E36 Door Leather Interferes w/ Regluing Center Panel w/ Handle - OK To Slit It...

[IMSARS69]

The 'decorative' center panel w/ the pull handle need regluing and the leather which covers the entire main door panel has shrunk to the point that it's pulled loose from the concave pocket section and is stretched from the top to the bottom like a drum cover and is keeping from positioning the center panel firmly against the main panel in the concave pocket section in order to glue it around the periphery without a LOT of clamping force...

It's also shrunken so much that there's no way it will ever be able to be stretched enough in order to be positioned in the original location along the edges particularly at the cubby holes... which I could care less about as it doesn't generally show to a casual observer...

Since this portion of the leather covering is hidden under the 'decorative' panel I don't see any reason why it can't be slit down the center from front to back without any harm which should relieve the interference with seating the 'decorative' panel fully into the concave section to get a proper fit for gluing without having to put the extra force required if it's left as is...

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Above attached photo shows the area in question, although it's hard to see the issue with the subject area, especially between the door latch handle hole and the rear of the deep pocket which has completely pulled away from the substrate, having shrunk considerably, acting like a stretched diaphragm that keeps the 'decorative' panel from being seated fully into the pocket... that's the portion I want to slit, from the door latch handle hole to the rear of the deep pocket... even if one were to try to repair the overall leather covering it appears to me that slitting it would help with that also...

What say y'all...


Am also attaching a photo of the extant glue residue that was used by some PO to secure the two door pockets, one still in place the other having come loose... anyone care to ID what type of adhesive has been used given its being 'smeared' relatively thin at the contact areas and beyond... shows the same traits at the other places it was used... the photo is upside down, but after righting it on the laptop, it's disappeared so that'll have to do for now...

708327



TIA...

db

IMSA RS 69
'ol corps rac'r
Rac'n Class of '69
Car #69

[Veleno]

One problem I can see happening if you cut the material is that the pieces start to shrink and it may come out from behind the decorative center piece.
Maybe you can put a heat gun to the leather so it can stretch enough for the dec. piece to seat properly?

As for the adhesive, it sort of looks like contact cement.

[IMSARS69]

Thanks for the comments... replies follow inline...


One problem I can see happening if you cut the material is that the pieces start to shrink and it may come out from behind the decorative center piece.
I don't see that happening as it would have to shrink a good 2 inches or so more on either side of the slit... in addition the center insert is being glued to the leather where it's still adhered to the substrate panel around the periphery of the recess, which means the 'decorative' center panel insert would have to have become detached yet again...



Maybe you can put a heat gun to the leather so it can stretch enough for the dec. piece to seat properly?
Possibly, but I don't think it would stay warmed up and remain stretched enough while trying to get all the gluing and clamping in place before it would at least partially return to its original shrunken, tightened condition still presenting the issue of resisting the insert from fully seating into the recess... the force to overcome the present resistance is quite strong, more so than one might expect...



As for the adhesive, it sort of looks like contact cement.
Thanks... whatever it was it's managed to hold up over a fairly long time as it was used for all the locations to include the top strip which has only partially started to come loose... and while its not been a lot of miles, many of them have been really rough what with all the laps over VIR's numerous gators...

db

IMSA RS 69
'ol corps rac'r
Rac'n Class of '69
Car #69

[IMSARS69]

As for the adhesive, it sort of looks like contact cement.

Update:

Took to removing the residue left from where the larger pocket had come completely loose and found that it acted like a rubber based contact cement as it 'balled up' when rubbed and with a lil heat from a heat gun it softened and using a paint scraper I was able to get the bulk off leaving a bit of tacky residue which I continued to scrape and then used a sanding block to get it down to where I was satisfied it would allow application of the E6000 adhesive to reattach it to the door card substrate... as noted above whatever it is it has done a decent job of holding as long as it has especially with the amount of rough rides it's had... which if some kind of plain ol contact cement is surprising...

I didn't use any kind of solvent not knowing what it would do to the substrate, and was willing to try the E6000 on it as it was... which I have done and it's still clamped (lightly as using any force tended to 'warp' the pocket such that it affected the fit in one or more areas...) so haven't tried a 'pull on it' test yet, but given that the E6000 adhered initially as it did without even needing being clamped as it fit fairly well leaves me convinced it was the best choice...

Speaking of the E6000, having seen several refs of others using it for the door card repairs, and my SO having some that she'd used for various things that worked well for her, it sounded like the best thing to try... first impressions are it's some pretty good stuff, especially to work with, as it doesn't 'string' after applying some making a mess like your garden variety rubber cement, doesn't tend to 'ooze' out of the tube in between applications, is fairly thick to start with so doesn't tend to run, starts out adhering pretty well while still allowing some adjustment (and I presume if really outta place could be pulled back off to start over)... it didn't come with an applicator tip just a punched out opening in the spout of the tube, so just squeezed out an amount I thought was about right for the area onto the surface and spread it out evenly over the entire area with a wooden 'Popsicle stick' which worked well... will try to report back as to how well it stays put after an appropriate curing time, but given how well it seemed to wanna stick uncured I'm pretty confident it's gonna work as well as others have suggested...

