XSeries-forum

Having noticed a tiny bit of water in the rear footwell following a heavy down poor a few weeks ago I had a feeling I needed a new door membrane. A common fault (and design flaw IMHO) on many modern cars is the membrane gets damaged during a repair of something else in a door and the result is it allows the water running through the door to enter the car instead of running out the bottom of the door as it should.

So at the weekend I followed this youtube video about removing the door card, which was very easy and is well detailed in the video, the only difference on mine being a screw behind the airbag logo on the door panel. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y25x6gIIgPE

I had already bought two bags of new door panel clips and a new door membrane panel from the stealers for about £40 so was all set. I also bought a roll of "pond liner" tape from the local aquatics centre. This is basically a roll of incredibly sticky mastik which is much better for sticking the door membrane on, rather than messy sealer and is completely water tight which is whats required.

On removing the door card this is what I found. The bottom of the membrane had been torn, probably when something like a window regulator was replaced.



So I removed the air bag (three 10mm head bolts) and unplugged it, then removed the old membrane, which came off too easily for my liking.
I then warmed up the whole door panel before running a continuous strip of the "pond liner" tape round the indent in the door which marks out the membrane position.
I then carefully fitted the new membrane being careful to route the wires and the door latch cable through in the right pre-cut holes.
The pond liner tape stuck it absolutely fast, so you had to get it right first time, but it will certainly not leak now!!



Happy with the job, the re-fitting of the air bag and the door card was the reverse of removal. I replaced every clip on the door card just to make sure it mounted securely.

Sorry I didn't get any more pics, but the video above covers the trickiest bits.

Had a very very heavy rainfall last night as a perfect test and sure enough everything was dry as a bone this morning

Jay

Thanks Jay, just what I was looking for, got a wet floor and the rear door ashtray is full of water aswell, only when raining heavy, as it is now. How much for the membrane?

From memory it was £30 odd, not bank breaking

Jay

Cheers fella.

[quote=""g60renshaw""]Having noticed a tiny bit of water in the rear footwell following a heavy down poor a few weeks ago I had a feeling I needed a new door membrane. A common fault (and design flaw IMHO) on many modern cars is the membrane gets damaged during a repair of something else in a door and the result is it allows the water running through the door to enter the car instead of running out the bottom of the door as it should.

So at the weekend I followed this youtube video about removing the door card, which was very easy and is well detailed in the video, the only difference on mine being a screw behind the airbag logo on the door panel. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y25x6gIIgPE

I had already bought two bags of new door panel clips and a new door membrane panel from the stealers for about £40 so was all set. I also bought a roll of "pond liner" tape from the local aquatics centre. This is basically a roll of incredibly sticky mastik which is much better for sticking the door membrane on, rather than messy sealer and is completely water tight which is whats required.

On removing the door card this is what I found. The bottom of the membrane had been torn, probably when something like a window regulator was replaced.



So I removed the air bag (three 10mm head bolts) and unplugged it, then removed the old membrane, which came off too easily for my liking.
I then warmed up the whole door panel before running a continuous strip of the "pond liner" tape round the indent in the door which marks out the membrane position.
I then carefully fitted the new membrane being careful to route the wires and the door latch cable through in the right pre-cut holes.
The pond liner tape stuck it absolutely fast, so you had to get it right first time, but it will certainly not leak now!!



Happy with the job, the re-fitting of the air bag and the door card was the reverse of removal. I replaced every clip on the door card just to make sure it mounted securely.

Sorry I didn't get any more pics, but the video above covers the trickiest bits.

Had a very very heavy rainfall last night as a perfect test and sure enough everything was dry as a bone this morning

Jay[/quote]


thanks for sharing, don't hve this problem but surely very helpful. and will keep that in mind!

cheers

j