Door Weatherstripping

[Dean Wilkinson]

I need to replace the door weatrherstripping on my 73 M& M Cadillac Ambulance as part of the restoration. Can someone direct me to an approporiate supplier?

[Shawn Blyler]

Try www.steelerubber.com It is the only place I found that makes not only the front door seals for my car, but also the seals needed for the large rear doors on my limo.

[Josh Gentry]

They can also custom make weather stripping if they don't cary what you need.

Josh

[John ED Renstrom]

we had a man in california that we were getting the right stuff from. but he stopped ordering it. Rick got the last of his supply. Paul has tried to get some made up and I don't think he has had any success. but do remember to check the vender's portion of this site out I did list him there and if enough people ask maybe we can get him to make a new run. the last set went for about 4 bucks a foot. you'll need about 100 feet to do a car

[Bill Leverett]

I'll need a complete set as well so if we're considering a "group buy" please include me. Dean, Paul...does someone want to follow up with the vendor (rather than all of us calling him)?

[Dean Wilkinson]

Bill,

Before we call the vendor, let's see how many others are interested. I will post thread under General Discussion to see if we can generate some interest.

[Richard Vyse]

I need some.... and was hoping to locate it at the Turkey Rod Run show over Thanksgiving.

[Jeremy D. Ledford]

I'm defantly gonna need enough to do a rear load door for a 77 M-M hearse.

[Michael Mykulak]

Dear Forum administrator, If you could please retain to the discussion Ed's picture from Kar Rubber of the cross section cut away, I would really appreciate it.The photo being acessible to everyone serves as a reference if any body needs to compare what they have in their coach's and when inquiry with vendors it makes it easy to send. It was very helpful to me personally, after looking at illustrations of rubber door seals cross sections today, a photo is more better! A BIG THANKS1 TO JEREMY AND PAUL FOR ORIGINATING THIS DISCUSSION FOR IF NOT FOR THEM I WOULD OF NOT LAID ON MY BACK AND ACTUALLY REALIZED IN WHAT CONDITION MY DOOR SEALS ARE IN ALONG THE BOTTOMS OF MY DOORS. Twisted, dry cracked, hanging loose, I can't believe I missed it, but all the other sides of the door seal that you can actually see from the regular line of sight standing upright, are alot better condition just collapsed and displaced, but truthfully I knew it was that bad and I just didn't want to deal with it. It is a valuable detail and performance component of our coach if installed effectively. Saves energy in the summer if you don't have to run your A.C as hard because your not getting it sucked out from between your leaking seals. Ultimately your gas mileage goes up to. So my opinion, money well spent.

[Michael Mykulak]

I am going to get in contact with Mike Hinshaw this week from Metro Moulded Rubber for an update for members on the door weather stripping. I know Ed sent a sample per my request to Metro Moulded Rubber and uncertain if Jeremy sent a sample. Doing my best without being a bully with these people. Thanks Members! For your patience and understanding.

[Paul Steinberg]

Public Notice:

I have been in contact with a manufacturer, and they are getting together a quote for me for the rubber and the cost of the dies to produce the rubber for the Miller Meteor cars. This will be an exact reproduction of the rubber, and will not be available to the general public. Those that want to follow Michael Muklak, on his quest please let me know so I can delete your name from the list that I started. I need to be upfront with the manufacturer as to how many feet that I can honestly commit to purchasing. Once I have the final price, we can go from there and place an order. I don't want to wind up in a situation where I commit to 2500 feet, and then have 10 people decide that they want to go with another vendor.
Thanks Paul

[Josh Gentry]

Paul, just to make sure, this is the same rubber that would be used on erly 70's Superiors also right? If so, I'm still in.

Josh

[Paul Steinberg]

Paul, just to make sure, this is the same rubber that would be used on erly 70's Superiors also right? If so, I'm still in.

Josh

I don't know what rubber profile 1970's Superior used, so I can't make any statements about this. I do know that the rubber that I am working on getting reproduced is the correct rubber for the Miller Meteor cars from the early 1960's till the end of production. I suggest that you post a profile picture of the rubber from your Superior for us to compare.

