Door Rubber Seals

[Ricker]

Well I'm trying to line up projects on the car for the winter and am thinking about replacing the rubber seals around the doors. Both sides leak in the top front corner and the head liner is stained. So should I try this or leave well enough alone or is it not a big deal? How is the rubber attached - friction, glue, etc.? I was told at a Delorean gathering that I should adjust were the rubber seal is connected. Can anybody elaborate? Any other pointers I should know/consider? Thanks for all the help I know that's coming!

[Jonathan]

Could you post a photo of your headliner and door seals? Maybe your headliner material is stretched too far and is wicking moisture from outside the seal to inside?

The adjustment at the corners you've heard about might be where you can sometimes need to shave/sand down a bit of the fiberglass material to get the door seal to clip all the way on. They clip on too, by the way, no glue. And you generally put the start and finish of the door seal loop together at about the spot where the door plungers are. And you can glue those two ends together if you'd like.

One trick is to see that your doors are aligned well and closing ok while the door seal is off. People doing door alignment will do this to make sure they got it right as a bulky door seal will cause the doors to clunk closed. You can lubricate the seals with a silicone grease (GM sells one in a little tube). Put some on your finger and then smear a bit on the length of the door seal all the way around to let the door slide by the seal more easily. When they rip in the corners, that's part of the reason why. Either doors not aligned well or poorly lubed seals or both.

[Rich]

Could you post a photo of your headliner and door seals? Maybe your headliner material is stretched too far and is wicking moisture from outside the seal to inside?

Good point there. Do be sure you know what is causing the leak. Am assuming the stained headliner is the fixed headliner, the one all across the car behind the windshield, not the upper door headliners.

Photos would help, as mentioned.

A. It could be bad/failed sealant at the windshield corners between the windshield and the body tub/frame.
B. More likely it is an improperly-installed headliner. Too long on the fabric underneath the seals. Not usually stretched too much but rather cut too long (they come with extra fabric all around and it all needs to be trimmed. The "long" fabric sees the water in the channel and sucks it up and over the lip beneath the seal.

In either of those cases a new inner door seal will do nothing for you by itself.

Just a guess that the $$ you were going to spend on 2 new inner seals is better spent on a headliner replacement job. With correct fabric trimming this time. All around, not only at these corners...

Pull the seal off at the corner and tell us how far past the fiberglass lip the fabric in that area is underneath.

[Jonathan]

B. More likely it is an improperly-installed headliner. Too long on the fabric underneath the seals. Not usually stretched too much but rather cut too long (they come with extra fabric all around and it all needs to be trimmed. The "long" fabric sees the water in the channel and sucks it up and over the lip beneath the seal.

Thanks Rich. That's a better choice of words than I used. You're right, it's "cut too long" as opposed to being stretched. Good catch.

[Ricker]

I neglected to mention that the rubber seal corners are ripped up. That's why I think it is the seals. The doors seem to close properly. They do have some variable size gaps around the door frame but I thought that was typical. I hate to mess with them and screw that up.

[Ricker]

You can see in the first picture the rubber seal is ripped up. The stains on both the headliner and door liner are stained from the seal area away. Both doors are pretty much the same.

[Delorean Industries]

Wear issues like this are due to inconsistencies in the fiberglass body. Installing new seals will not fix the wear issues on the gaskets. The fiberglass needs to be reworked to properly match the door fitment to the body to prevent this from happening again.

[DrJeff]

Or I could be that placing the seal on the door frame was a bad design to start with (yes there are design flaws). You have the bulb of the seal mishappened by going around the corner and also use, so that the door prematurely strikes it as it closes causing the tear. Other arrangements like moving the weather seal bulb to the door are possible and don't require major fiberglass surgery. The bend in the gullwing doors causes the issue due to the door passing the frame right at the windscreen top outside corners while the door is still several inches from latching.

[Ricker]

I was at a DeLorean club function this weekend and had some guys look at it. It also seems the door head liner is sticking out in that area and rubbing the rubber seal. I'm thinking I might need to take it off and cut it back before I even think of the fiberglass work?

[Rich]

It also seems the door head liner is sticking out in that area and rubbing the rubber seal. I'm thinking I might need to take it off and cut it back...

