Bay Window Bus Door Seal Installation Tips
Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2018 8:10 am
The "DNA" of replacement parts is getting more and more erroneous.
The high-quality door seals I have run across have different dimensions from example to example, I do not know how or why this is unless there are different manufacturers of the same part.
There are a few important aspects to improving your chances for a successful door seal installation that does not beat up your poor door latch:
a) it is critical to clean all old adhesive from the channels, down to the paint. This is laborious, and can damage the paint if you get too aggressive.
b) the seal must be fully seated evenly around the perimeter of the door. If you see any wavy edges, go back and checking seating as well as deviations in the "stretch" which should actually be bunched. I stretch the seal just at the insertion point, then stuff it hard towards the already installed portion, this is to make sure you don't have "excess" at the corners. If you insert consistently, bunch evenly, no waves, nice corners, then ...
c) the bottom corners can be a bitch, but you have to get this right. The front lower corner has a nice curved ramp and the seal is going to want to slip up around the corner due to tension. No! No! You get your adhesive nice and tacky, really, let it almost dry on the door and the seal, then apply a light "re-activation layer" of adhesive to the seal itself, let it get slightly tacky and install seal so it is absolutely seated on the very most outside perimeter of the corner fully seated in the groove. Hold it here. This edge likes to creep up around the curve, so once you have a seat, shut the door for a few hours. If this surface is not fully seated (at the door stay especially), you will have a ridiculous springiness as the door attempts to shut.
d) the door stay has a problematic rectangular opening. You look at the seal and think, "isn't that a nice touch? little barbs to hold it in the opening." Ah no. One of the sides of the rectangular opening has this maddening refusal to allow the barb to catch. Then the seal buckles and bunches here. Forget pretty, just get the seal to lay flat. Note that this entire run from the bottom corner up to the a-pillar, is the only part of the seal that has a compression 90* off from the rest of the seal. Every other part of the seal is pressed towards the door itself. The front run is pressed towards the rear of the car. Make a note, the seal must be seated as fully as possible along the front edge of the door pressing towards the rear of the car when the door is shut. If this surface is not fully seated (at the door stay especially), you will have a ridiculous springiness as the door attempts to shut.
e) By all means relax the door striker during seal seat-in. The factory adjustment for almost all German vehicles of this vintage suggested a 1/2mm protrusion of the trailing edge of the door panel and a 1/2mm indentation at the leading edge (this to reduce wind noise).
Colin
The high-quality door seals I have run across have different dimensions from example to example, I do not know how or why this is unless there are different manufacturers of the same part.
There are a few important aspects to improving your chances for a successful door seal installation that does not beat up your poor door latch:
a) it is critical to clean all old adhesive from the channels, down to the paint. This is laborious, and can damage the paint if you get too aggressive.
b) the seal must be fully seated evenly around the perimeter of the door. If you see any wavy edges, go back and checking seating as well as deviations in the "stretch" which should actually be bunched. I stretch the seal just at the insertion point, then stuff it hard towards the already installed portion, this is to make sure you don't have "excess" at the corners. If you insert consistently, bunch evenly, no waves, nice corners, then ...
c) the bottom corners can be a bitch, but you have to get this right. The front lower corner has a nice curved ramp and the seal is going to want to slip up around the corner due to tension. No! No! You get your adhesive nice and tacky, really, let it almost dry on the door and the seal, then apply a light "re-activation layer" of adhesive to the seal itself, let it get slightly tacky and install seal so it is absolutely seated on the very most outside perimeter of the corner fully seated in the groove. Hold it here. This edge likes to creep up around the curve, so once you have a seat, shut the door for a few hours. If this surface is not fully seated (at the door stay especially), you will have a ridiculous springiness as the door attempts to shut.
d) the door stay has a problematic rectangular opening. You look at the seal and think, "isn't that a nice touch? little barbs to hold it in the opening." Ah no. One of the sides of the rectangular opening has this maddening refusal to allow the barb to catch. Then the seal buckles and bunches here. Forget pretty, just get the seal to lay flat. Note that this entire run from the bottom corner up to the a-pillar, is the only part of the seal that has a compression 90* off from the rest of the seal. Every other part of the seal is pressed towards the door itself. The front run is pressed towards the rear of the car. Make a note, the seal must be seated as fully as possible along the front edge of the door pressing towards the rear of the car when the door is shut. If this surface is not fully seated (at the door stay especially), you will have a ridiculous springiness as the door attempts to shut.
e) By all means relax the door striker during seal seat-in. The factory adjustment for almost all German vehicles of this vintage suggested a 1/2mm protrusion of the trailing edge of the door panel and a 1/2mm indentation at the leading edge (this to reduce wind noise).
Colin