Replacing all exterior seals/trim??? help

[grn280SL]

Guys,
How big a deal is it to replace the seals around the trunk, soft top box, doors, etc.? (not the windshield)  Has anyone had any experience with this?  Is this a good weekend project?  My car has some overspray on bits of the trim and it drives me crazy!  

Thanks,
Justin

[blue230sl]

i just had the trunk seal replaced. it sticks out a little in places, and is so new that i have to really slam the trunk lid at the handle to get it to close, and it still pops open sometimes. i'm hoping that with summer coming in the rubber will soften and conform to the lid....

john
64 230sl euro 4 spd
89 190e 2.6

[paulr]

I know how you feel. I have replaced all mine or had them replaced. I suspect that it's harder than it looks to get right....glue everywhere.

paulr
1970 280 SL

[Else1969]

I am just finishing off my seals after replacing all of them. It is not too difficult to do yourself, but it is time consuming. It took me a lot longer than just one weekend, but I also replaced the window guide inserts and tried (only semi-successfully) to adjust the soft-top frame. The worst part was removing a ton of old glue. It seems that nearly every seal had been glued down, even the ones that clip in. I assume that a previous owner recycled the old seals after repainting the car, which meant they would not hold in place without glue.

I have placed the boot seal (sorry, can't bring myself to write "trunk")in the u-channel without gluing it. The seal rotates slightly (area near the soft-top hatch) when closing the lid, so that bits of the seal show in the gap between the lid and the body. Can anyone please tell me if the boot seal should be glued down.

Dirk
1969 Signal Red 280 SL

[grn280SL]

Ok,
So do we think it's best just do have done professionally?  I just didn't want to pay someone $70+ an hour to sit and scrape.  I will from now on refer to the "trunk" as the boot.  haha

[J. Huber]

I have done many of the seals myself. The window seals are not hard to do at all. Both soft and hard-top seals are straightforward. The A-pillar? one is also simple. I did my soft-top case -- takes some effort to scrape out old glue and clean-up the channel. But very doable. Problem is my folded soft-top chewed it up again in no time. But that's another story...

I did pay my mechanic to do my trunk (boot!) seal because it seemed challenging. He did ok but not perfect. It has some variation in its twist and some rubber shows from outside. With guidance from experts here, I could have done just as well...

A caveat to all this -- my car is nowhere near show-quality -- so any improvement like new seals is just that: an improvement. If I wanted it done "perfectly" I bet an expert shop would do better.

Also -- I bought a rubber kit from Miller's -- had many though not all of the seals. The others I bought separately. Get MBZ seals whenever you can.



James
63 230SL

[paulr]

Perhaps the best compromise is to do the scraping ourselves then pay someone to do the tricky bit. I would like my door seals and trunk/boot done again.
Nick, any ideas?

paulr
1970 280 SL

[dldubois]

I agree.   The removal of glue and cleaning was the work.   I just replaced all seals (including the windshield) and it wasn't that difficult a job.  Just time-consuming.

Dana DuBois
1969 280sl
Corinth, TX

[JPMOSE]

Another important point is OEM versus after market seals.  I have read many a nightmare tail about after market seals not fitting properly. Also, some of the OEM seals are cloth covered (a concern if you want everything to look original).

There are many posts on this subject.  Do a search and you will find a lot of information.

Best Regards,

J. P. Mose
1968 250SL
1987 560SL

[DavidBrough]

I replaced my seals some time ago and found that the main problem was cutting them to the correct length, especially the door window seals. I used original seals and they are very tough to cut if you don’t have a very sharp knife and it’s easy to cut them short as a number of ends need to be angled. Use the old carpenters adage measure twice cut once and also remember that rubbers are always fitted long and slightly compressed into place.

On the boot seal, I had a similar problem to John with the lid popping open after the seal had been renewed. I simply adjusted the catch to let it sit a little higher on the new rubber and all is fine now, no popping open and no leaks.



David Brough
1969 280SL Auto with A/C

[blue230sl]

quote:
On the boot seal, I had a similar problem to John with the lid popping open after the seal had been renewed. I simply adjusted the catch to let it sit a little higher on the new rubber and all is fine now, no popping open and no leaks.
David Brough
1969 280SL Auto with A/C

Thanks David; when she comes back from the shop (new front wheel bearings) i'll see if i can do that too...

john
64 230sl euro 4 spd
89 190e 2.6