I own a 2002 E46 330 ci and recentley in the heat of the summer the weather stripping ahs been pealing off. Has this ever happened to anybody? I have tried using 3M weather stripping cement and this has not worked. I holds for a few days and then begins to peel again.
Which weather stripping? Around what openings? I have a 99 e39 and the few pieces that I have replaced have been relatively inexpensive and fairly easy to replace. And NONE have required any form of adhesive.
It is the weather stripping on the driver's door..it is one piece all the way around and i used rubing alcohol first to remove what ever adhesive was once on it from the factory because it had completely fallen down. Then i used the 3M weather stripping cement to put it up and i let it get tacky and eventually it came down again, most likely because of the heat.
I also used the 3M but had success, the only difference was I roughed up the rubber with sandpaper to enhance the grip, (like you used to do repairing bicycle tires) and after about a year its still holding.
That was actually going to be my next step in trying to make the weather stripping work. Now that I know for sure that it will be worth it I will do it. Thank you
This was a well-know problem in the E46 (at least the early models I think). It dealt with the supplier of the trim and adhesive that was used. I had mine replaced under warranty in my '01 330Ci. Before you fix it yourself, you might check with the dealer see if they could goodwill this repair under warranty. It's worth a shot.... Cheers...
How did you apply the 3M weatherstrip adhesive? There's a specific procedure for it to chemically bond. First, you must clean BOTH SIDES of the contact. Any dirt trapped in between will only result in the adhesive coming off. I recommend going over it with some rubbing alcohol. Then, you must apply the adhesive to both sides. And let it dry. Do not bond the two surfaces while the adhesive is still wet to the touch. Then you need to bond the two surfaces and apply some pressure to it for 8 hours. What works well is using painters tape and tape the trim strip from the headliner to the top of the roof, spacing the painter's tape about 2-3 inch apart. I've done this on at least 4 E46 Coupes and the oldest one, a 2000 Ci that we applied the 3M adhesive to in 2002, still holds true 6 years later in Southern California summer.
Nice! Thanks for the tip. I'll suggest that to my customers that have this problem (if they don't want new seals.)
My wife also had a 2002 330ci that the colored fabric separated from the molding. Living in South Ga. in the summer the temp. in the car gets quite hot. Both sides separated on her car, so I talked very humbly to my service advisor. He finally replaced them under warrant about four times in the five years we had the car. I also think think this a known problem, that is why he was so accommodating. Good luck.
I did clean both sides with alcohol and the weather stripping still came off...i also let the 3m get tacky on both sides
