Using my own panels saved me $90, minus the cost to ship them to them.
Rick

Some great information, really appreciate it. I talked to CA about their panels, plastic backed. They said I should expect them to be warped after being stored on edge for more than a few weeks. They told me what I hear from others, let the panels heat in the hot sun with a weight on it to take out the warp. For this reason I'd prefer to go with the paper fiber backed panels providing they fit flush to the door. They hadn't heard of issues with the top steel plate not following the contour of the door. The panels I have which don't sit correctly are over 25 years old, much may have changed. Good to hear Al Knoch has good customer support, important when laying out this much money.

[Mark E.]

Re: Al Knoch Door Panels

Good to hear Al Knoch has good customer support, important when laying out this much money.

It's better described as reluctant customer support. They answer the phone but you need to push them and get approval from Al or his son to fix a problem.

[Frank D.]

Re: Al Knoch Door Panels

I've never had a problem with AK support, I usually ask for Melanie (IIRC her name correctly); its been a while though...
I think "the guy" used to be Dale before he passed - but that's a LONG story...