Old door/trunk seals

emmd61

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Hi,

Any one use anything that softens door/trunk rubber seals? Mine are firm but not cracked. I am almost sure they make repro door seals, but the tail gate seals are likely not reproduced.
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When rubber weatherstripping gets "firm", it's usually because the "oils" in the rubber have evaporated over time. Might try some silicone spray (IF you're not going to do any painting on the car, soon!). For small cracks and such, you can make them look a bit nicer by putting a thin skim-coat of black, high-heat silicone sealer (smeared with your finger) on what's now there. It will fill-in the cracks and also give it a new, black sheen after it cures. A band-aid fix, but it looks pretty decent and will last a while, too. I did that on one of my cars and it seemed to work for a year or so.

Just some thoughts,
CBODY67
 
G'Day, G'Day,
The Geriatric Gent is Back.
About Thirty years Ago I Worked for a Rather Lovely Man Named Ralph Moore here in OZ. (A Finer Gentleman you Wouldn't Find).
Had Spent his Life Supplying Auto Glass of All Descriptions including a Lot of Impossible Stuff.
He Actually used to have his Own "Dies" made. (Not Sure What the Correct Name is for the Oven Frames that the Glass is Melted into)
It's an Intriguing Process, if you ever get the chance to watch a Windscreen being made, do so.
One of the Things he did teach me was how to Sometimes Recover / Soften an "Old" Rubber.
The Idea was NOT to use Anything Petroleum Based as this may cause the Rubber to Swell.
Rather, use Medicinal Glycerine & Patiently, Gently & Thoroughly massage the Glycerine into the Rubber. (It's Not a Five Minute Job, But it's Worth the Effort).
Obviously as with all this type of thing try a Scrap piece First.
I had a Friend back then who could not buy a Front Screen Rubber for his 59 Plymouth, He managed to save his Old Rubber using this Method.
Won't work Miracles But if the Rubber is Still Half Decent then you have a Chance.
Best of... Tony.M
 
The wagon rear doors are different than on a 4 door sedan.

Yes, on some C wagons the rear doors are a little different... however, it's in the length of the door, not the height or any other profile, so someone could possibly slice the top and bottom segments, remove the extra length, glue them back together make a custom weatherstrip that fits the wagon door. The weatherstrips glue together very well using Crazy-Glue type adhesives - I made custom door roof rail weatherstrips for my 66 Monaco this way (before they were being reproduced) by finding the right roof rail and door profile extrusions, and using the molded ends of my originals and gluing them together. Worked well.

Doing this with the sedan rear door weatherstrips for use on a wagon would mean that possibly the white plastic clips in the weatherstrip would need to be moved to fit the locations in the wagon doors, since they may be different than those in sedan rear doors. When I made them, one had to use an awl to poke holes in the extrusion and install the clips.
 
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Dawn dish detergent works pretty well on seals without damaging anything. Worked wonders on a leaking fridge or freezer door gasket.
 
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