Re: WOW ... stop the rust while you can ...
This thread made me look at the seal area on my car to find out if it had got any rust. I pulled out the seal on both sides and along the bottom a few inches at a time. I also removed the trim covering the start of the seal at the back end of the door. I was quite amazed to find that it was made from steel, these cars are quite strongly built.
See Photos 1 and 1a (trim removed)
Behind this trim there was some evidence of water having been there at some time, I had washed the car a few days before but it was dry by this time even if it had been wet. I was relieved to find no rust behind the seal. When I purchased this car it was nearly two years since its manufacture date, so I thought that as it had sat around in the rain and snow a lot with no rust evident maybe there was another cause or I was just lucky. If the rain had not run into the seal then maybe most of the rain gets in when it is driven, I did find that film that water leaves when it has dried, the film that is like painted on dust.
I had read Steve-UK's answer to the water getting behind the seal and I thought that although water could get in as he said, water was under more pressure to get in at the front of the door. The front being the leading edge of the door in motion and it is from the front of the door that the air comes to dry out the inside of the door.
As Steve-UK says water is channeled to the front vertical seal of the quarter glass from the side and quarter windows and then drops into a drain that is molded into the seal on the door that the rear end of the door seal slips into. This drain can be seen in Photos 1, 1a and 3. The door seal can be seen fitting into the seal with the drain in Photo-1
The relationship of the quarter glass seal and the drain can be seen in Photos 2 and 3
The seal with the drain in it covers the hole that is in the whole length of the door seal, this hole allows the door seal to crush when the door is shut. There is a similar cover, without the drain, on the other end of the door seal. Small holes in the seal let the air out and also helps any water to escape that does get in. The drain leads to the interior of the door, water flows down the interior of the door and escapes out of the drain at its bottom rear edge. It is vital that this hole is kept open for obvious reasons. The upper drain is visible in Photos 1, 1a. and 3
Continued in next message, max of four photos has been reached.
Last edited by onehundred80; Dec 5, 2010 at 06:41 PM.