second skin insulator not sticking?

[richtersand]

Hi all, I'm following EdwardB's lead and using second skin damplifier pro as the insulator in the cockpit. I went to stick on my first panel today and it didn't stick at all. I am wondering if it's something with the cleaning wipe I used (Tub O' Towels heavy duty cleaning wipes) or if it's the powder coated panels.

Anyone else have issues with this? I have a ton of DAP Weldwood contact adhesive left over from the dash. Should I use this?

Thanks in advance!

[edwardb]

Sorry to hear you're having trouble. That's a premium product and normally grabs and sticks like crazy. I've used it on a couple builds and have just the opposite problem. Sometimes not easy to position because it's so aggressively sticky. Clean powder coat certainly isn't an issue. Have done that lots of times. Probably one of the more ideal surfaces. Don't have any experience with the Tub O' Towels product. But maybe leaving some type of residue? Maybe switch to a product that is known to evaporate? Like isopropyl alcohol? Also some chance I guess the Damplifier Pro product you received is defective. When you pull the backing off, is the adhesive surface shiny and aggressively sticky to the touch? No way should it be necessary to use additional contact cement. Something just isn't right. Good luck.

[ggunter]

Tub o Towels will leave a soap film. The panels must be rinsed or wiped down with water. Then Alcohol like Edwardb said would leave you a squeaky clean surface.

[Jeff Kleiner]

Tub o Towels will leave a soap film. The panels must be rinsed or wiped down with water. Then Alcohol like Edwardb said would leave you a squeaky clean surface.

Yep. Alcohol, acetone or wax & grease remover.

Jeff

[OSU Cowboy]

I used the Second Skin product in my MK3.1 build. I used two products. My understanding is that Damplifier Pro is intended more as vibration / sound elimination than it is a heat insulator - although I'd imagine that the shiny metal layer on top would serve as a heat insulator to some extent. I put that on first - very tacky and adhered really really well. Over the top of that, I added what was a very heavy closed cell dense foam product that is dark grey in color. The glue-down side is sort of spongy, and the outer layer that the carpet is adhered to is sort of stiff and rigid. I forget the name of it, but got it from Second Skin as well. This is the heat insulation layer. I did use an adhesive with this material as unlike the Damplifier it did not have it's own sticky adhesive applied to it. I did pretty much the entire cockpit with this focused on the footbox and firewall areas but also on the floor. With nearly 14,000 miles on the car now - I can confirm that the combination of these two materials has worked extremely well.

[richtersand]

Thanks all. I can't get it to stick, despite trying acetone and alcohol. It's a little better, but still unsticks relatively easily. I am having a guy in LA put in upgraded carpets for me, so I'm going to cut all of the patterns and have him do the final stick-in. Appreciate all of the input though.