[John ED Renstrom]

I do know 71 superior used the same weather striping. we need to find a source for this stuff. I'm in for my commitment and I also hope Mike can come threw so I know were I can get some more when I need it.

[Josh Gentry]

THanks Ed, 71 is what I'm needing it for, so I'm still in. The next chalinge is finding rubber for the 70 S&S.

Josh

[John ED Renstrom]

s&s used a caddy weather striping . you can find some at any of the normal sources. I used auto restoration. cut a slice out of the bottom of the door and use that for the profile. you only need a 1/8 slice to be able to compare. check to see if your car has the nylon pins in the rubber or not. the 73 I did had them. it readily available but a little spendy with the holes

[Paul Steinberg]

I do know 71 superior used the same weather striping. we need to find a source for this stuff. I'm in for my commitment and I also hope Mike can come threw so I know were I can get some more when I need it.

Once I have this done, we should be able to reorder without any problems, and you will have a steady supply. There is a lot more to the rubber than just the profile. I know that this manufacturer knows how to make a perfect product.

[Josh Gentry]

Ed you are the man. Thanks.:thumbsup:

Josh

[Terry Broussard]

as well for my '72 Pontiac Superior.

Thanks.

[Nikki Brady]

Oooo me too! I have a '71 Superior Caddy. I'm guessing I'll need it for all five doors. Mine looked like they melted.

[Josh Gentry]

Oooo me too! I have a '71 Superior Caddy. I'm guessing I'll need it for all five doors. Mine looked like they melted.For some reason I've noticed on Superiors, the weather stripping did not hold up good at all. On my 71 Superior, its all shot, every bit of it. On my 67 M-M, its in exelent shape for the age. On my 70 S&S, its not to great, but not to bad either.

Josh

[Nikki Brady]

Thanks Josh! Good to know that mine isn't the only one with this weird problem. I was wondering what the heck happened to this poor car that the rubber melted/disolved.

[Jim Staruk]

Public Notice:

I have been in contact with a manufacturer, and they are getting together a quote for me for the rubber and the cost of the dies to produce the rubber for the Miller Meteor cars. This will be an exact reproduction of the rubber, and will not be available to the general public. Those that want to follow Michael Muklak, on his quest please let me know so I can delete your name from the list that I started. I need to be upfront with the manufacturer as to how many feet that I can honestly commit to purchasing. Once I have the final price, we can go from there and place an order. I don't want to wind up in a situation where I commit to 2500 feet, and then have 10 people decide that they want to go with another vendor.
Thanks Paul

Paul, Any update on this order? I can use some also (I think) ...

[Paul Steinberg]

It is in the hands of the company that will make it to come up with a price. In the meantime, we are about 10 people / 1000 feet short of meeting our 2500 foot goal.

[Pat MacPhail]

I don't know if you gentleman can find something that works for you from this website...if you can it would well worth your while.
http://www.cleanseal.com/catalog.php?category=14
Using part # 50322 for an example if you bought the minimum run of 100 ft. the price would be $1.25 a foot. If you bump the order up to 300 ft. the price goes down to $.50 a foot. They also have the option of fitting the weather-stripping with a self adhesive strip which would bump the 300 ft. order to $.62 a foot.
I know from experience that one can spend too much on rubber products. I had Karr supply me the windshield rubber for my 1955 Mack LT truck and the price was over $400 (3 different profiles)
After I did that I found I could get the same rubber from Wefco for one third of the price.
It pays to shop around.
Cheers,Pat

[Loren Baldwin]

Paul, I'm definitely down for my all the rubber for my 59 Miller!

[John ED Renstrom]

better check that 59 I don't think it's the same stuff.

[Loren Baldwin]

Drat...finding window and door rubber for this car is a PITA!!!

