TheSamba.com :: View topic - Front Door Panel Clips keep falling off !!! any better ones ????

Thu Nov 03, 2016 4:04 am

My from door panel clips keep falling off !!! After 3 years i am getting tired of constantly pushing back on....I purchased these clips from Wolfsburg West....Does anyone make a longer, better clip?
here is a picture
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1571918.jpg

Thu Nov 03, 2016 7:27 am

The repros are very very slightly different from the originals. The ogs don't tend to come out like that. However, unless you have a good pile of originals, you buy the repro clips.
The type 3 clips are around NOS sometimes, but they are not good on a split bus.

One tip I heard was to pull the two opposite arms apart slightly.
That helped on my 66 kombi. :D

Thu Nov 03, 2016 9:11 am

I bought some of the WW repro clips and they did not stay on well. I tried to spread the 2 arms on each side but that did not help. They were also more prone to bending if they are not inserted perfectly straight.
I did call WW to let them know and they told me that I was the first person to complain.

Thu Nov 03, 2016 10:03 am

OB Bus wrote: I bought some of the WW repro clips and they did not stay on well. I tried to spread the 2 arms on each side but that did not help. They were also more prone to bending if they are not inserted perfectly straight.
I did call WW to let them know and they told me that I was the first person to complain.

I doubt you were the first :lol: The repops are known to not secure the same as OG. Even through into Bays with plastic ones. OG s the best.

Track yourself down a couple og ones. :wink:

Thu Nov 03, 2016 10:04 am

I used them and had almost no trouble at all. There were inevitably a few that were messed up, but needle nose pliers fixed them. I did have to persuade a few with a rubber mallet to get them seated, but it wasn't very many and they didn't need much persuasion.

Thu Nov 03, 2016 11:09 am

I also was having problems too. But my problem was with me not clips.
On my 65' ezcamper had a bunch of holes drilled into doors and so what I did was drill holes out as I went then shortly after I starting having problems with clips popping out. What I learned was when I drilled as I went the back side of door cards left some material which caused clip not to fully seat. After taking cards off and cleaning back side of all holes drilled, clips worked fine as far as I know. traded camper shortly after this fix.

Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:36 am

The shoulder area on the repro is a tad shorter than og.
Like Earl said, if you drill holes in your door panel and there is fluff on the backside, that can make it it too thick for the clip to hold into the door.

But if the material of the door panel is too thick, especially an upholstered door panel with the thickness of the vinyl on the front and on the back, then it can be hard to hold.
I thin the back of the snap hole panels I make, FWIW.

So, first spread the opposite clip arms.
IIRC, the TMI panels were not pre-drilled, so look at the back of the panel for fluff from drilling, and clean any off with a razor blade.
If after that it does not hold, you may want to trim the vinyl on the back of the panel as well, around the clip hole.

FWIW, the repro vinyl is thicker than the og. Then you add two layers of that and use a clip with a hair shorter shoulder, and some fine tuning may be needed. Hey, maybe there is an added screw hole that has bumps pushing the panel away from the door slightly, and add that in the mix.
x2 on rubber mallet being useful.
Here is the OP's picture

Sat Nov 05, 2016 9:50 am

Super thank you all for your kind replay

Sat Nov 05, 2016 1:12 pm

If you don't mind black plastic, O'Reilly auto parts sell them. They have lots of flutes that are wider than the hole so they hold (used them on my '67 panel and never had them come loose). Takes 2 bags to do both doors.

Sat Nov 05, 2016 4:02 pm

buy the "eom" ones from CIP1 there awesome, and they actually work!

Mon Nov 07, 2016 10:31 am

Most of the time its because the new panels are thicker than the originals.

Thu May 11, 2017 10:31 am

Does any one know if the Wolfsburg West clips are still the same not-holding-well ones.

[email protected] wrote: buy the "eom" ones from CIP1 there awesome, and they actually work!
Link? Are they stainless or dull?

Thu May 11, 2017 11:24 am

BarryL wrote: Does any one know if the Wolfsburg West clips are still the same not-holding-well ones.

[email protected] wrote: buy the "eom" ones from CIP1 there awesome, and they actually work!
Link? Are they stainless or dull?

http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=VWC%2D211%2D867%2D615%2DA30

Sun May 14, 2017 6:08 pm

The aftermarket panel clips falling out in thicker panels is most likely. I found some NOS ones in my stash compared to the aftermarket Wolfsburg West version. OG on the left.

The silver WW ones may work in, say, Clara's hardboard panels (especially as she thins the panels in crucial areas). You can see how they wouldn't go deep enough to spread their wings in thick padded, or folded over edged materials. I can't speak for the OEM http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=VWC%2D211%2D867%2D615%2DA30 ones but they look the same as the NOS size if you click on the "larger" or hover over the picture. What you get delivered may be different. Anyone have any they got from cip1 recently?

Tue Sep 08, 2020 12:49 am

I just received the TMI panels from WW (deluxe) with their clips and there is NO WAY they are going in.

Just ordered the CIP clips...we'll see if they are different. Both CIP and WW say German and use the same P/N, but the photo on CIP does look like they're longer.

Super frustrating. Marathon session till 1am on a work night (mostly installing deluxe panel trim) and go to do the "EASY" part and nothing.

I'll report back.

Thanks,
Ben

Fri Sep 11, 2020 9:55 pm

Benfalia wrote: I just received the TMI panels from WW (deluxe) with their clips and there is NO WAY they are going in.

Just ordered the CIP clips...we'll see if they are different. Both CIP and WW say German and use the same P/N, but the photo on CIP does look like they're longer.

Super frustrating. Marathon session till 1am on a work night (mostly installing deluxe panel trim) and go to do the "EASY" part and nothing.

I'll report back.

Thanks,
Ben

I am currently facing the same problem. Please let us know.

Sat Sep 12, 2020 12:01 am

Well this picture pretty well shows the whole problem.
Thanks for posting that!

Sat Sep 12, 2020 11:13 am

I received a bag of clips from CIP. They have a slightly different bend geometry, but are basically the same length. The working dimension actually looks to be even less than WW.

Neither will work with TMI Deluxe Panels with the piping at the top. I tried pushing them in by hand, with a mandrel, etc. They either don't catch at all, or just barely catch and release VERY easily. If you are using the little rubber bushings that CIP sells, it would make it even more impossible.

However, I did notice that the spring clips, of course, are not connected at the top of the button. If I can't get it to clip in, I've been bending with a needle-nose. The one I've shown below is pretty extreme. With this mod, you can audibly here them actually click in.

The downside is that they will be much more difficult to pull out if you have to remove the panel. But I'll cross that bridge when I need to remove it (hopefully not anytime soon).

It also helps to clearance out the vinyl on the backside, but really just to make sure the vinyl doesn't cover the clip and prevent it from flexing/catching. It doesn't really get you anything in terms of reduced panel thickness or compression to use the clip without modification.

I wish there was a clip just a bit longer, it wouldn't take much.

Maybe others have had better luck than I had, but this will get me all paneled up for now. Hope it helps some!

Ben

Sat Sep 12, 2020 8:16 pm

i think this is part of your problem:

Neither will work with TMI Deluxe Panels with the piping at the top.

i think the front door panels are not supposed to have piping at the top. I understand that people like it, but it does make the job more difficult

Sat Sep 12, 2020 8:30 pm

mandraks wrote: i think the front door panels are not supposed to have piping at the top.

Correct, no piping on front door panels