I need to replace the vapor barrier in the door of a friend's car. In my Civic the vapor barrier is held in place by a chewing-gum like adhesive that has held up well for over 10 years. Does anyone know where I can find this type of adhesive?
By vapour barrier I assume you mean the rubber weather strip. In my experience only one thing really works:
Sorry about that rediculously long URL. It points to 3M Super Weatherstrip Adhesive 08001 You should be able to find it at an automotive supply store like UAP It's a yellow color and incredibly sticky. We used to refer to it as "gorilla snot"
I think the barrier he's talking about is the plastic sheet between the metal door and the interior panel. The stuff that holds it reminds me of plumber's putty but is much stickier. I'd still expect it to be a 3M product and it might be the same thing you describe. It definitely isn't rubber cement, which would stink and harden.
I don't know that you necessarily need to use the OEM stuff for this sort of job. When replacing these barriers on various cars in the past I have used GE SiliconeII clear cauking and a butyl cauking made for sealing rain gutters. These were materials that I had tubes of availble for cauking around my house and sppear to have adhered strongly and sealed well. They certainly are made to withstand all types of weather and moisture exposure.
The closest thing to that gooey stuff is black 'acoustic sealant' which is terribly messy. They use it to seal vapor barrier in houses, but it's awful stuff. :-( Comes off your hands with WD-40. If you knew you were NEVER going to open the door panel again, it might be OK. I just use a bit of contact cement on top of the old sealant that's in there, to reseal it. Since you're changing the whole gasket, you'll want something closer to the real stuff. Hopefully a person who works at a good stereo intallation place can tell you what to use.
Ah! That's just called a 'plastic cover' in the shop manual, but I can see it's resemblence to vapour barrier. I think the 3M stuff would hold it though. The shop manual just says 'apply adhesive' without specifying what kind.
Yes, the plastic sheet is what I am talking about. On the car in question the sheet was held in place with an adhesive similar to what you find on packing tape. After 17 years, it is now a slimy goo that does not hold the sheet in place. I was hoping to find the the stuff Honda uses, it seems to hold up very well over the years.
======================================================= A very modest collection of Honda tech info can be found at:
, DavidOdom wrote: If you all are talking about the "tar-like" putty that adheres most moisture/vapor barriers in most cars, you're looking for 3M Strip-Calk, Part No. 051135-08578. This is the black stuff. There is a "whit-ish" version also.
This stuff will not harden which is what you want so you can remove and "re-stick" your moisture barrier several times as you have to, over the years, do maintenance on door windows, electric motors, regulators, etc.
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