opening and closing doors with new door seals

[delorean928]

Hi, latetely I changed the rubber seal around the door frame and darn the right door is hard to open :angry_whip:
The driver side is not bad (Lucky me).
The rubber seal rubs and folds along the A-pillar. The worst is when we open the right door. We must lift hard to open :(
I even tried to swap side with the seal and it's not better.
Does anybody had issues like this?

[Michael]

New seals almost always need time to seat in and take a set. Just leave it alone for a few weeks and see if it doesn't get a little better.

[DMCMW Dave]

Apply a lot of clear silicone grease to the seals. You should only need to do this once, after they take a set they will be good.

When new they tend to "grab" the stainless and roll over.

[delorean928]

Apply a lot of clear silicone grease to the seals. You should only need to do this once, after they take a set they will be good.

When new they tend to "grab" the stainless and roll over.

Thank you again Dave for your help. I'll try to find that. Don't know where to search yet :(

Sorry I did'nt post at the right place

[LordFly]

I've been having a similar issue. When I put the new ones one, they did a little in a couple spots. And they kinda stayed that way :( I've been taping them in place to try and get them to sit properly, but it's not quite working. I keep lubing them up too. Hopefully it'll work eventually.

[delorean928]

I found a cool product made by Kleen-Flo. It's called greseless silicone lubricant and yes it solved my problem :) It's a spray can so you must take when you apply it not shoot all over the winshield trim and glass. I've put some silicone twice and it's ok at last.
Thank's

[Gary]

I found that if you put a little superglue on the back side of the rubber seal right at the crease and then roll it back it will stay.

[Rich]

Here is one kind you can use:

http://agscompany.com/product/sg-2h/

O'Reilly Auto carries it and NAPA Auto has a similar lube. I think it's pretty generic. Also good for O-rings.

Lots of OEMs recommend silicone "grease" for all of the door and trunklid seals. Annual application. I use it on my non-D cars as well as the D.


Apply a lot of clear silicone grease to the seals. You should only need to do this once, after they take a set they will be good.

When new they tend to "grab" the stainless and roll over.

[delorean928]

I found that if you put a little superglue on the back side of the rubber seal right at the crease and then roll it back it will stay.
Quite a good idea but you're not afraid it could tear where you glued it? Do you have a photo?

[PJ Grady Inc.]

Hi, latetely I changed the rubber seal around the door frame and darn the right door is hard to open :angry_whip:
The driver side is not bad (Lucky me).
The rubber seal rubs and folds along the A-pillar. The worst is when we open the right door. We must lift hard to open :(
I even tried to swap side with the seal and it's not better.
Does anybody had issues like this?

I'm sure not everyony will agree with me on this but I've found the only way to ensure new seals will last on most Deloreans is to grind and recontour the body edges to remove some of the fiberglass support lip on the body edges. This allows the seal more clearence in the troublesome areas which tend to be along the top front corners down to the windshield bottom edge and the rear corners where the door starts to curve down.
It is a somewhat complicated and messy procedure and you need some special tools and safety equipment to do it properly. I've done this procedure a few hundred times and it always works when done properly. That being said it is not for the faint of heart!
Rob Grady

[DrJeff]

I took the approach of fitting the door seal in two parts. The inner door edge is a simple U grip that replaces the stock seal. Then there is a bulb placed on the door at the contact point. The U grip cleanly follows the fiberglass edge and the bulb doesn't get pinched or deformed because it's mounted to the door.

[delorean928]

I'm sure not everyony will agree with me on this but I've found the only way to ensure new seals will last on most Deloreans is to grind and recontour the body edges to remove some of the fiberglass support lip on the body edges. This allows the seal more clearence in the troublesome areas which tend to be along the top front corners down to the windshield bottom edge and the rear corners where the door starts to curve down.
It is a somewhat complicated and messy procedure and you need some special tools and safety equipment to do it properly. I've done this procedure a few hundred times and it always works when done properly. That being said it is not for the faint of heart!
Rob Grady
Any photos of before and after your work? :)

[PJ Grady Inc.]

Any photos of before and after your work? :)

Not at the moment but it could be arranged if there is enough interest. Who wants to know? ;)

[delorean928]

Not at the moment but it could be arranged if there is enough interest. Who wants to know? ;)

I want :goatee:

[PJ Grady Inc.]

I want :goatee:

Ok I'll get right on it!!!!
Rob

[Henrik]

Not at the moment but it could be arranged if there is enough interest. Who wants to know? ;)

I do too! :wave2:

[delorean928]

Ok I'll get right on it!!!!
Rob

Cool Thank's

[alexwolf1216]

So I applied some spray silicone lubricant but all it did was get sticky on me. The link provided doesnt work, so I am wondering if there might be a different product I need to apply? I broke my door handle trying to get the door open...

[DMCMW Dave]

So I applied some spray silicone lubricant but all it did was get sticky on me. The link provided doesnt work, so I am wondering if there might be a different product I need to apply? I broke my door handle trying to get the door open...

Try a slightly heavier clear silicone grease (rather than the spray liquids), although if they are that sticky you probably need to adjust the doors or trim the fiberglass as described. With the seals greased the door should slide past them rather than folding them over at the corners. You can try taping the seals with blue masking tape to hold them in position. Leave like that for a few days or as long as possible to "train" the rubber.

