I removed the door card on my Mini's driver's door to work a broken latch mechanism, and I found the plastic membrane was not stuck to the door at all. It was just kind of loosely sitting between the door and the door card- not doing any good at all. I've got a new membrane on order, but what should I use to affix it to the door?
Butyl, stays sticky so you can take it off again if you need to.....in the paint dept at Home Depot. You can buy it in a tube like caulk or in a long 1/4" wide strip......
Thanks! I knew it had to remain sticky, but I didn't know what to look for or where to get it.
For about an hour yesterday, the driver's door on my car couldn't be opened from the outside or the inside- even though I had the inner panel off it. Just stuck in a closed position - not fun.
I tried to find a tube of regular butyl caulk at Lowe's and at Home Depot, but it seems manufacturers are moving toward synthetic alternatives and the real stuff is hard to find - at least for me locally. I bought a tube of the synthetic stuff at Home Depot because that was all that was available, but it didn't work. Sure, it stayed pliable, but it also developed a 'skin' and lost its tackiness and ability to the door's plastic vapor barrier in place.
Then I found butyl tape on Amazon. At 3/4" it was wider than needed, so I split it down the middle with a razor blade and made some 3/8" strips. This stuff seems to work great - super easy to work with, it's stretchable and can conform around objects. It stays tacky and holds the vapor barrier plastic in place with no problems.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001FCB4JS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I haven't had a plastic membrane on my doors in over 17 years. I took it off when I cut new masonite door cards and refitted the original vinyl. They've held up very well; still look like new and the doors haven't rusted - possibly because they're not hermetically sealed.
If the holes in the bottoms of the doors stay clear they will drain and not rust, the reason for the plastic is that it's a good vapor barrier for the cardboard doorcards and it makes the doors sound so much better when you close them!
That butyl strip caulk is perfect - that's what I use only a narrower strip, about 1/4"
Any improvement is a good improvement, so I'll likely order the plastic sheets I've had on the MSC wish list at some point.
I agree that Bruce's caulking job looks great. 77.gif
I am glad to hear that butyl tape works well....I had been thinking about what to use on the plastic door films, and I just happen to have roll of the RV butyl tape that I was going to use to seal up some other things on the mini.