Weatherstripping

Highly recommend NOT purchasing your rubber made by METRO. Their products are in purple and black crosshatch designed packaging. I recently ordered some from ThePartsPlace store on ebay who I also do NOT recommend. The rubber is almost solid rubber all the way around the glass so it bunches up on the A pillar and the 90 on the B pillar is so thick it keeps the glass about an inch away from the rubber. Upon shutting the door the guide peeled away my tint which was nice also. I told the seller exactly what happened and he did not respond until I opened a case with ebay. The fellow said to send it back to receive a full refund and when I did he replied with "You purchased this part which is the wrong one for your car. You installed it and you sent it back to us damaged and impossible to use." After I told him I installed it AND the packaging said 73-77 Malibu/Chevelle at the top. I guess this is a little bit of a rant due to me being angry at the time I wrote this but yeah. Steer clear of them both for your own safety. Ebay has not resolved it yet and I will let you guys know what happens. I will try to post some pictures of this garbage product installed as well.[img][/img][img][/img][img][/img]

first image you can see the b pillar chrome sticking out behind the original rubber. Second pic is of the METRO waaaay to fat to see the chrome.

can you spot the METRO?

Notice the gap at the top because the rubber on the B pillar that meets the door is so thick, also the thickness on the A pillar causing it to flare out. Am i crazy or is this a truly faulty product?

Anyone successfully buy rubber for their G3? If so I would love a recommendation. After I sent it back I purchased some from SoffSeal and it fits for the most part but has a deformation in the 90 that keeps the glass from contacting the seal. Thanks.

Did you install this product under the roof rail at the frame?

Metro is in my backyard. Want me to go up there and kick someone's A$$?

Sounds kind of similar to what Fishgrinder ran into on his Monte Carlo. Not sure who's product he used. Also, not sure who's product to recommend. Seems I read/hear about this kind of stuff on a regular basis. I worked in the molded/extruded rubber industry for 25+ yrs. and know how fickle this stuff can be coming out of the extruder. Too much of this and not enough of that and it grows or shrinks in size. If they aren't constantly monitoring the dimensions throughout each run, you'll likely end up with significant variations in size. That's why one guy will buy from them and have great luck with it fitting. Next guy says it sucks! I'm guessing GM had some pretty stringent quality control standards and their supplier threw a lot of product away because it didn't meet spec. I think the other problem is duplicating the exact rubber/sponge compound as original; including density. And, guess what the driving force is with substituting a different compound or cutting corners on a molding process...COST! I know this doesn't help with finding a compatible product, but just thought I'd shed some light on the manufacturing end of it. As for me, I bought some NOS weatherstripping for my Monte on e-Bay several years ago for just this reason. Yeah, it cost more...but, I knew it would fit.

Thanks for the input, I also worked for a company that made stripping as well for about a year. I mainly ran the glue and flak. We messed stuff up all the time due to the company hiring only through a staffing agency. New people all the time is def not a good ethic, lol.

Landonus wrote:Thanks for the input, I also worked for a company that made stripping as well for about a year. New people all the time is def not a good ethic, lol.

You got that right! The machinery required an experienced touch that didn't come in a manual. Right extruding speed, temp, curing, winding on a spool, etc. that could only come through trial and error on the line. Every compound...every density...every profile behaved differently. Even from one piece of equipment to another. I was in the Corporate Sales end of it and was always on the front line when complaints of things not being to spec came in. I'd have to go out in the shop and chat with the Prod. Mgr and equipment operator to see what happened on a bad batch...have the customer return the bad stuff (and, of course, throw it in the dumpster...total loss)...then, remake another batch.

FWIW, I just installed a new set of weatherstripping for my 4th gen El Camino that was manufactured by Metro, their 'Supersoft' brand, and couldn't be happier with the fit and quality. Really seals the windows I would almost say perfectly, I hardly needed to do any trimming of the doors/glass to get a really good seal. So that would confirm Mcarlo77's take on this.

Landonus wrote:Notice the gap at the top because the rubber on the B pillar that meets the door is so thick, also the thickness on the A pillar causing it to flare out. Am i crazy or is this a truly faulty product?

not sure but I think you may need to adjust your glass in the frame, it doesn't appear to fit the framework very well ????????
there are stops inside to adjust the distance the glass travels ( I think )

I think there is some adjustment nescessary there, But to back you up there is many instances where they sell stuff that "kinda fits" and its crap. Try "Steele" they seem very reputable and sell a better quality product.

a trick I learned was to apply vaseline to the rubber, and then roll the window up with the door open, and then close the door and let it sit overnight

you will then have a perfect seal and allow the window to roll up and down with the door closed.

Ran into that with my my buddy's 71 convertible and my 76 when I replaced the front door uppers. the Vaseline trick made it like factory. and the 76 had never had the windows out of adjustment.

texan01 wrote:a trick I learned was to apply vaseline to the rubber, and then roll the window up with the door open, and then close the door and let it sit overnight

you will then have a perfect seal and allow the window to roll up and down with the door closed.

Ran into that with my my buddy's 71 convertible and my 76 when I replaced the front door uppers. the Vaseline trick made it like factory. and the 76 had never had the windows out of adjustment.

I did the same thing; one overnight sitting (didn't think of the vaseline though) made a significant difference in the fit as the rubber molded itself to the glass.

You must have read it in Car Craft years ago then....