[Bill Leverett]

I'm about 1 week away from needing weatherstripping so unless there's some activity on this I'll have to take my name off the the list and look elsewhere. All of the my weather stripping was completely shot and not salvageable so I have to do something. I don't have a proper garage to store the ambulance in so I'll need to start filling up those spaces between the doors and the body to keep the rain out. I'm also on a deadline (May 29th) as this is going to be my son's ride to his secondary school grad (his request...go figure?)

[John ED Renstrom]

bill we are kind of up a wall right now i do know of one that is not the same profile that will fill the bill. drop me a pm and I'll send you the number. its way off the appearance but will seal the gap.

[John Burchfield]

I can't remember, but it seems like there have been multiple threads on this topic. Today is the first time I've been on the board in over a month due to being very busy. I'm interested in weatherstripping for all 5 doors for at least my '72 Superior hightop and the '75 M-M combination. Paul S. I think I told you this in an earlier thread, but here's my "in" notice to be sure. Certainly getting a quality product is important, but Pat MacPhail's post above about something substantially less expensive is compelling, if someone is able to determine if that company can produce something for our cars of comparable quality to Paul's source. Competition does drive down prices!

[Michael Mykulak]

Just wanted to let everyone know, that I will be mailing Dwayne Brooks a box of door weather stripping samples, to be handed out at the International PCS coach show. I initally contacted Metro Moulded Rubber products early this winter after the door weather stripping post. After asking for the Karr rubber sample to be submitted to me, Ed was happy to provide me with a piece for reference. I took that sample to Metro, then it was blueprinted, a die made, then a sample extruded. Ed installed the sample into his 1968 Miller Meteor. You can see the installation process Ed used to install the sample on his back door if you go to his dropshots. Ed then did a paper test to see how much drag there was on the paper as it was being pulled out from between the door and the inner jam. The fit seemed very close in the video with only the fit across the bottom of the door being the least tight of fit. The bottoms of the rear doors do not fit against a jam but against the loading platform so I believe that was the cause of the loose fit. I lost sleep over the results and redesigned the weather stripping with a friend who is a retired engineer. A second sample was drawn up, another die made and a second sample created. Whats different about the second sample is simple but effective, the fin that is part of the profile of the Miller Meteor door gasket, stands up from the base to fill the opening between the door and the jam. The fin on the original sample was set far enough forward that when the door closed, the fin was pushed backwards reducing the height of the fin before it was ultimately pinched into the position with the door in the closed position. Ed reported in his dropshots that it seamed that the mark that was left on the door gasket indicated that approximately 1/8 inch or a bit greater of the rubber showed signs as being in contact between the door and the jam. In the redesign, the shank of the fin was increased in size, the height on the fin was increased, then the key element was moving the fin back on the base, which enabled the fin not to loose as much height as it was bent backwards. After talking to Richard Vyse on the fit of the Karr rubber door weatherstripping that Ed sent Richard to do his back door, Richard told me that after he installed the Karr rubber on his door, when he closes it, there is a small amount of bounce back. Richard said that his rear door closed prior to the new weather stripping the same way. The version 2 weather stripping is so close to acceptable, that I am offering the members to input comments whether to go ahead and have a run made or the second choice is to wait and see if a third version I am having a blueprint made of will be a more better design. The third version done, will raise the height of the fin more, and increases the thickness of the fin more, where it sweeps down towards the base. We are using savings out of our 401 K and we would like to make some money from our efforts. Tentatively the pricing on version 2 will be $2.75 a foot for 1 foot to 50 feet, then $2.50 for 50 feet to 75 feet, 75 feet to 100 feet $2.25 then any purchases of 100 + feet will be $2.00 per foot. Please comment if I have left anything out you have a question about. It takes 4 weeks to get the product made. After shipping some of the rubber, I have found out that 50 feet will fit into a $14.50 large priority USPS mailing box with out being ruined. The rubber has a memory when freshly extruded, and will retain wrinkles when compressd for a long period of time. This said, the rubber will have to be spun or spiraled into the shipping box to lay it in nicely which requires some effort to get to the end user in good condition. An extra $5.00 dollars is what I felt would be warranted to pay for my time to pack the weather stripping so it lays in the shipping box with the minimal amount of damage, plus the rest of the labor of labeling the box and ultimately taking the parcels to the post office. Sorry that I could not keep a dialogue open on the project, I was asked to not do so. Version 1 has a die on the shelf as well, but I would prefer not to use it. Paul suggested to me that prior to installing the new rubber gasket you should check what kind of fit your door gasket is currently giving you so that after you install the new gasket, a better judgement call can be made, after you have completed the installation. Just a heads up for everyone as a warning, our computer was hacked into some months ago, our credit card number was stolen and sold to some one in Russia, our email hacked into, and our trust changed forever. Our friends have received mail from us that we never sent and posts have been made using our email address. So please no business with us except by phone. I learned how to use a computer in 2006 so I am not very computer literate, this hacker has cost us $500.00 so far and we are still trying to get the situation taken care of months later. We have a very good idea who did it, and it seems to be someone that is trying to slander our reputations and create divisions between our personal friends and Dawn and I. Last the investigator from the ICC called us he asked if we used a cordless phone, which we did until recently. He found out that someone in Minneapolis is using a ham radio to listen in on cordless phone calls and it is likely that it is how it all began. Members can go to the member ship directory for our contact information. Thank You All, Sincerely, Michael Mykulak

