Boot seal upper

[birdy_z4]

Doing some maintenance

Should the rear upper seal on the boot have gaps as per the pictures

Previous owners have at some point silicone the seal but it has started peeling off

[clarker63]

No, there should be no gaps!

This is a common fault. the seal underneath becomes brittle and water comes through and drips into the boot around the sides. I took off the whole seal and redid it with flexible sealant. it can be very expensive if it drops onto your electrics on the right hand side of the boot.

plenty of issues around this on the forum, for example:

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=125536&hilit=seal

[flybobbie]

Underneath is some grey/white non drying mastic on my car. Looks like a bodge job, but probably only material that will stick.
Sure diy can do better, need to use some black drain pipe mastic, not sure if silicone will stay stuck to the plastic, plastics used are oily.

[birdy_z4]

Thanks all for the tips and advise. Previous owners looked to of sealed it inside at some point as there is an obvious blobs of some kind of stuff visible

[javis20]

What solvent can be used to remove the original gray adhesive?

[warmasice]

Try this butyl sealing tape. It's flexible (you can easily flatten it down), sticky and adheres to pretty much anything. Gutter sealant is made from the same stuff.

Just make sure the area is clean and dust-free:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08NP4YW4D

[clarker63]

What solvent can be used to remove the original gray adhesive?

mine just cracked off if I remember...