ltoolio

I'm currently doing a hatch interior refresh, and upon pulling the hatch trim I discovered the PPO used some non-optimal methods to hold the rear-defrost wires to the frame.

For reasons I don't completely understand, he globbed on some black caulk and used duct tape to hold the cables down and in place. Given that doesn't allow for easy movement in the case of future work, I wanted to do something that would make it easier to work with should I ever take the trim off again

Solution - velcro stips, some strong adhesive and some strong magnets and I've got something I can release and reclose as needed.

I'll end up trimming the ends a bit so I don't have so much slack, but as a guy who really hates wires (I hate spaghetti messes!), I think I've got something that cleans things up a bit

davek9

I think the wires for that just clip into the hatch trim, don't see a need to have them readily removable.
The less I'm in there the better
The mags should work, better than drilling holes or tape

ltoolio

You may very well be right about them going into the trim, but given the state of it (a bit beat up) and the fact that the PPO had tried to glue/caulk/goop them in, I thought I'd try to clean it up a wee bit.

And the mags are just temporary while the adhesive dries. They'll be out of there when the trim goes back up.

Alan

Goopy stuff is used sometimes to quieten down wiring that wants to vibrate/rattle between point to point fastenings as the body panels experience either transient motions (bumps in the road) or resonant frequency oscillations, due to road surface textures or engine/drivetrain vibrations.

Wiring rattles are common in the roof areas or other areas where wiring is ~horizontal & loosely secured over longer spans...

Alan

ltoolio

That makes sense for the goop. ..there was some lines of caulk floating around as well which really wasn't doing much.

Any goop recommendations for when I get back in there?

Rob Edwards

3M strip caulk (?)