Door seals - US source non OE

[Gary Knox]

A while back I decided to investigate aftermarket door seals that might be appropriate for our cars. After a good bit of searching, I came across one that 'seemed' to fit the bill. It is made by Steele Rubber Products, and is very similar in profile to the seal that was on my car - EXCEPT that it was made of soft foam rubber instead of a rather rigid rubber (maybe mine was just old, probably installed in 1987). Their part number for it is: 70-1111-73 and it is priced at $4.50 per foot plus shipping from North Carolina ($5-10). They also exhibit at various east coast car and hot rod shows (e.g. Carlisle, Good Guys, etc.

So - instead of buying the W & N product, I decided to risk about $30 and see what this product was like (4.5 to 5 feet is more than enough for both doors).

I installed it yesterday, and am very happy with it's fit and appearance. The doors now close (firm push/pull required) with that 'vault like
whuump' sound, and when the radio is on and both doors closed with all windows up, I can hardly hear the radio, so I think the exterior road sounds will be significantly reduced.

Here is a link to the specific product on their site, in case you are interested:

http://www.steelerubber.com/door-weatherstrip-70-1111-73

And, here are pictures of the profile, the profile measurement, and the installation on my door. Hope this might be helpful, as it will lower the cost for door seals by about $125 vs W&N. BUT - BEWARE, it may cost you points on your next Concours de Elegance contest!

PS: I need to clean up a little excess Wurth Rubber Glue on the sides of the seal, as can be seen in the 4th pix.

 

[Stevehose]

This is excellent Gary, thanks. Have you considered a generic replacement for the mac-daddy seal on the a-pillar that is very expensive and hard to shut?

 

[Gary Knox]

Steve,

That seal in my car is in excellent condition on both sides, so I haven't done any searches (and I'd need to remove a section to get a profile, and I don't want to do that!).

IF you have a profile for it, you may be able to find a good substitute by searching Steele's web site: www.steelerubber.com and looking at their 'universal' parts. They seem to give a cross section picture, and a drawing with measurements on almost all their seals/weatherstrips/extrusions, etc. IF you can get one that matches up, they might even send you a 3-4" sample for checking installation fit.

I first discovered their products at a Carlisle meet about 15 years ago. Found a couple of products that I was sure would fit my Porsche. They did, and Steele's rubber maintained it's excellent condition MUCH longer than the OE German rubber did on those cars.

Glad you think the door seals info is helpful.

 

[Bmachine]

Damn, Gary, that is a seriously good result for your research!

Thank you very much for sharing.

 

[twistinglane]

Great work Gary. And hope you take up challenge Steve. It is a bit silly - or at least charitable on our part- to be paying BMW prices for this rubber.

 

[Ohmess]

Great work Gary. Would you perhaps have a scrap of that stuff that you could send my way. I am thinking this same seal might be useful for the trunk (around the sides and rear, but not the front) and under the hood at the top of the firewall.

 

[dascoupeguy]

Your door latch...

Could not help but notice that your door latch ( the 'elbow', movable part on your door) is missing the plastic 'cap'. This is essential for proper door closure. Sorry if I have overstepped here. But if you did not know this was missing that part will really ease your door closure. DCG

 

[Gary Knox]

dascoupeguy,

THANK YOU for noticing that and pointing it out. Maybe I need a picture of a door with the correct plastic cap, so I can go hunting for one.

I'll appreciate any help here.

 

[Gransin]

Great find with the seal! Thanks for sharing.

Here is a picture with the white platic cap:

And here is an Ebay link to what I think is the correct plastic cap:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-BMW-e26...er-Bump-Stop-X4-51-21-1-809-735-/162014264878


Cheers,

 

[Gary Knox]

Robert,

THANK YOU - purchased 4, so I'll have spares when the first two wear out or disappear!

 

[dascoupeguy]

Passing it forward... only here to help.... Your doors will close as if lubed with KY! (ha...!)

 

[rsporsche]

Gary,

great work on the seal. i have a brand new set of seals in my garage. i will trace the profiles and post them herein ... then we can start to look for generics that might work.

 

[Gary Knox]

Update on my seals, which have now been installed for a little over a week. I only closed the doors to the first 'catch' for the first 2 days, in order to allow the Wurth Rubber Glue to fully bond. Then, I closed the doors snugly (as noted, took a fairly firm 'push' to get them to close). Today, after having them fully closed for about 5-6 days, I opened the doors, kept them open for about 30 seconds, then closed them. They closed completely with a gentle push - meaning to me that the seals have now taken a modest 'set' to the door frame, so the sealing is good, and the closure is easy.

I am SOLD on this replacement for the BMW seal!! (can you tell!!! - ha).

 

[zinz]

Thank you Gary for posting this. We began disassembly of the 2000CS yesterday and I need all the door seals...I hope we didn't tear apart some that are NLA
I'll get on the Steel website and see if they have some other products that may substitute for some of the very expensive seals I will need.

Ed

 

[zinz]

I'm loading up a Mack Daddy order with W&N and I'm now seeing that the big door seals (lower, A-pillar, roofline) are NLA for the left side and eur 335 for the right side... YIKES

I have my old seals (never throw ANYTHING out)... I need to get on the Steele Rubber website and see if I can find a suitable replacement... mine were quite wasted and some were definitely torn.

...spit

EDIT: I just pinged Connor over at Vintage Autobahn... he's got reproductions door seals for easy money and also has windshield seals that he swears by... give him a call. https://vintageautobahn.wordpress.com/

 

[rsporsche]

have you checked with BMW NA dealers? they might still have them and W+N might be out.

 

[inovermyhead]

The trouble with the big door seal is that it is made up from 3 different profiles for just the part that runs from the top of the B pillar to the bottom of the A pillar. Then a joining piece at the base of the windscreen, then another longer piece that runs up the A pillar and under the rain channel, so in total you have 6 different pieces of rubber, it's going to be very difficult to find all the profiles to match.

Cheers. John

 

[jmackro]

The trouble with the big door seal is that it is made up from 3 different profiles for just the part that runs from the top of the B pillar to the bottom of the A pillar. Then a joining piece at the base of the windscreen, then another longer piece that runs up the A pillar and under the rain channel, so in total you have 6 different pieces of rubber, it's going to be very difficult to find all the profiles to match.

Gary is talking about the seal on the door - not the seal on the body. The on-door seal has a single profile.

 

[zinz]

Yea, I just pulled all those different pieces off my car last week. I imagine it would be quite the challenge to try to recreate all the pieces.

I've bought from Connor for years and trust him when he says "these fit".

I'll keep y'all posted after reassembly

Ed

 

[Stevehose]

Plus when you get new ones the doors have to be slammed which is unacceptable to me so i kept my originals in place.