Sail Panel Securing Adhesive Question

Howdy,

My driver's side rear door fly away sail panel is starting to separate. Could I just clean out some of that old adhesive and shoot some RTV ultra black in there and clamp it to resecure that sail panel? The lower part of it seems solid.

Here's a quick pick. Thanks!

I've seen some people use windshield urethane with great success. I feel like that would be stronger than RTV, but you're probably better off just removing the whole thing to clean the old stuff off the body itself.

I agree with removing it and cleaning under it. The goo that under it will not promote adhesion, and you will be back where you started in short order. Window adhesive is the way to go. Do not worry about the pins, they are just glued to the panel, and usually pull off when removing it. Keep the end fasteners on the panel for alignment.

3M Plastic & Trim adhesive will make a permanent repair. Works on rub strips too.

Glue it all the way around the outside, so that water does not get under it.

Good deal, thank you so much for the advice. I'm due to get the wood re-wrapped soon, I'll see about doing it then.

Great forum, very helpful folks here. Thanks again.

So...the thing flew off the other day. FML. I was going to fix it that week too. I got a new panel already from BuickNut. That dude is legit.

So to install it, I'll just need to clean off all the old dried up RTV, make sure the holes are open for alignment and apply windshield adhesive to the edge and clamp it on? I'd use masking tape to make sure any excessive adhesive doesn't go where it's not supposed to. Does this sound like a good method?

Thank you!

It is not RTV, it is butyl. The top and bottom fasteners align the part.

Keep the wedges that are toward the bottom.

Make sure that water does not leak in the square holes.

Use the prep for the urethane on both parts before applying the urethane.

The tape is a really good idea.