[alexwolf1216]

Try a slightly heavier clear silicone grease (rather than the spray liquids), although if they are that sticky you probably need to adjust the doors or trim the fiberglass as described. With the seals greased the door should slide past them rather than folding them over at the corners. You can try taping the seals with blue masking tape to hold them in position. Leave like that for a few days or as long as possible to "train" the rubber.

When I sprayed it, the door closed fine. Got to work and the rubber is sticky, cant even get it closed all the way. I also noticed that I cant get it over the edge nearest to the sesat belt mount behind my head. It keeps slipping off.

Somehow I dont remember door seals being this challenging!

[DMCMW Dave]

When I sprayed it, the door closed fine. Got to work and the rubber is sticky, cant even get it closed all the way. I also noticed that I cant get it over the edge nearest to the sesat belt mount behind my head. It keeps slipping off.

Somehow I dont remember door seals being this challenging!

I've never had luck with the spray liquid stuff - goes away too fast.

Can you post a picture of "I cant get it over the edge nearest to the seat belt mount" as I can't visualize that. Is a chunk of fiberglass missing?

[alexwolf1216]

I've never had luck with the spray liquid stuff - goes away too fast.

Can you post a picture of "I cant get it over the edge nearest to the seat belt mount" as I can't visualize that. Is a chunk of fiberglass missing?

Yea ill walk out there now.

[alexwolf1216]

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[PJ Grady Inc.]

Hi Alex,
Winzer and Wurth both sell rubber care products that work the best for this purpose but they only sell to the trades if I'm not mistaken. We carry it so you could order it from us if you'd like to try it.
Your problems are more than a shot of lubricant will completely solve if you're breaking door handles from the binding you're having. Solving the door fit issues on such cars is a somewhat complicated process that involves grinding and recontouring the body edges where the surround seals rest on the body. It requires grinding equipment and a good quality respirator to do it safely. It also requires some real skill with a die grinder to avoid doing more harm than good and for these reasons I've decided it's best not to post a "how to" here lest some people get themselves in trouble with the procedure. After the grinding process the door strikers often need to be reshimed and adjusted to obtain the maximum benefits. All of this is best left to experienced hands.
Rob Grady




So I applied some spray silicone lubricant but all it did was get sticky on me. The link provided doesnt work, so I am wondering if there might be a different product I need to apply? I broke my door handle trying to get the door open...

[alexwolf1216]

The old seals closed beautifully. Sad face.

[DMCMW Dave]

The old seals closed beautifully. Sad face.

Probably because the part that would rub was torn away.

[alexwolf1216]

Probably because the part that would rub was torn away.

Hey, noone likes a know-it-all :hihi2:

[Jonathan]

Alex, where is your start/finish line with the door seals? Are you tying the two ends together at about where the door lights plungers are?

You might want to release the new door seal completely along the lower side from that starting/ending point back to where this spot is you are struggling with in the photo. It looks like you might not have given yourself enough slack for it to sit down on the lip of the fiberglass. To me it looks like it's getting pulled off the lip by the portion below it. Basically shift everything a small amount towards that problem area so you have a bit more seal to play with. You want there to be excess material to compress in the corners as you go around and not too little such that it needs to stretch. If there's too little, it'll pull itself away from the lip.

[alexwolf1216]

Alex, where is your start/finish line with the door seals? Are you tying the two ends together at about where the door lights plungers are?

You might want to release the new door seal completely along the lower side from that starting/ending point back to where this spot is you are struggling with in the photo. It looks like you might not have given yourself enough slack for it to sit down on the lip of the fiberglass. To me it looks like it's getting pulled off the lip by the portion below it. Basically shift everything a small amount towards that problem area so you have a bit more seal to play with. You want there to be excess material to compress in the corners as you go around and not too little such that it needs to stretch. If there's too little, it'll pull itself away from the lip.

Yes, by the plungers. It seems too thick in that one spot, but I will give it a shot. New doorhandles should be in today so I can work on it this weekend

[Jonathan]

Another quick check you can do is see that your doors open and close without interference while you have the door seal completely removed. That's often more of a check while you're doing striker pin/door alignments, but if you already have your seals off (and once your door handles are back together) give it a go and you might notice a problem area more easily. Maybe, maybe not. Simple thing to check though.

[alexwolf1216]

Another quick check you can do is see that your doors open and close without interference while you have the door seal completely removed. That's often more of a check while you're doing striker pin/door alignments, but if you already have your seals off (and once your door handles are back together) give it a go and you might notice a problem area more easily. Maybe, maybe not. Simple thing to check though.

They close great with the seals off. Dave was right, the old seal was torn at the top where it curves by the strut, also a problem spot now.

[bfloyd]

Replaced my inner door seal on the drivers side last night. Old one came off easy. New one seemed to go on easy. The existing (original) seal had 20 metal clips along the bottom door sill. The new seal from DMCH included 14 metal clips that seems WAY TOO SMALL to even fit over the edge of the door sill.

Tried to close the door and it felt like I had left a tool or something in the way... I thought I had broke the door. The new gasket keeps the door from shutting all the way. I tried some silicone spray and it seemed to help, but only if I forcefully slammed the door really hard. I'll pick up some clear silicone grease this weekend and leave it alone for a week and see what happens.

[Ryan S.]

In my case, it was the door trim for B post. After removing it, door was working correctly. Now mine even opens with wingsaloft door launcher. I plan to reshape the trim and reinstall.