Just behind the door panels are sheets of plastic to keep moister from creeping into your VW. Over the course of years, they can become brittle and the adhesive will break down and no longer make a good seal. When this happens, you might find water puddles in the car, have a constant damp smell, find water stains on the lower edges of your door panels or even turn the bottom of the door panels into a mush.
Replacing the vapior barier is pretty easy with a few very basic tools:
Only 2 supplies are needed:
The Wurth sealant tape is pretty easy to work with, but can be hard to locate, where as the windshield ribbon sealer should be easy to locate, just make some phone calls. These materials do a very good job or sealing and will last for years, not months like duct tape. The car below is a 87 Jetta. All of the A2s will be pretty much the same.
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The Wurth sealant tape on the left is easy to work with, but hard to find and not a cheap item. The 3M Ribbon Sealer should be pretty easy to find and isn't to hard to work with. 1 roll of either of these items will do a lot of doors. |
| Open the door up and locate the 4 Phillips screws, use the #2 driver to remove them. 2 are located on the left outer edge, 2 are located on the right outer edge. |  |
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To remove the door handle trim, push it towards the door latch... |
| .... and it pops free. |  |
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With a small screwdriver, pry the bottom of the trim on the grab handle free, then pull it out. Remove the 2 Phillips screws in there with the #3 driver. |
| Use the small screwdriver again to pry the trim cover on the window crank, then remove the #2 Phillips screw. |  |
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Unscrew the lock rod fitting and remove the plastic trim it pokes though. Once you do this, you can work the door panel off of the door. The top edge of it is pressed into a plastic trim piece that is fitted to the door itself. Sometimes it can be hard to remove the door panel from that plastic trim piece, just take your time so you don't damage the door panel. Once the door panel is out of the way, you can remove the interior door handle, push it towards the lacth like you did the trim cover for it. |
| Rips all the old plastic off. There are 5 plastic mounts that should be removed, use a punch and hammer to tap the center pins out of them (don't loose those pins) then you can pull them right out. On the A3 VWs, the plastic clips are a hassle to remove, and I've found it best to just destroy them, get them out of the way and then use new ones to snap back in. |  |
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Clean all of the goop and junk off around the outer edge with the brake cleaner and rags... |
| ... then apply the sealant tape. If you use the ribbon sealer, stretch it into a thinner bead, between an 1/8th and 1/4 of an inch. One roll of the ribbon sealant will do a a lot of doors. |  |
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With the plastic, start at the bottom and work your way towards the top. It is important to have the bottom with a very good seal. With the ribbon sealer, rub your finger over the plastic to help press it into the ribbon sealer and make a good seal. For the rod that goes to the latch, notice I made a slit in the plastic for it. |
| Work your way up towards the top on sealing the plastic. I would suggest putting the interior handle on before doing the top edge of the plastic. I work my way towards the center, there will be a little bit that bunches up, no big deal. Once you have it pressed on real good, use a razor or sharp knife and trim off the extra plastic. |  |
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Take the knife or razor and cut out the plastic a bit where it covers the holes for the plastic clips, then push the clips into place and push the center pins into them. Notice how the bottom is a smooth tight seal, this is important. You are now ready to put the door panel back on and finish off any Mad Dog that might be left. |
Why should you send a postcard? Because it is cheap to do and as we all know, the US Post Office is funding it's Super Muntant Army Project with fees from postcards stamps. I would really like to see a Super Muntant Army deliever my mail in the near future.
Thank you.
