I recently had to take apart a door on my Tracker for a minor repair and found that the vapor barrier was in shreds. Driving around without the barrier can let moisture get into the door panel and lets a significant amount of noise into the car. Finding plastic was easy but the tar-like material used to hold it in place wasn?t. I tried O?Reillys and Autozone without success. I understand butyl tape is sometimes used for this, but I couldn't find any.
I was at the hardware store on another matter and ran across Duct Seal in the electrical department. It is sold in one pound blocks for around $3 and seems to be a perfect replacement. It is designed to seal out moisture and air, sticks to steel and plastic, is non-hardening, non-toxic and similar in consistency to Play-Doh.
Once I removed the old vapor barrier, I pinched off chunks of the stuff, rolled it between my palms, stretched it out into long strings and mashed it into place. It was very simple to work with and the job went quickly.
I used 3 mil plastic drop cloth. A 9x12 foot sheet cost around $3.50.
The fix really helped reduce air noise in the Tracker, especially when on the highway. It may not be a concourse quality job, but it was simple and effective... and hidden behind the door panel.
Here's some project pics:
Gardner Bender DS-110 Duct Seal, purchased at Lowes
Removed the old vapor seal, but left some of the sealing material that was still firmly attached
After rolling and stretching the Duct Seal, I mashed it into place
I rough cut the plastic and pushed it onto the seal at the corners, traced out what I needed, pulled it off and trimmed it to fit
The finished product. I only used about 2-3 ounces of the 1 lb. block of duct seal and 2'x3' of the drop cloth, so could easily do several other doors. Total cost was less than $7.
I was at the hardware store on another matter and ran across Duct Seal in the electrical department. It is sold in one pound blocks for around $3 and seems to be a perfect replacement. It is designed to seal out moisture and air, sticks to steel and plastic, is non-hardening, non-toxic and similar in consistency to Play-Doh.
Once I removed the old vapor barrier, I pinched off chunks of the stuff, rolled it between my palms, stretched it out into long strings and mashed it into place. It was very simple to work with and the job went quickly.
I used 3 mil plastic drop cloth. A 9x12 foot sheet cost around $3.50.
The fix really helped reduce air noise in the Tracker, especially when on the highway. It may not be a concourse quality job, but it was simple and effective... and hidden behind the door panel.
Here's some project pics:
Gardner Bender DS-110 Duct Seal, purchased at Lowes
Removed the old vapor seal, but left some of the sealing material that was still firmly attached
After rolling and stretching the Duct Seal, I mashed it into place
I rough cut the plastic and pushed it onto the seal at the corners, traced out what I needed, pulled it off and trimmed it to fit
The finished product. I only used about 2-3 ounces of the 1 lb. block of duct seal and 2'x3' of the drop cloth, so could easily do several other doors. Total cost was less than $7.
![[thumbsup]](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f44d.png "Thumbs up [thumbsup]")
Another thought on the adhering stuff....you could use some sort of caulk. I'll bet that they make some that is similar to the black stuff from the factory. [idea]
