Best Front Doors

abraded

Active member
I know there are a couple of past threads that sort of touched on this issue, but I am curious what seems to be the best option for replacing front doors. I have a pair of front doors that could use a little work and thinking over best options. The ones I have could be repaired, but by the time I factor in shipping skins, stripping, having stuff blasted, dust off the welder etc it seems like getting at least new shells makes sense. For those of you that have seen and used the various door types what would be your preference of the following options? What do you like about them? Long term durability? Overall strength? Drainage? Safety?
1. SP Galvanized Frame original style
2. Land Rover supplied/built Puma style (either build up from shells or NTO if available)

A side question. For those of you that have used NTO Puma doors, how far have you stripped them down prior to painting?

Thanks!
 

Uncle Douglas

Well-known member
Callsign: delete
any option that gets you an all steel door, be that early welded frame reskin with steel or the later all steel pressed frame doors. No defender door offers much in the way of safety.
 

CDN38

Well-known member
All 5 doors on my truck are Puma. 3 are NTO, 2 are used (about 3 years old when I got them). Prior to painting I completely stripped the doors down, removing all the parts. I replaced the rubber waist seals on all of them which usually get mangled upon removal, and the rubber glass channel on both used doors. You don't need to strip them down that far, but I'm a bit OCD.

No drainage issues, or any fit issues at all. With Genuine, you know what you are getting.
 

MountainD

Technical Excellence Contributor
With Genuine, you know what you are getting.

at least for older doors, like the 6 on my trucks and 1 in storage, that means doors that will eventually corrode, eventually rust and eventually break at the pont where lower and upper combine.. not knocking it, that’s what they do. Puma, however, I don’t know about. What makes them good? are they all steel? Im with Doug on this one. Remove the galvanic corrosion of two dissimilar metals. galvanize the internal frame. Provide drains for moisture to get out.

now onto my research on puma doors!!!
 

abraded

Active member
at least for older doors, like the 6 on my trucks and 1 in storage, that means doors that will eventually corrode, eventually rust and eventually break at the pont where lower and upper combine.. not knocking it, that’s what they do. Puma, however, I don’t know about. What makes them good? are they all steel? Im with Doug on this one. Remove the galvanic corrosion of two dissimilar metals. galvanize the internal frame. Provide drains for moisture to get out.

now onto my research on puma doors!!!
This is some of what I was wondering. SP makes a galvanized frame (hot dipped), "galvanized steel" skin (electrically plated) so everything has a zinc coating. The Land Rover Puma doors are all steel and zinc plated. So, both will have good corrosion protection. What I don't know if if the SP skin and the Puma skin are both the same thickness (gauge). As far as frame strength, the Puma frame is made almost entirely from one pressing--this change was probably made for manufacturing simplicity, but does it result in strength changes? Losing a bunch of welding connections probably decreases chances of the frame cracking over time (no brittle welded material/HAZ). This is probably looking at doors way too critically, but if you're gonna spend at least ~$2k rebuilding doors (by the time you get shells, replace tracks, broken/worn parts and paint) is it worth spending a bit more and swapping to Puma spec stuff.
 

MountainD

Technical Excellence Contributor
After checking them out, I see why people like Puma doors. And I tend to agree with CDN38, genuine is usually best as they have a lot vested (in warranty) to get them as right as possible. Plus I believe the Puma doors were designed under Ford. And frankly, whether it was Ford or BMW, both know what they are doing when it comes to doors so i would trust those more than aftermarket. But SP has been fine for the stuff I have gotten from them too, so although I would pay a little premium for genuine, unless I hear horror stories the SP versions would be on my table if I saved a bit... More likely than not, since i go to England a lot, I will find some good takeoffs and pop them in my cousins storage shed over in the UK till I need them.
 
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