Newer style door seal fit versus old style seal

[EsGeht]

Has anyone experienced trouble with the newer door seals, mainly that the seals are too large and prevent the doors from closing easily? Without the seals I can adjust my doors to close smoothly and easily, with good gaps, and as soon as I install the seals I have to use extra effort to get them to close and adjust the strikers inward in order to get the doors to close all the way against the body . That then means there is all sorts of pressure on the lock mechanism, and the door handle trigger is hard to pull, and the door pops out when the trigger is finally pulled hard enough to release the latch. The lock mechanism is out of the car right now (see other post) and the door sits out from closed a good inch because I can feel the door binding against the door seal in the A pillar, so just trying to push the door into the fully closed position requires a lot of effort. Seems to me before I replaced the originals (a long, long time ago) I didn't have this problem. Anyone else with this problem?

[jameshtaylor]

Assuming that the seal is properly positioned in the various channels it occupies, I think you'll find that the seal will loose some of its assertiveness after the door has been closed against it for a week or so. My door would almost not close with the new seal; after a few days it was fine.

[EsGeht]

Thanks, James. I've had the newer seals on the car for about 10 years, it's just my latest door adventure has me thinking again about these seals. They never have settled in. Either I don't have them seated correctly or something else is wrong. I've got 'em as deep into the channel as they will go. I can't recall where I got them..Perf Prod, Stoddard or Tweeks, like I say, it was 10 years ago. If no one else has had this problem, maybe I need to investigate another set of door seals, or even go back to the original style, Stoddard has them listed again.

[58cab]

I've noticed that too. The newer profile seals are just too thick for the older cars.

[edmayo]

I've yet to find an aftermarket door or hood seal that will work. They just don't seem to have the rubber compressibility figured out. As long as OEM is available that's what you need to use. I've recently used the Stoddard repro of the early door seal and it works fine, no trouble at all in latching the door. You will have to make your own miter corner and super glue it together however.