I replaced the door weatherstrips on my driver's side today. They're made by Metro. I think they fit terribly. Take a look at the two pics. As you can see the new weatherstrip doesnt line up with the glass at all. Plus I had to stretch it for the holes to line up, so its not sitting in a relaxed position. As a comparison, I took a pic of the dried up original weatherstrips on the passenger side. Notice how the cut out for the glass lines up perfectly with the window. Did I do something wrong here? I dont think so. These things are pretty cut and dry as far as installation. Anyone have better luck with this crap? This is the second time I'm dissatisfied with Metro. Should I have bought the A&M Soffseal brand i instead?
Jason, I've used A&M Softseal on several GS's and have always been satisfied with the quality and fit. I've heard good comments about Steele products also. Larry
Soff-Seal....ALWAYS! Had the same prob w/Metro....junk. Also, use some 0000 steel wool to clean the edge of your door glass....looks like it has some primer/paint on it.
Figures...whay cant they just make stuff right?? And every parts place is pushing Metro. Knowing some of these companies, there's probably a bigger profit margin. No one seems to carry A&M. George- Im glad some Im not the only one thats had this problem. I feel like going out in the garage and rippping that crap off my car. Just for giggles, I emailed Metro with the same two pictures attached to see if they can explain themselves. Its so frustrating to try and work with repro parts. Going to a big swap meet tomorrow morning. Hopefully I can pick up a set of A&M's
Different car but I was happy with the metro seal I got for the hatch of my Fiebird from advanced auto/partsamerica.com.
Can anyone snap a similar pic of their Soffseal door strips for me? ray: I just want to see the difference for my own sanity
Well today I scored a set of what I think are Soffseal door weatherstrips. They are packaged under the Goodmark label, but the vendor assured me they were Soffseal. I opened the pakage and saw "SOFFSEAL" molded into the rubber. I have no say these fit better but no cigar. The window is somewhat centered in the rubber now, but these are thin, and the holes for the pins arent exactly in the right place, so the molding buckles a little as you can see in the pic. There really is no comparison between these and OE. The originals have wire and metal spines in the ends, these dont. The Soffseal moldings as well as the Metro dont cover what the original moldings cover. In fact with the Soffseals, there's a small cut out in the end in the lower right hand corner that exposes a small piece of the hole. :spank: This sucks. I wish I could find a set of NOS ones.
What your probably gonna find out is most folks making them were only concerned about them sealing right, and not looks. So unless you got wind whistling through your doors, they might not care to much when you complain about the looks of the final fit.
They really dont seal right though. The Metro set is molded wrong. It doesnt match up to the glass at all. The A&M leaves a small portion of the hole exposed in the door. Plus in order to get the thing to lay flat, I'm going to have to glue it down. The "it looks like sh*t, but it works" mindset that these companies have isnt going to fly with me. A reproduction should be just that, a reproduction of the original. Im going to return both and try and find a pair of good used originals. Im also going to email A&M and make sure I didnt receive a Soffseal knock off
I tried both and they both have issues but overall I liked the Metros best. The Steeles I got were re-packaged overpriced Metros, I wound up sending them back.
I should have bought NOS when They were still availalbe 10 years ago but they were damn expensive about $150 a piece. Does not seem that much now. I did buy the NOS roof rail rubber as the repro soff seal would not allow power windows to even shut and they leaked liek crazy. Not sure what other power window owners do? I am sweating bullets thinking about taking them out without destroying them
So I emailed Soffseal and asked them two questions- 1- Are the weatherstrips I received from Goodmark Soffseals or knock offs. 2- Why doesnt the weatherstrip leave a portion of the hole exposed? I get this blow off email response from Soffseal today- hello, part 5022 is soffseal`s number for door seals for your vehicle. this seal fits all a-bodies from 69-72. we sell this seal in great numbers. at this time we have had no problems or complaints on the size or fit of this seal. thank you, richard Typical. After reading that I can surmise that he didnt open the attached picture. And that he really doesnt give a crap about it.
Dave.....biggest problem with pw installation....you have to readjust all stops and guides. I have done many PW installations w/Soff Seal w-strip and never had a problem. You can not just swap out the manual reg and install the pw reg w/o making adjustments.
Jason you are scaring me while I think about putting mine back together . But window seals will probably be the least of my problems on the reassembly .
George, thanks for that info. The car was original with power windows and I did not adjust anything for the Soft seal. I replaced old originals roof rails. I used NOS after ripping out the soft seal. The NOS I got new from GM and now during the restoration will try and remove them and use again. The original stuff was latex in both areas and much softer than anything offered now. No idea why they do not make them the same? I used Soft Seal on my doors about 10 years ago and just checked them and they fit perfect to the window groove. I found the doors to be very hard to shut once installed until they settled in however.
I thought I would update the thread- As it turned out, the Soffseal weatherstrips I bought were defective. The drivers side molded end on the door lock side was cut a little short. I finally figured it out by comparing the left side to the right side. So I returned them. After finding out that NOS door seals are prohibitively expensive, I deceided to buy another set of Soffseals from another vendor. This set fits better so I'll have to live with it. Nothing fits like the original stuff...but I digress So now, since the drivers door had green paint under the old strips, I had to shoot the jamb. Otherwise, you'll see green paint. Door jamb is now repainted. Dave- Thanks for the tip on the AMK door plugs:beers2: They should be here by the weekend. I like how they specify that its made from the correct material. Dont these other companies know that the hard plastic ones are wrong? :spank: I also ordered the correct panel clips I have a couple odds and ends I still need to aquire. One os a set of the door springs that go under the window cranks to push the panel out. Another is a replacement watershield. It was missing. Does anyone make the correct style watershields? Its amazing how one little job snowballs into a big mess! ou:
The handle springs you can get at our local chevelle suppliers. The original type watershields - Year One was carrying them for about $30. The new mylar ones are a better alternative if original isn't an issue being that you are using substandard weatherstripping aftermarket crap on the car already:moonu:
