Front Door seals. Which ones?

Lil Lulu · Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 4:29 am Post subject:

Kevin- My blue and white 72 now has had the WCM seals on the front for about a year. They went on easy with minimal adhesive. Fit like a glove. I got them from Avery's who keep a set in stock.

I am so impressed that I bought a set including the slider, which is the hardest to fit, for my 74 hightop. Now I'll get the rear seals for both from them too.

I guess you could say i'm satisfied.

Going to Woodburn?
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'65 Beetle "Lil' Lulu"- Ruby Red
1600 stock from '71 bus

'72 Deluxe - Niagara Blue w/pastelwiess Camper Special 2L dual 40 Webers 002

'74 Hightop Weekender "Dixie" 1800 34 Del singles

Esher127 · Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 5:36 am Post subject:

I bought the "OEM VW" seals from Bus Depot and they are so offensively bad that it's amazing. I had read that the door would be difficult to close, but with those seals installed the door WOULD NOT close. At all. There was a rock-hard black section of rubber near the lower hinge that just wouldn't compress at all. It took hours of work per seal to sand/cut/grind that section down to get the door to even latch. And even then the door is like a loaded spring. 3 months later the passenger door seal tore. Anyone making and/or selling those seals should be ashamed of themselves.

It also grates on my nerves that parts sellers say things like "well your old seals had the doors slammed on them a million times!" Yeah? And? There wasn't some poor bastard on the VW factory line whose job was to slam doors a million times so the seals fit on the dealer lot. I'm pretty sure the new seals fit just fine at the factory. So why the hell don't seals I buy today fit? How hard is it?!

I now need to buy new door seals again because what I bought is absolutely awful and torn, and I just don't want to deal with it.
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ROCKOROD71 · Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 5:54 am Post subject:

Hopefully my bus gets painted this summer and I'll be putting all new seals in. I already bought them all and I got those spliced German deals from Bus Depot.
Do you guys think trimming a couple mm off the side you insert would help at all before installing them? If trimming where should we trim?
Also wouldn't be opposed to trying out Fairview's trick he mentioned on the last page...

At any rate the money is spent and no way BD takes these back. Even if they did what else are you supposed to get? Gotta admit the Brazilian one in my driver's door isn't too shabby after 2 years. Still gotta close the door hard but it's not torn up yet and has been keeping the water out. Plus only $20...not 4x that for basically the same issues....
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Lil Lulu · Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 12:20 pm Post subject:

If you have to trim new seals from the gitgo, why even bother? It's like hitting yourself in the head with a hammer 'cause it feels so good when you quit.

The door seal that took the most time and just jumps at you like a Cobra when you take the rubber bands off is the slider seal. I found that carefully pre-fitting the seals and making a plan payed off when it came time to apply, thinly, the adhesive (use the yellow 3M, the black looks like shit and you're gonna get it on something before you can get back to it.) I applied the adhesive to both the channel and the seal. Prepping the channel surface before installation is important too.

The failures I have seen on friends' cars over the years has been not properly seating the seal in the channel.

I'm no expert, just a poor chump that did this a couple of times and witnessed the effects of it done poorly a few times.
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'65 Beetle "Lil' Lulu"- Ruby Red
1600 stock from '71 bus

'72 Deluxe - Niagara Blue w/pastelwiess Camper Special 2L dual 40 Webers 002

'74 Hightop Weekender "Dixie" 1800 34 Del singles

ROCKOROD71 · Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 12:46 pm Post subject:

Amskeptic · Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 12:56 pm Post subject:

I haven't had trouble with "oem" German seals. I did have problems with Brazilian seals.

Adjust your doors with the seals removed to the Bentley parameters. Door adjustment is about its location in the opening. Do the striker plate adjustment at this time as well, and scribe the position discretely. If you have decent wedges, the door should not rattle even with no seal installed.

The channels really do have to be completely clean of any old adhesive. The seals have to seat fully in the channels. The lower corner at the front of the door has this big ol' radius that can be a problem spot if you do not babysit the adhesive setting up. The seal wants to climb up that curve.

Install the seal with no adhesive except for the non-channel areas. Just tack the seal on here with temporary dots of adhesive.

If you have a lousy hard shutting door, try to find the areas where it is tight and dremel off the inside surface of the seal in a very gradual approach and departure. Use a dollar bill pull test. A properly compressed seal will allow you to pull a dollar bill through, either direction, with a bit of a tug.

