[ckunkel]

My sliding door panel is starting to fall off.  The black rectangular sliders that the door clips slide onto have started to come off the door panel and are now connected to the sliding door.  The only thing that is really holding my panel in place is some duct tape and the two screws.  I am curious if anyone has had this problem and how they were able to fix it?  I have ordered new clips in thought that i would remove panel, and reinstall the clips onto the panel it self and then install panel with the clips on into their slots in the door itself.  Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

[Suthernvanman]

I've got some kind of issue with my sliding door lock - I can hear the actuator firing but seems like there is something jamming the connecting rod - or it's come loose.  Been surfing www this morning to see if others had experience with this. 

During the readings I came across a post similar to yours - apparently there are some black rubber pieces that loose adhesion to the trim panel and at least folks have had a difficult time getting them stuck back on.  One fix was simple addition of screws straight into door.

Looks like I'm going into my door (if it stops raining!) shortly so may end up in the same place as you.

[Suthernvanman]

I ended up addressing my sliding door locking issue by doing the opposite of taking off  the panel - just pressed it firmly on (seemed to have come a bit loose at the top front corner) and working as it should.

Didn't get any experience to share in popping panel off....

[Suthernvanman]

So I had posted up something in an old Samba thread - trying to see if anyone else had similar sliding door lock issues.  The ninth post has a guy who seems to have fixed similar issue with JB Weld.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=584881

[Suthernvanman]

Yep - lose panel definitely binds the locking mechanism on the sliding door.  Funny how such a small movement in the panel - 1/8" to 1/4" AWAY from the door in the top left corner (next to the manual lock) impacts this.

My panel keeps peeling away and I keep pressing it back.  I don't really want this to become the norm for securing the van and would love a less invasive fix than panel removal (based on what I've read you end up with a bunch of hard to adhere rubber bits and blah.  Not that it can't be done, just have enough other things to do right now.

So - I've been thinking of either:

Industrial strength velcro (but concerned with thickness - I might get everything set up and not have clearance behind the panel to do more than hold it 'out of place' thereby binding the lock.)

or

Pinning it with very small screw but lots of risk if I do this blind.

Anyone have a good picture of panel off sliding door they could share?  Bentley drawing turns to blur when zoom zoom.

[Farther]

3M automotive double faced tape might be an option too.

[sfcameraman]

I took my panel off about two years ago and haven't put it back together. A bunch of the plastic clips had pulled off, leading to the binding lock pull. I got tired of it and just took the damn thing off. It is ugly, I need to get a permanent fix. Previous owner had tried a sheet metal screw, but that didn't hold.

Industrial velcro sounds like a good option... and I have some. I might try that.

[Suthernvanman]

Well - I'm still tinkering with mine.  Not sure why this piece is so finicky. 

I found industrial velcro too thick - it set the panel into bind mode.

I tried Scotch automotive tape but found the adhesive lacking adhesion.

Now working Scotch VHB with decent interim results.  I doubled it up for some thickness but might add third layer in hopes of more 'permanent' fix.  As is it will release every few days so I still need to give it more attention than it deserves.

Given good initial results though -  I'm thinking I will expand thickness and also footprint with VHB to call it done.  Pretty sure I can do this without popping the panel and as I've only got maybe 2" of tape now a multiple should take care of things.

If you try the Scotch tape stay away from the gray - lots of lackluster review & my experience agrees.  Use the black version - this holds my gopro on moto at 125mph - sticky.

http://www.amazon.com/3M-Scotch-5952-VHB-Tape/dp/B01BU7038A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462844489&sr=8-1&keywords=scotch+vhb+tape

[ckunkel]

I saw that thread in samba about the JB Weld and am going to give it a try this weekend and will update on the results.  Thanks for the input all.  Update coming soon with pictures of before and after too.

[Suthernvanman]

I saw that thread in samba about the JB Weld and am going to give it a try this weekend and will update on the results.  Thanks for the input all.  Update coming soon with pictures of before and after too.

Any luck?

[Suthernvanman]

Hey,

I finally pinned mine this afternoon.

I used a 1" #8 sheet metal screw with about 1/8" shimming. I'll come back and tidy up the look with some gray rattle can like I did on my bin lids.

[ckunkel]

I finally was able to get the correct clips and they worked like a charm.  The jbweld works great with a day of curing.  Ensure you get original parts that match the part number and not the knock of clips from ebay that say they will work but they actually dont.  Once i got the original clips the panel popped on with ease.  The part number is below for the clips that work:

AUDI VOLKSWAGEN GENUINE OEM ORIGINAL 823867299 Interior Door Retainer Clips x25

[Phaeton]

I finally was able to get the correct clips and they worked like a charm.  The jbweld works great with a day of curing.  Ensure you get original parts that match the part number and not the knock of clips from ebay that say they will work but they actually dont.  Once i got the original clips the panel popped on with ease.  The part number is below for the clips that work:

AUDI VOLKSWAGEN GENUINE OEM ORIGINAL 823867299 Interior Door Retainer Clips x25

Thanks, I'm about to give this a shot.