Best Door Weather strip
 

I was detailing my Bandit this week in preparation for a big Car Show this weekend, and noticed that the Passenger OEM Door upper weather strip is quite deteriorated.
Searching the forum, there is a multitude of recommendations for replacements.
My experience was years ago I purchased some forgotten brand and the fit was so terrible and rock hard that I put the old OEM part bank on. After 45 years it is shot.
At some point in the life of my car I remember buying OEM NOS weatherstrip, and I think it was made of Latex? and was super soft and fit perfect. Good luck finding OEM NOS nowadays.
So what replacements, based on your EXPERIENCE, fit the best and were soft enough to allow the door to close w/o slamming it?

My Bandit is a show car and durability is not a issue.

Fairchild, Metro, SoffSeal, Steele? Others.
Price is not a concern on this car.....

Metro. I have used it on multiple builds. Still not as soft as OEM but the best there is imho.

Don

x2 on metro, used it on 4 2nd gen t/a's, little firm closing the dorrs the first few times but installed & fit nice & has lasted 13+ years with no signs of deteriorating. used their trunk seal & door window channel too with same results. i used soff-seal for fisher t-tops as it fist much nicer than metro, especially at the inner U corners of the roof. its thicker/firmer than metro but is close to original in design & shape.

Let me know if you want a right side Metro seal.

I was satisfied with Metro.

I appreciate the recommendations.
I found Metro "SuperSoft" on Summit web site, but concerned with some of the reviews. These comments are exactly the issue I had with some other brand I tried to use. Of course, one has to understand there may be both positive and negative reviews...

"The seals were too thick and the contour wouldn't allow the doors to close. Both driver and passenger seals were unusable for my 1970 Camaro."

"Weather stripping fit real nice but could not close doors after installation. Thickness of stripping must be different on original stripping?"

Anyone know if NOS W- Strips are available somewhere?
Edit - I found this, need to confirm it is Passenger Side - https://www.classicindustries.com/pr...rts/g6651.html
Also one up for Bids on EBay for $155 so far.

Had to laugh at this while searching for NOS - I know it's for a early Camaro, but look at the price!
https://www.heartbeatcitynos.com/sto...Weatherstrips/

the whole closing the doors issue is people that dont understand the doors arent going to close like their 40 year old doors do right off the bat, you do have to slam the door closed & let it sit for awhile & then the next ~5-10 times will also be harder to close than they are used to. within a couple weeks or after not too many times closing the seals will compress & they will close like normal. also need to be sure they are installed right & not get twisted or bunched up. a little 3m weatherstrip glue in the right places & the seals will live a long life letting the doors close as they should after a short time.

NOS are very expensive & are 40 some years old now, fine if you have a high dollar concours restoration, but for the price metro cant be beat, plus they have a 15 year or longer guarantee if you have any problems.

Soft Seal were way too hard even after a month in the Texas heat. Swapped out for Metro and almost as good as factory.

This seemed almost too good to be true, so I called them and they verified it is a GM original part (soft latex) for the Passenger side. We will see, and it better be at $120.
Sometimes cost is a secondary consideration when you already have like a 401K invested in your car.

https://www.classicindustries.com/pr...rts/g6651.html

Was almost ready to offer $155 for the one on EBay, and even that bid may not have been enough.

Glass adjustment on these cars is a challenging task to get just the right window tip in and positioned correctly in the opening, and "easy" door closing effort. The soft Latex may not be the most durable, but it compresses just right.

My experience with Metro. Had to get seals for my 99 Vette targa top...too thick, wrong length, had to scrap them and buy NOS GM ($350, still sealed in the GM goo in the bag).

My 69 Bird came with Metro rubber as well as Soft Seal...previous owner did patchwork as he replaced the glass, etc. Of course two different suppliers, the doors/windows leaked badly. He got creative with a razor knife and by the time the doors shut to his liking, I could look from the driver's seat and see the road through the front of the door. Needless to say, Metro and SS weren't used when I restored my Bird earlier this year. All the body shops around said "Steele Rubber". I got those, the car is quiet now...well, until I romp on it.

Have a 98 Trans Am convertible, goy the Metro rubber for the top. Wrong mold, too short to fit. When I went to return them to Firebird Central, they told me to dump them in the trash and refunded my money.

I think that pretty much said it all. Keep in mind I didn't install the seals, I had body shops do it for me to make sure it was done right.

I'd go Steele Rubber. My .02

Jim

I've used Metro on my 55 Chevy and they wouldn't allow the door to close tight at first. Allowed them to sit with door closed at first catch for a few days, then they closed. They got better with time while compressing. Now, about 12 years later, they still close nice and function well. With that, I put Metro on my 72 Lemans vert and they work well also.

metro & other brands can be hit or miss depending on the vehicle & location of the seals. since this thread is about door seals, most people are saying metro door seals are excellent quality & fitment, aside from the hard closing door the first handful of times.

metro are also very good at the truck or roof channel of hard top 2nd gen cars.

i tried the metro t top seals for 2nd gens & they fit "ok" but were horrible at the inner U corners of the roof, very thin & floppy & are pulled away from the roof, allowing water & debris to get in there. i posted some pics of the 2 on an older thread here & at 78ta.com. soff seal were much better & shaped like originals & fit the widow channel right, but they are a little thicker making the t-tops sit up higher by about 1/8" but that improves some over time as they conform to fit the t tops better.

Every manufacturer has a specific car model mold for seals so what one brand of seals work on a 99 camaro means nothing when it comes to a 67 Suburban or a 75 Trans Am.

The molds are machined steel parts made to match the best representation of a factory seal the manufacturer can locate. Then the manufacturer makes a decision about what "Modern" materials they can use to match the factory's material. Due to environmental issues many of the old seal materials are no longer available. So it becomes difficult to match the size with a material that has the same compression as the OE seals did. After spending tens of thousands of dollars on a mold that just isn't quite right the manufacturer may try to adjust the materials to get a seal that is acceptable to the majority of garage stored summertime vehicles, not folks with daily drivers or folks who expect an exact match. Thus the standard of quality of the industry isn't what the OE's seals were.

When looking for reviews you have to disregard what any manufacturer sold 5 or more years ago. New materials may being used, or the molds have been replaced due to wear, damage, or the word got out their product was junk and they had to start over. Quality manufacturers will actually do that. Unfortunately they tend to recoup their losses by selling the bad mold to someone else. And guess what happens?

So when asking these kinds of questions make sure you are talking apples to apples.

I'm giving this a little bump;

does anyone know who supplies the seals in goodmark packages?

I don't think I had previously noticed these ones, and am guessing that they do not make thier own.

Also, many guys confuse Metro Supersoft and Soffseal brands, and the spelling. Steele Rubber and Fairchild are making inroads with good reviews. I haven't checked what their range of seals currently are, and many shops don't even list the brands directly.