The common tight spot for me is the front lower corner. If your car has been hit and pulled out, expect trouble.
Colin
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wcfvw69 · Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 2:01 pm Post subject:

I used a Brazilian passenger front door seal that came w/my bus. Um, yea.. what a POS.. I plan on repainting the bus in the near future and will replace it then.

I then bought a Wolfsburg West "German" seal for the drivers door. It fit perfectly and the seams are bonded well. The only issue is it was just too thick and I had to really slam or shut the door very firmly. It's been about 6 months now and it's getting pretty close to being decent to shut now. I didn't have to adjust anything, only shut the door hard when new.

I agree with the others. Its pretty sad they can get the seal shape so good yet can't get the right rubber consistency correct like VW did when these bus's were new.
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scrivyscriv · Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 2:24 pm Post subject:

How is everyone trimming the seals for thickness?
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J L Barton · Posted: Sat May 30, 2015 7:49 pm Post subject:

Going to have to do front door seals and rear hatch seal on our bus. She leaks like crazy.
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a1steaksauce · Samba Member Joined: September 23, 2010 Posts: 612

this thread makes me laugh. Laughing

you don't think vw adjusted the doors at the factory to fit the seals? hell car manufactures to this day still have a "final process" section where they adjust fitment of doors/panels/lids/latches/etc due to seals and whatnot.

just tossing new seals in and expecting them to fit 100% perfectly with no door adjustment is hilarious...doesn't matter who made the seals and how minty your bus is you're going to have to adjust to fit.

went with WW and with proper adjustment and yes, some slight seal trimming i have a very tight fit...as i'm sure they were probably that way originally from the factory. i am very pleased with them and i'm sure they'll break in over time and continue to give me a nice seal for years to come.

skills@eurocarsplus · Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 6:26 am Post subject:

richparker · Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 7:00 am Post subject:

skills@eurocarsplus · Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 7:57 am Post subject:

rich, it's sad that we have to accept this. I don't care if you are driving a concours d'elegance car or some rat. they should fit.

in the summer, I DD my buses, but having 3 makes it so one is only driven a couple days. that said, keeping them closed speeds up the process for sure.

if I am at a show/camping and the front doors stay open for a while, the seals puff back out and it's back to square one but seem to settle back in pretty quickly.

I don't know what the real answer is to the problem. they fit the door fine, but just way to thick.
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J L Barton · Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 8:00 am Post subject:

I went out and adjusted my doors in at the top, which is where the water was rushing in at. Suppose to rain more today so I will check it then to see if it's better. Going to add new seals to my list of things to order.
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Lucille 71 Adventure wagon

ccpalmer · Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 1:56 pm Post subject:

I used Bus Boys front door seals about 8 years ago and they work great. They don't have the molded corners but keep out water and my doors shut very well.
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'71 Westy

a1steaksauce · Samba Member Joined: September 23, 2010 Posts: 612

Xevin · Samba Member Joined: January 08, 2014 Posts: 7635

Spirited

Thanks for posting up expectations and experiences.
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Wildthings · Samba Member Joined: March 13, 2005 Posts: 50352

After 8ish years my WW seals still fit tight and I have to have the doors sitting a bit proud to get them to open and close well. I messed with what adjustments there are many times in the first few years and eventually gave up and decided to live with the crappy fit. The worst part is that I have had a whistle off and on on the driver's side ever since the present seals were installed. I don't have a clue as to what causes it either. I have taped the door shut inside and out and the whistle will still be there. Sometimes with the opening and closing of the door the whistle will disappear for weeks at a time but all too often it is just there ruining my Transporter Bliss.

busdaddy · Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 3:28 pm Post subject:

Update: The Veewib seals have finally broken in enough that with a minor door and striker adjustment they are tolerable, still bugs me they don't work right out of the bag but they do seal and fit nicely, door only sits 3/16" proud at the back as of now, hopefully in a few months I can solve that too. Still pops open with attitude when you unlatch, load on the trigger doesn't seem excessive but I did do a full latch rehab at the same time as the seals went in so it works like buttah.
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mlesniak · Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 8:19 pm Post subject:

Vewib? I think im at the right website haha ...

http://www.volkswagenemporium.co.uk/shop/search.ph...&scat=

let me know. do you have any pics of the vewib seals? are they all chopped up or one piece?

also does vewib have good window seals, or should I buy window seals from another supplier???
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Front Door seals. Which ones?
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