sliding door seal

[greebly]

I decided to install the new sliding door seal I purchased over a year ago and the seal appears to be too long on one side. Anybody encounter this before? I am thinking the manufacturer screwed up and it's a seal for the type 4 eurovan which has a curve on the rear which would require a longer piece, it's a good 12 to 15 inches too long.

[greebly]

Also if I cut it to fit I was thinking to do so right at the corner jut where it starts to go vertical. Seems kind of stupid to make a contiguous/continuous seal that has to be split to install.

[valvecovergasket]

i would cut it at a diagonal somewhere, then glue the ends together with this stuff
https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/b40069430/

definitely seems like the wrong seal or manufacturer issue, but if it fits everywhere else - and has the right little flap bit at the front - i dont see anything wrong with just trimming it and carrying on.

i had to use that 3m stuff to get the front door and slider seals to stay in their spots, and was really pleased with how sturdy it gets once dry.
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MegaSquirt resource - SpitfireEFI.com

gone, but not forgotten: '83 tdi westy - swap thread

[dobryan]

If it fits otherwise I agree, cut it, glue it, move on.
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Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2002 Subaru EJ25 and Peloquin TBD

"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." Robert Louis Stevenson

MD>Canada>AK>WA>OR>CA>AZ>UT>WY>SD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620646

Building a bus for travel in Europe (euroBus)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=695371

The Western Syncro build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=746794

[skills@eurocarsplus]

are you sure it's in right? it should have a rubber flap on the front edge where the striker is

i used the same seal. fit perfect
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[greebly]

[skills@eurocarsplus]

wow, that's odd. like i said mine fit no problem. getting that evil poopy glue shit VW loves to use off was a different story. i've actually had really good luck with vewib stuff
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[MsTaboo]

(Thread revival)

I'm in the process of refreshing the sliding door of our '90 Syncro Westy with quiet rollers, sound deadening, etc, and I also bought a new body seal.

My question is about the seal, it's a ClassicLine seal from Denmark (forget which vender I bought it from) and seems to be well formed of quality rubber.
The original seal from VW has several holes spaced around the perimeter which appear to be there to allow air to escape from inside the seal when compressed.
The new seal doesn't have any of these holes.

I'm wondering if others who have replaced their sliding door seals have noticed whether their new seal had these holes and how necessary they are?
It's kinda a goofy question, but I'm curious if it really makes a difference in how the door closes.
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Currently:
'90 Syncro Westy 3 knob w/Zetec

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[designer]

So I got the one from gowesty and it has the holes btw.
Thought it was a bit long (maybe 6”) but just was more careful when installing to not stretch it and it fit perfectly.
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87 Syncro Westy : 2.5l

"It is that annoying, accelerating downhill so I can make it up the next hill in the same gear. Foot to floor hoping I can get out of the way of other cars getting onto the highway." - somebody on here around 2013.

[MsTaboo]

I got the seal from ClassicLine installed and ended up very carefully adding some holes. ( used a drill to make holes in the same locations as the original seal; didn't want to use a hole punch which pokes holes through both sides of the seal and would allow water into the seal.)
It does seem to make a difference in how easily the door closes. I did have to spend a bunch of effort adjusting the door because I rebuilt the hinge and replaced all the bearings with the quiet roller set.

Overall the ClassicLine seal fits perfectly, but would be nice if they included the holes. The quiet rollers are great but there's still the clunk when closing the door; no way around that, it's just the design.

On installing the seal; I started by locating the four corners and then infilling the seal between each. Didn't use any contact cement at first, just got the seal correctly installed.
Then went back and pull out each corner separately and glued, and then finished by pulling out the middle sections and glued.
This way I wasn't fumbling with a long seal and getting contact cement all over everything.
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Currently:
'90 Syncro Westy 3 knob w/Zetec

The information age has morphed into the age of disinformation and willful ignorance. Agnotology!
Help the fight against Truth Decay.
Defend democracy, support Ukraine.

[VicVan]

MsTaboo, thanks for the feedback.

Would you say the silent rollers are worth it?
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'90 Little Blue Truck, 2WD auto, FAS GenV 2.0 NA (AVH)

[do.dah]

Well, ya didn't ask me, but, I've had them installed for a few yrs, and I LOVE the silent rollers.

[MsTaboo]

[designer]

I put some of that special tape on y mechanisms a while back. UHWM maybe? It worked for a bit. Now it’s all wrinkled and alas, my door sounds like a 747 again.

I will take quiet roll and a thud any day over what I have going on now!
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87 Syncro Westy : 2.5l

"It is that annoying, accelerating downhill so I can make it up the next hill in the same gear. Foot to floor hoping I can get out of the way of other cars getting onto the highway." - somebody on here around 2013.

[VicVan]

Adding this to the project list then! I already had "Put Fatmax on the sliding door", I figure that big piece of sheet metal must vibrate and resonate like crazy during opening and closing.
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'90 Little Blue Truck, 2WD auto, FAS GenV 2.0 NA (AVH)