You are thinking correctly now that you've seen there is headliner fabric where it doesn't belong - exposed to water on the other side of the rubber seal. Not sure what you mean by the headliner "rubbing the rubber seal". Am assuming you mean there's some headliner exposed on the far side of the seal. Have a look after you pop off the seal in the areas that are stained.

See posts 2 and 3 in this thread, among others.

Any headliner fabric that is exposed in the 'gutter' around the door opening is very likely to create a water stain and even drip in the car as if there is a "leak" when in fact it is behaving like a siphon, pulling water up and over the fiberglass lip with moisture wicking beneath the rubber seal into the car. In this case the seal itself isn't the problem, at least not the leak source.

The root cause is an improperly-installed headliner.

[dn010]

I believe what he means is the headliner on the door roof section is sticking out past the door metal (as if the headliner panel is too large for the door) and rubbing the seal on it's way down or up when the door is opening or closing. I have the same problem on my car...

[Ricker]

I believe what he means is the headliner on the door roof section is sticking out past the door metal (as if the headliner panel is too large for the door) and rubbing the seal on it's way down or up when the door is opening or closing. I have the same problem on my car...

Yes, better said. How tough is it to remove the door headliner, peel back the grey cloth, trim the board behind it and glue it back together?

[dn010]

I have yet to do mine, but if I remember correctly - and someone please correct me if I am wrong; there are pine tree clips holding the headliner onto the door. So, a clip tool is the best way to remove it without making the clip head tear through the headliner board. Then it is just a matter of peeling the headliner off the board, cutting the board and pasting the headliner back using adhesive.

Clip tool - search "door upholstery remover" on google, autozone or etc - its just a tool with a 2 prong flat head.

Adhesive - I buy liquid adhesive by the quart or pint because I use it frequently on my many restoration projects, plus I hate the mess a spray can of adhesive makes. But for you, unless you have more stuff to adhere, I'd say the spray can is probably the most practical to use in this situation - upholstery adhesive from any auto parts store.


Yes, better said. How tough is it to remove the door headliner, peel back the grey cloth, trim the board behind it and glue it back together?

[PJ Grady Inc.]

Wear issues like this are due to inconsistencies in the fiberglass body. Installing new seals will not fix the wear issues on the gaskets. The fiberglass needs to be reworked to properly match the door fitment to the body to prevent this from happening again.

As Josh already knows about 25 years ago I developed a procedure to grind and recontour the body edges to make the door surround seals better accomodate the fit of the door. Once this is executed properly the doors close better and rubbing and tearing of the seals cease to be a problem.

I don't have the time to outline this procedure today but am hoping to do it in the near future.
Rob Grady

[alexwolf1216]

As Josh already knows about 25 years ago I developed a procedure to grind and recontour the body edges to make the door surround seals better accomodate the fit of the door. Once this is executed properly the doors close better and rubbing and tearing of the seals cease to be a problem.

I don't have the time to outline this procedure today but am hoping to do it in the near future.
Rob Grady

Fly down to SA and come do my car.:rollin:

[Delorean Industries]

Rob extensively trained me on this procedure. How many cars did we do in a row? Five?

[Ikeaboy1]

This is definitely something I'll need to have done to my car. The passenger door eats seals.

[Delorean Industries]

This is definitely something I'll need to have done to my car. The passenger door eats seals.

Got you covered on the next visit!

[Ricker]

Well I got the old rubber seal off and the new ones on (with a little help with a rubber mallet). I also took off the door headliners. Without the headliners nothing rubbed the rubber seals when closing the doors. I carefully pulled back the cloth and foam where it was hitting (just the front outside corners), cut back the fiber board (about 3/16") and glued the cloth and foam back. Got it back in the car and now nothing is rubbing the rubber seals. Pretty easy fix from what I thought I would have to do.

[hmcelraft]

Congratulations! I would suggest that you keep an eye on the seal. Over time, if the angle is out some, the seal will form flat and start to rub the door and result in a similar damage you started with. My solution has been to rotate the seal periodically - by a few feet, or so, to keep any bad memory to the seal from forming. Seems to work for me and I think it adds some life to the seal.