Door rubber weatherstrip Seals

Getting to know automotive door rubber weatherstrip.  
This is one of the most important part to protect car interior from dust, noise, wind noise and water drop. The good door rubber weatherstrip seals should have flexibility, softness, high resistance to sun light and rainy. Mostly made from EPDM material.    
 
There are two main type of door rubber weatherstrip seals that work together.
- Inner door seal: fitting on chassis side, sometimes call this Door Trim, Body trim, Pinch-weld and so on.
- Outer door seal: fitting on the door side.
 
door weather stripping seal Outer & Inner

This figure shows how these door weatherstrip work together.

Door weather stripping outer & inner

INNER DOOR seals

(DOOR BODY TRIM /door rubber the fit on car chassis side).
The profiles shape design to serve two main functions. U-shape Pinch for fitting and side bubble for soften the door closing.
(Some old cars use just pinch and don't have soften bubble)

rubber profile, pinch weld ,weatherstripweather strippingweather stripping

This kind of door rubber weatherstrip is easy to replace. Most of the case, you can use universal shape to replace the old one. Depend on profile size, pinch depth and bubble size.
Just measure length you need and easily pinch it on car body and make sure it fit tight. You might need rubber hammer and piece of rag.
 
Explore the universal pinch-weld profile here.

 

 

 

Outer door seals

(Door rubber weatherstrip seal on door side).
This is complicate part, every car model have specified shape, moulded corner and more complex transition of profile depend on each car design.

door seal corner

door rubber weatherstrip, pajero sportdoor rubber seal, Celica, weatherstrip, TA22, TA28, RA35

In some case, many vehicles have another rubber piece fitting on upper side using for roof rail (to drain the water out and not leak inside). However, there are many modern designs of door rubber seal that using upper part to combine roof rail function as well.

Explore varieties of car model door rubber weatherstrip seal here.

 

When will consider changing the car’s door rubber weatherstrip?

 

Check point for condition of door rubber weatherstrip seals.
- Push the bubble rubber or sponge and Rubber doesn’t bounce back right after release. 
- There is not any reflexibility of the seals.
- Hearing whistle noise of wind while driving.
- Smell from outside.
- Have water leak, water drop on rainy weather.
 
 
Finally, door rubber weatherstrip seal is one of the most important part for every restoration project.  It’s usually need replacement after 10 years of normal using. For best performance, we recommend replacing both outside and inside door seals. 
 
Feel free to contact us if have any questions.