Door seal restoration

[Michael999]

As seen my door seals were completely ruined, deteriorated, and any speed above 90km gave off wind noise.
New oem seals were going to cost too much, so for $70 of rubber and "3M Weatherstrip adhesive" and a very sharp scalpel, ive done it myself.

The last 2 pictures are the new seal that i glued on.
I cut the old seal off and sandpapered both rubber surfaces with a course grit paper, then applied the glue, it works exactly like a contact adhesive, but much faster.

[kev535i]

great job! you really do have that car in bits! keep up the renovation

[Michael999]

Its all coming along nicely so far, just managed to fit the e46 gear knob tonight as well :)

You can just see in those pics that ive also put new door liner on, its a more soundproof foam/rubber material, Its my hope that with that and the new seals ill have a VERY quiet cruiser at high speeds.

[Russell]

What is the rubber source? Was it in sheets or tube shaped? I have a tear in on seal I need to fix.

[Russell]

Bump

[Michael999]

Here are some shots of the rubber seal, ordinary rubber and foam shops didnt have anything like this.
You might have to do some hunting, i found the shop quickly because my dad has used them alot over the years due to boat building.
Ask around and see if you can find any shops that sell high quality marine sound proofing, thats what dad went to this shop for, turns out they have EVERYTHING rubber as well :)

edit: let me know if you want more dimensions, or ones in metric, i assumed you (USA?) would want it in inches.

Oh, and i purchased 3.3m per side and it was just enough.

[Russell]

Thank you. This is most helpful. I will take prints with me when I go to a boat shop. We have several in our area.

[shogun]

Similar seals are also used for example in automatic doors for sealing.
But probably a boat shop is easiest to find it.
Here is a similar stuff for a spoiler
http://www.bimmer.info/forum/showthread.php?t=22428&highlight=spoiler

[Michael999]

Yeah thats the prepared door seal.
I looked at using it to replace my doors, but when i took off the bmw one there was WAY too much trim and liner that would be exposed and ugly if you were to drop the felt surround thing.

Shogun in that link you gave me, i cannot quite see how that rubber is joined on to the front bumper.
Im interested in doing this on the 34 as ive got a very rough driveway and it would be nice to have that little protection :)

[shogun]

Maybe you ask GJPinAU, he is the author and he did it

[632 Regal]

Gred did it? blame it on him then! lol :D

Maybe you ask GJPinAU, he is the author and he did it

[Michael999]

Oh dear..
Just put my door panels back on, went to close the door "WHACK"... only partly shuts.
I had to almost fly kick the door to shut it, to the point where i feared breaking the glass, and it made a hiss sound after it opens or shuts from all the air in the tube.

The top half of the door shuts perfect, but its too tight around the door panel.
Im going back to the rubber place to get some thinner seal, and ill redo the bottom half of the door in the little stuff.
Ive got a bad feeling this will look a bit odd.. at least its still cheaper than a new seal, i hope..

[shogun]

The diameter of the original sealing is much thinner, I mean the material itself.

[scott 4991]

I just ordered the complete seal / trim from BMA, $66. Not so bad - not sure how much the dealer wants.

sc

[BillionPa]

removing and reinstalling the factory seals is a real pain. my hands hurt for a week from all the hitting required to get it on properly.