E36 interior woes

[pappas928]

My coupe’s rear interior panels fell apart today. I tried gluing them together with some two stage epoxy, but that failed miserably. Is there any way to repair these, or should I try to find new ones?

My front door cards aren’t far behind, so any info is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[Mike0032]

Try black RTV sealant. Provides more flex that a rock solid epoxy.

[Braymond141]

Try black RTV sealant. Provides more flex that a rock solid epoxy.

Exactly this. Epoxy will always fail for parts like this. Applies to the front door panel as well.

[pappas928]

Awesome. Thanks guys!

[BMWManiac]

I've had great success with the 3M window weld...same stuff they use to put your windshield in place

[h82crash]

The windshield weld seems awesome. I think the epoxy might have worked but you need good contact during curing.

[Braymond141]

The windshield weld seems awesome. I think the epoxy might have worked but you need good contact during curing.

Rigid epoxies do not work for stuff like this. The adhesive must have flex.

[BMWManiac]

I'm glad I found this again because my door panels are off and it is time to try this again.

Previously, I did try the window weld. I don't know what happened but not only did it not work, but I could pull up the line I did and it was just rubber. Yes, I use clamps. The dried WW was flat... I also tried the loctite liquid nails. It definitely had some grip in some areas, but not in others...not sure what happened but I did use clamps again, as always.

I saw the black RTV sealant at Autozone and I thought that was the stuff I'd seen previously recommended, but I wasn't 100% sure. Will now go back and give it a try. I will clean, sand both the panel and plastics again!


As a follow up, I've been cleaning my panels and the window weld seems to be fine attaching to the panel itself, and to itself....the bond fails with adhering to the plastics. Should I just cover it entirely so I don't see any more plastic?

Follow up #2: I used the clear silicone adhesive RTV and so far, looks like this is a pretty permanent solution. I purchased the Turtle Labs rail to replace my broken plastic rail and to be honest, I didn't even use any adhesive to mount it. There is no noticeable gap and with the screws and white push pins all in place, I don't see that panel going anywhere. Mount the turtlelabs rail onto the car and then mount the panel on....looks great!

[OmairK]

So I went through this entire process and ended up with new panels... Let me tell you, new panels while they are still available, made the difference. Also all of my rattles are now gone! Worth every penny.