plastic water barrier at doors

rsporsche

rsporsche

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while i have the door + side panels off, i am going to replace the plastic sheet / moisture barrier at the doors. anybody know how thick the existing material was? i know the big box stores offer things from very thin (less than 1 mil) up to 6 mil). most garbage bags are approx. 1mil ... so i was thinking it needed to be a min. of 4mil

i know the thin stuff will tear as soon as you try to remove it.
would appreciate any thoughts
 
I recently opened up two doors that seemed well sealed. One had what appeared to be a remnant from a translucent shower curtain. The other used Tyvek material often used to wrap homes. I vaguely recall using a 3-4mil plastic drop cover once, without any problems. I suppose there is one caveat if using plastic garbage bags and that is to ensure it/they are not readily biodegradable so that they break down with ozone exposure.

Sorry I can't be too definitive.
 
I got lucky. I have genuine Ferrari cut to fit vapor barriers in my Coupe. It's what was around the shop when I did my windows. :D

Plastic on mine didn't seem paper thin, nor robust. I've venture a guess at 3-4 mils.
 
Vapour barrier

MyFemurHurts said:
I got lucky. I have genuine Ferrari cut to fit vapor barriers in my Coupe. It's what was around the shop when I did my windows. :D

Plastic on mine didn't seem paper thin, nor robust. I've venture a guess at 3-4 mils.
Click to expand...

Still available from BMW.
 
When I helped HBChris reinstall my interior he suggested replacing the plastic. IIRC, we bought the 4 mil painters "drop cloth" clear plastic
It worked very well
 
Some plastic sheeting gets brittle with age. Not sure about causes. UV wouldn't be an issue inside doors, other factors might be. It would be worth looking up.
 
I use the thicker stuff. Not sure about the exact thickness but I use the kind of plastic that craftsman uses to protecting (at least) our floors at home. This plastic is strong enough for taking on and off several times which is normally needed when working inside E9 doors :-)
The tricky part is the gluing. You want it fixed and sealed, but not rock solid.
With all kind of plastic and all kind of glue makes this a lottery.
I'm using contact glue that will get it fairly sealed and will let go off plastic when removing it.
BTW, the original dinosaurs glue that hold the original plastic is almost impossible to remove from the door :)
 
Builders sheet

I used builders sheet as the membrane and then a grey sealer that only partly sets, think it is called butule or something similar.
C
 
Sheet plastic 3-4 mil and rubber cement, (not industrial contact cement) Like kids use in school.

Coat door and plastic liberally, get tacky and adhere. Any excess rub off.

Tacky enough to hold plastic in place..door card does the rest of the work. Can easily remove if you need to get access again.
 
thanks John,

i had already decided on the rubber cement. i was between 4 mil and 6 mil. i ended up buying 4 mil because i could buy a smaller quantity than 6 mil ... still enough to have spares for at least 2 or 3 other cars.

when i got home, i compared it to the original, and i think the original was 6 mil.
 
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