URO Door seals: extraneous rubber lip on lower part?

[johnny02]

I know we have been talking about this in other threads, but I have a specific question about the door seals (just bought URO).  The rubber lip that hooks into the aluminum channel on the upper A and B pillars and the roof continues the length of the seal, but doesn't really have anywhere to go on the body where the door itself sits.  Seems like I would want to trim this before gluing that lower section.   Any thoughts from the experienced out there?  Do I just glue and smoosh it against the sheet metal?  

By the way, I didn't have a very hard time getting that lip into the little channels with these seals.  I used silicone and a bicycle tire lever, but for the most part the lever was unnecessary.  Not saying they';; stay in place but they went in ok.  

  Thanks-

      John 

[7502]

pictures would be nice..

[AlfaBMWGuy]

Hi John,

 

Did you end up trimming off this lip along the bottom section?  Either way, how did it go for you installing these seals?  I'm asking because my mechanic installed a new OEM driver door seal with very few issues, but is finding it much tougher with the URO passenger door seal.  In particular he's having trouble getting the 3M weather strip adhesive to adhere along the bottom even after cleaning off the mold powder with brake parts cleaner.  I've got some 3M adhesive remover and Wurth rubber glue headed his direction to get more serious about it, but I was wondering if this rubber lip was resulting in less surface to hold the seal against the door frame.

 

Thanks,

Gary

Edited March 29, 2022 by AlfaBMWGuy

[AlfaBMWGuy]

Also, assuming you installed a URO driver door seal in addition to a passenger door seal, I was curious about your impression about the fit for the passenger door seal vs. the driver door given the statements by the URO representative (in that other FAQ thread) saying they are reformulating the passenger door seals again (not available for another 9 months) to be mirror images of the driver door seal after complaints that they didn't fit as well as their driver door seals?  Since my driver door seal is OEM, I can't judge this myself.

 

Do both the URO driver and passenger door seals have this exact same extra rubber lip issue or is that possibly just on the passenger door and maybe that's one of the customer complaints?

 

Thanks,

Gary

Edited March 29, 2022 by AlfaBMWGuy

[johnny02]

@AlfaBMWGuy-  They both have the lip, and I haven't figured out what to do with it yet, so I don't know if that's the problem they are talking about.  They both installed in the upper channels fairly easily.   I have stepped away from this part of the job for a minute--I have the doors latched closed to hopefully give them some compression before I decide how to finish them.  Unfortunately my plastic sill covers that would pinch the bottom of that gasket are long gone so I can't use those to locate those bottom ends.   I think I am going to end up trimming them, as it just looks like the way it should be-like you said, the "glue-able" surface is interrupted by that lip.  I will try to post pics.  

[URO Parts Support]

Hi Johnny, so the ends of the seals need to be trimmed because you're not using plastic sill covers?  Please post photos when you get a chance.

[AlfaBMWGuy]

Thanks for the reply John!  I share your frustration regarding the lack of details on issues since that can make all the difference in knowing how to proceed.  I pointed my mechanic friend to this thread in case it helps him out with my '74 tii.  In my case the door seals are the last significant job I have on my list that he has tackled over winter so I'm really looking forward to it being done.  He had a much easier time doing door seals a few years ago with my last 2002, an early '71.  Both of those were OEM seals though since there wasn't the availability issue there is now.

 

-Gary

[johnny02]

That little bit on the inside keeps the rest of it from lying flat against this part of the body.  

it makes sense at the upper circle here where it tucks in to a channel, but there’s no channel once you get to the door part below. 

[AlfaBMWGuy]

I recently got word back from my mechanic on the difficulty he's had in installing the URO passenger door seal.  This is after using 3M adhesive remover, Wurth rubber glue (after the 3M weather strip adhesive wasn't up to the job), and sanding the URO seals after removing the mold powder with brake cleaner and alcohol--all based on advice I found from searching the FAQ.  The issue is that the URO door seal pulls loose around the door striker even with the strongest glue and fastidious preparation as the seal stands out an extra 3/16" on the passenger side vs. a brand new OEM seal on the driver side.

 

So, he sees two possible paths forward.  Either he'll cut out the vertical section from my ancient OEM passenger door seal (the one I was replacing because it no longer makes a tight weather seal) and splice that in instead of the URO seal for that length or he'll try cutting down the new URO seal specifically for that vertical section.  The hope with the latter approach would be to eliminate enough of that 3/16" that it stands out so that it no longer pulls the glued seal from the door frame when the door is closed/opened, but at least have fresher rubber than what could be original seals from 1974.

 

Both of those are interim solutions and the long-term solution is to wait for BMW Classic to start shipping new OEM passenger door seals again or for URO to redesign their passenger RH door seal.  From what I see on this thread and heard from BMW parts suppliers, both of those may happen in the same timeframe early in 2023.

 

@johnny02 your issue definitely is exacerbated by not having the plastic door sills.  Sourcing those seems like your best path forward, but cutting the lip off the URO seal seems like your best contingency plan if they just can't be found.

 

-Gary

Edited April 5, 2022 by AlfaBMWGuy

[AlfaBMWGuy]

As an update on the situation with the vertical section of my passenger door URO seal sticking out too far and the interior door panel ripping it off when the door is opened/closed, my mechanic ended up taking off the seal again, taking a power sander to the inside of it where it adheres to the frame for this vertical section, and regluing it.  He took off about 1/8" of the rubber material and says this was just enough to keep the door panel from tearing it off.  So we are going to declare victory on this for now even though I'll be patiently waiting for the OEM RH seals to become available again in the months (years?) to come.  That level of customization should never be required, but it was preferable to going back to my worn original seals--the whole reason for buying new seals in the first place.

 

-Gary

[jimk]

The OE seals stick out in the same place,  Keep the power sander handy.

[AlfaBMWGuy]

Thanks Jim.  Actually, the URO passenger seal stuck out an extra 3/16" beyond a new OEM driver side seal.  On the driver side, the seal didn't tear itself off based on how it was (improperly) designed.

Edited April 11, 2022 by AlfaBMWGuy

[jimk]

My OE passengers side replacement seal drags on the door card.

[AlfaBMWGuy]

Interesting and thanks for the extra info.  On my last 2002, an early '71, the OEM door seals on both sides went on easy with no interference.  With my current '74 tii, it's more of a struggle on both sides, but the OEM driver door seal wasn't too much of a pain (just barely avoids door panel interference) compared to the URO passenger door seal--mix and match was never the desired solution, but at least for the coming year or so, it's reality given that BMW hasn't been shipping passenger door seals and won't for many more months.  The seals for the '71 were bought back in 2017 so maybe that was just a better designed batch or those and the newer OEM seals both fit better on earlier '02s, not sure.  I bought my current OEM driver door seal last September, while the URO I bought late last year when the delay on the OEM passenger seal became intolerable.