[Michael Mykulak]

The door weather stripping came today! I got an email this morning, so as soon as the station wagon got home I was off to pay my balance owed, do a Q.C. check and arrange shipping to my destination. Well this rubber turned out so much better than expected, that I could not wait to get it transported, so I broke the pallet open and reduced the shipment so I could get it into the 1990 Buick Century Wagon and off we went. It's here finally 8 months like the birth of a child practically and enough stress to drive you crazzy. Yes an extra z's worth is about right. Testing the waters on pricing, I have had suggested to me several times over, that one price per foot is better than a scaled price per foot. OK well I did the math and it did not work out well doing a sliding scale because of the costs of the developement invested, state taxes which I paid up front on, and all the rest of the money out that we needed to recoup. BIG, THANK YOU! TO JOHN ED RENSTROM for all your help.

[Russ Austin]

Michael, whats your # to call and place an order.

[John ED Renstrom]

Russ this woun't be the same stuff on hte 63 64 years if thats what your looking for.

[Russ Austin]

I am looking for the seals for my 63 M&M. I used the generic seal from rubbertheright way, and it worked. Ordered enough for 2 doors. Looking to do the rest.

[Mike Stevens]

Is this rubber the correct stuff for a 61 M-M?
Mike

[Michael Mykulak]

Mike, Ed is more intimately knowledgible in reference to your question. He has seen and worked on more coach's than most and has seen more variety of door seal rubber. My handicap is that, for me to make a good judgement call, I would have to have a cross section cutout to use your profile sample to compare with. If you have a spot you can slice into under your door or some other discreet location, I could or Ed could beyond any doubt make a recomendation of either yes or no. I will sell any length you might need for either one or all doors. You would like to do just your rear loading door for a trial, that works for me. I have HOOD BUMPERS available as well. Out of the 4 customers I have sold the product to, 3 have ordered the sets of bumpers as well. They are easy to put on, just slip over the posts and are large enough to slip over without tearing them. I installed them on our coach and had to adjust down the posts, they made that much a difference. I also put a dab of silicone inside so that when they settle in they would stay stationary. Just me. Like Ed mentioned, if it doesn't bother you, if the rubber does the job, thats all that matters. While quizing Paul, out of curiosity recently I asked if anyone would deduct points for not having the original style rubber door seal and he strongly felt it would not be a consideration at all for points to be deducted, as most folks judging, would not know either way the correct profile that should be in any coach.

[John ED Renstrom]

this is the profile Mick has in stock. I don't think the 61 would used it. I know that the 63 superior does not. I found that Restorations specialties has the best price on the generic rubber for them,