[s-cars] Light/Sunroof control Pannel dropping

[Bob Rossato]

I'm going through this right now myself, for the second time.  I had
repaired one side a year ago using a high peel strength aerospace adhesive I
have access to (Hysol EA 9360) and it worked like a charm.  Unfortunately
now the other side has bust.  I had placed some adhesive on the good side as
a preventative measure, but before applying the adhesive I foolishly
neglected to remove all the paint surrounding the metal spring clip, like I
had on the other side, not to mention that with the clip in place it doesn't
leave you much access to prepare the surface.

Sure enough, once the original plastic studs holding the clip in broke, the
adhesive was only sticking to the paint and it peeled right off with the
clip.  Now I have to dremel that stuff off the clip while trying not to
damage the clip too much.  The other side, which was done properly, is still
holding strong.  I even tried to pry it off and it's not budging.

So, use a strong epoxy adhesive (peel strength is key) but more importantly
make sure you do a good job of surface preparation.  Rough up the area
surrounding the spring clip with some sand paper.   This will remove all the
paint, and all the scratches from the sand paper will provide a lot more
surface area for the adhesive to grab on to.  You want an irregular surface,
not a polished one.  Though don't sand off the stubs remaining from the
original plastic pins that the were holding the clip in.  Use those as
locating guides to properly place the clip when you bond it back on.

And even though you probably only have one side that's broken I would
recommend breaking the other side off now and bonding it back on the same
way otherwise you'll be back.  By doing this you get the opportunity to
rough up the area everywhere around the clip, which can't be done with it in
place, and allows you to end up with a some adhesive on the underside of the
clip (all you need is a thin film) as well to fully encapsulate it.

Bob

> -----Original Message-----
> From: s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com
> [mailto:s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com]On Behalf Of ELLIEOLSEN at aol.com
> Sent: Monday, April 19, 2004 10:04 PM
> To: s-car-list at audifans.com
> Subject: [s-cars] Light/Sunroof control Pannel dropping
>
>
> Hi Guys,
>
> One of the dodads(clips in front) on the panel for my sun roof
> control the interior light has come off and I am having trouble
> superglueing it back on...Does anyone have a workable solution or
> a line on the proper adhesive any suggestion would be helpful.
>
> Thank You,
>
> Shawn Olsen
> 95 S6 MTM
> 91 200q20v avant
> 96 A4 2.8q