Meant to mention that the E6000 I'm using is the clear std. 'Industrial Strength' variety as I"m sure there's more'n one version of it as with most things these days...


db

IMSA RS 69
'ol corps rac'r
Rac'n Class of '69
Car #69

[retiredfreebimm]

I used this on my 328I to do the same repair 2 yrs. ago.
Works great.
SEM-39337 SEM PRODUCTS DUAL MIX DOOR SKIN AND SMC ADHESIVE 7oz Cartridge

https://sep.yimg.com/ay/yhst-48512690786367/sem-39337-sem-products-dual-mix-door-skin-and-smc-adhesive-7oz-cartridge-14.jpg

[Veleno]

I got the Turtle Labs door panel brace and they too recommended to use E6000. While I did not glue the brace to the panel, I did use it to glue back the pockets and it seems to be holding up so far (fingers crossed).

[IMSARS69]

I got the Turtle Labs door panel brace and they too recommended to use E6000. While I did not glue the brace to the panel, I did use it to glue back the pockets and it seems to be holding up so far (fingers crossed).

By 'Turtle Labs door panel brace' I presume you're referring to the 'Upper Door Panel Repair Brackets' made of aluminum that replace the typically broken and/or 'missing' OEM POS plastic bracket that originally attached the upper portion of the panel via the spring clips on the inner door panel... or is there another Turtle Labs item that improves the whole system I'm overlooking...

After my experience so far with the E6000, which admittedly has yet to have been put in service, I'm very impressed with the ease with which it is to use vs other similar adhesives per my comments in the earlier post, and so far how well it appears to have 'gotten a grip' on things, so to speak... personally I'd have used the E6000 for the brackets... noticed they (Turtle Labs) reference Goop (as opposed to E6000) for that purpose on their website description, which I'm told by a good source is an excellent adhesive, later on to find out it is obviously produced by the same company, and may very well be the same composition, just with an alternate label as the retail card and listed attributes are almost identical, save the 'name'... a common marketing ploy to cater to different 'trades'... to see what I'm ref'n pull up the ad on AZ or elsewhere of the two and compare... one shows a 'plumber's icon' the other a 'handyman icon'...

Unless the repairs made with the E6000 fail in short order, especially given the minimal prep I made, it's going to become my 'go to' adhesive for any number of applications...

db

IMSA RS 69
'ol corps rac'r
Rac'n Class of '69
Car #69

[IMSARS69]

.
The section of leather proposed to be slit in order to get rid of it's hampering proper seating of the 'center panel' into the recess was, before shrinking and getting displaced, what the large flat middle section of the 'center panel' was glued to in addition to its periphery along the outer edges of the recess...

Am hoping, and see no reason why not, that this middle flat portion of the 'center panel' can be clamped (or weighted down) to where it will contact the exposed couple inches of the door panel substrate in the 'bottom' of the recess that's exposed after the leather is slit and allowed to relax in place out of the way...

Soon as the reglued parts are fully cured, and I've gotten all the crappy bitumastic adhesive cleaned off the door panel and vapor barrier / sound insulation panel in prep for application of the Double Sided Butyl (Flat) Tape I intend to use for reattaching it to the door inner panel, it'll be ready for reinstalling the (hopefully intact and cooperative) door card...

db

IMSA RS 69
'ol corps rac'r
Rac'n Class of '69
Car #69

[Veleno]

.
The section of leather proposed to be slit in order to get rid of it's hampering proper seating of the 'center panel' into the recess was, before shrinking and getting displaced, what the large flat middle section of the 'center panel' was glued to in addition to its periphery along the outer edges of the recess...

Am hoping, and see no reason why not, that this middle flat portion of the 'center panel' can be clamped (or weighted down) to where it will contact the exposed couple inches of the door panel substrate in the 'bottom' of the recess that's exposed after the leather is slit and allowed to relax in place out of the way...

Soon as the reglued parts are fully cured, and I've gotten all the crappy bitumastic adhesive cleaned off the door panel and vapor barrier / sound insulation panel in prep for application of the Double Sided Butyl (Flat) Tape I intend to use for reattaching it to the door inner panel, it'll be ready for reinstalling the (hopefully intact and cooperative) door card...

db

IMSA RS 69
'ol corps rac'r
Rac'n Class of '69
Car #69

Yes I was referring to the turtle labs upper door panel brackets. I'm actually glad I didn't glue them to the door panel as they are somewhat hard to remove from the clips they slide into. It stays in place, the door panel slides over them, and they support the panel when it's installed. So much better than the oem plastic junk.

I see no reason why it shouldn't work if it has the extra space to relax in.

Is the vapor barrier still in good shape? When I removed my door panel both my covers were shrunk and deformed. I went ahead and ordered the newer style foam covers that someone else mentioned in another thread and I think they are better than the plastic it came with.