Greetings all,

I imagine this subject has been done to death, but I have given up on the new front door seals I purchased from SNG (RTC2610 & 2609)
Doors have been adjusted pretty well, minus the seals. However, when seals are fitted, the doors hardly close and an iron fist is need to open them.
Has anyone on the forum had any luck with seals sourced from elsewhere?
BTW the Barratt rear door seals fit OK.
Could it be the parts packages were numbered wrong & I have got the seal **** about face?
Thanks for any help.

 

I don’t have any leads on a good source however I am interested to see what others can offer.
I replaced all door seals about 16 years ago and it is probably top on my list of things that I regret doing.
I’ve not yet tried it but I imagine using sandpaper to remove excess rubber from the door seals where they are too stiff.

 

I too replaced my seals on the drivers side of my 1975 XJ6C and regretted it. It was super difficult to get the new one into the track. Ultimately went with a lubricating product made just for such things. The name escapes me, but it made it much easier. However, the new seal must have been much more puffier (for lack of a better word), as I had to take a razor blade to cut some of it back to shut the door. I find, over time, that it does get better as it gets worn in. I decided NOT to do the passenger side and I have no leakage problems. Sometimes you are just better off leaving things alone and not replacing them just for the sake of replacing them.

 

Thanks guys for the replies.

I bought 2 new front door seals today. but they appear exactly the same as the Barrett products.

On close inspection, it seem the seal section where the "chicane" spot on the door channel just above the door catch/latch is stiffer than the rest of the seal.

I will attack this spot with sand paper as suggested to make it more pliable.
The razor blade suggestion is also worthy of consideration, trouble is I will probably use it to slash my wrists, which is highly likely after attempting to re-fit the seals, for the millionth time!.

The suggestion "let sleeping dogs lie" with these cars certainly has a lot of merit.

Cheers.

 

I did the same on my passenger door and regret it as well. The door gaps are adjusted well and doors are flush, but it’s hard to close and opening the door requires significant force when pressing the latch.

I may be the only one, but the bottom of the door also doesn’t seal to the body with the new seals, I have a ~1/8” gap. Might be worth others checking theirs as well.

At this point I’d be willing to spend a pretty penny to get seals that actually work..

 

I share your angst. After fitting the seals for the first (painful) time, I found the doors would hardly close at all.
So I removed all the seals & adjusted the doors to get the shut lines as good as I could. That was a dilemma in itself.
The front doors I initially had the seals on the wrong sides. So this is the third time seals have been on & off. And you don't get any better at it.
With the seals re-fitted, you have to slam the bejesus out of the doors & yes the door button is hard to release. Before fitting the seals they were perfect.
So tomorrow I will try a heat gun on the seals in an attempt to soften them up.
Maybe I should re-commission BB-62 USS New Jersey to perform another Okinawa 16" gun "softening up" exercise.

 

I went around the entire door seal with with a dremel tool in order to widen the foot gap where there was none before. This gave it more room to squeeze inward and fit inside the rail. In order to get thru the dreaded chicane, I mounted two disc to the tool arbor and made the gap wider. All told I had three day's into one door. Picture is not shown with dremel tool installed. It took a day for my hands to recover.

Thank you

Larry Louton

 

I just went through the driver's door only to find out later that it wasn't the door seal that I was hearing air come through with the windows up but it turned out to be a little leak in the upper corner of the little triangle window. The rubber was dried out and chunked out a little bit. A little clear silicone and we're all good. But, back to the door trim escapade. I'm with you in that it may not be worth it unless you really know if the seals you have are bad or not. I used the BAC6019 ones (Ebay) and they fit well but super tough to get them in. I tried all kinds of tools and only towards the end when I got the front lower corner of the driver's door did I simply push in the inside lip and used "gorilla snot" (3M Wetherstrip Adhesive) to keep it in place. Once the door is closed it works just fine.

If I was to do it again, I think that I would do the same as the poster above and actually open up the channel where the rubber trim goes so that the seal can go in easier and sit flat...then I'd use a light film of some gorilla snot to make sure it stays in place.

I talked with my nephew who has been doing strictly late model Jaguar and Land Rover collision repair and body work for about 20 years. He said that he uses soapy water in a spray bottle when doing them on the newer ones. He didn't have any special tool for doing them he said.