Door alignment after install of Wild Horse weather stripping

[WPS 73 Bronco]

So my 73 Bronco had, keyword had, pretty good door gap alignment. The one exception was the passenger side had a small door to body rub. I've made it worse by installing new WH weather stripping on both doors. The prior owner had left the rubber sections of the weather stripping that mount to the door body pillars in tact, but cut the remaining stripping off. That was replaced by adhesive backed square soft foam rubber insulation. The doors opened and closed real good.

As part of my active projects, I installed new door handles and weather stripping at the same time. When I first went to shut the doors, they wouldn't close. I then adjusted the body mount door pin to see if that would help. It did, by my door gaps were nowhere near as good as before. The next thing I found was that the doors had to be forced shut (slammed). I assumed the rubber would soften up over time. I did some trim work to make it better, but it didn't solve the problem. After about a week, one of the new interior door handle rod retaining clips popped out as the pressure to open the door is to great.

So what should I do? I'm afraid to start adjusting the door hinges as I fear I will go down a path of no return. I've also read where others have had similar issues with weather stripping.

Advice is needed. Thanks

 

[WPS 73 Bronco]

I've also removed the inner door latch mechanism and I have it soaking in degreaser as I want to make sure it's not part of the door handle issue.

The interior door latch mechanism works great, and when it opens the door springs open due to the compression fit with the weather stripping.

 

[DirtDonk]

Sorry to hear you’re having this trouble.
Whatever you do though, DO NOT adjust the door after a weatherstrip installation makes it hard to close.
You’re just pissing in the wind at that point.
Door adjustment is door adjustment and has nothing to do with the seals. If you adjust it to fit the seals, then your body gaps and alignment probably won’t line up.

Very obviously, your Bronco’s PO had the same problem that you’re having and that many have had. The only other reason to cut out sections of weatherstrip and replace it with non-automotive type is if it literally wore out and was falling apart.
The main reason most do that is because the factory replacement stuff is so finicky in it’s fitment.

Our supplier has been fairly consistent with good fitting seals. But even they don’t get it right every time. That’s why we have a return guarantee.
That’s also why time and time again here on the forums, we say to trial fit new weatherstrip before gluing it in. Easier to remove and return and replace that way.

If your door shuts fine before it, but needs to be slammed afterwards, you have to figure out why. If it’s just needing extra adjustments or compressing a new piece of rubber, that’s one thing. But if the weatherstrip is never going to be correct for your door, because it will not compress enough, you need to replace it.

Return it in exchange for another set that hopefully works better, or get your money back and try Plan B.
You might think that Plan B involves going to a different brand. Unfortunately, you could go to every different brand for months and never get one that fits quite right.
Or you might get lucky and the next one fits perfect.

I happen to have one perfectly good one (driver side), and one very tight one (passenger side) on my 68.
And they didn’t come from WH.

Absolutely a good idea to clean the latch and adjust the linkage. They often cause problems, but also don’t have as much to do with door alignment unless the latch is not going into it’s second locked position.

So before doing any drastic cutting or removing, once you get the latch back in, verify just exactly where the new weatherstripping is tightest.
If it’s on the vertical flanges of the door pillars, you can flex those inward a bit.
If it’s on the lower door sill area, you can remove some material from the backside of the weatherstripping.
The last two remaining points of contact are those at the top of each door pillar.
The one at the top of the B pillar between the hard top, body and door. And the one on the A pillar at the windshield frame in front of the door.
In my experience that last one is the most likely to be the worst offender.
But each of those previously mentioned positions can be at fault here.

 

[WPS 73 Bronco]

DD, thanks for your advice. I did trim the A pillar at the windshield on the passenger side as it wouldn't even shut when I first installed. Now that I've read multiple threads, I think my best bet is to trim like crazy and if I can't get it to work, then return them to WH.

 

[WPS 73 Bronco]

Is there a better supplier of these weather strips? I've read some success stories with Dennis Carpenter.

 

[Slowleak]

Is there a better supplier of these weather strips? I've read some success stories with Dennis Carpenter.

Read these threads if you want to make your own. I have tried them all. Unless something has changed, they all take a lot of fitting. It was easier and cheaper to make my own which fit and seal better.

Door seal escapades....

For those of you who are tired of messing with upper door seals and glue, this stuff fits great and you just push it on over the flange. I’m still fine tuning and trimming but it’s much easier than messing with glue. It hides your old glue residue and has that nice woven texture on the inside...

classicbroncos.com

Who makes the Very Best door rubber??

Getting to the point I need this, Who,s is the best??

classicbroncos.com

 

[sprdv1]

Read these threads if you want to make your own. I have tried them all. Unless something has changed, they all take a lot of fitting. It was easier and cheaper to make my own which fit and seal better.

http://[URL]https://classicbroncos.com/forums/threads/door-seal-escapades.305785/#post-3323962

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http://[URL]https://classicbroncos.com/forums/threads/who-makes-the-very-best-door-rubber.307934/

[/URL]

Definitely some good info there

 

[DirtDonk]

…then return them to WH.

Returning should not be a problem. But just to be on the safe side, you should probably call in and talk to one of the guys, possibly Matt.
Before cutting them to shreds.

 

[WPS 73 Bronco]

I took a good look at them last night, did a little bit of triming, but no significant change. I ordered the "round tube" weatherstripping off of amazon last night. I'm going to go down that path.

 

[BGBronco]

Everyone seems to like the WH option the best from what I've read. It would be interesting to assess if you had good door alignment before or if you had the illusion of good door alignment. My previous bronco looked like it had good alignment because when it hit the door striker, it lifted the door into the correct position. It's somewhat of a black art but someone that understands how it all fits together should be able to get things aligned with a body mount / hinge shims. Good luck.

 

[papy]

No offence to any of our vendors - I would order the Ebay stuff from "door seal escapades" and be done with it. You won't regret it....

 

[DirtDonk]

None taken. From this corner anyway…
Haven’t heard of that one before. Will have to check it out.

 

[billh1289]

No offence to any of our vendors - I would order the Ebay stuff from "door seal escapades" and be done with it. You won't regret it....

Is that the seller?

 

[half cab]

Took my doors 5 years of slamming and they finely close right. The rubber softened up over time and heat.

 

[Slowleak]

None taken. From this corner anyway…
Haven’t heard of that one before. Will have to check it out.

He is referring to the Amazon clip-on bulb weatherstripping in the link I posted.

Door seal escapades....

For those of you who are tired of messing with upper door seals and glue, this stuff fits great and you just push it on over the flange. I’m still fine tuning and trimming but it’s much easier than messing with glue. It hides your old glue residue and has that nice woven texture on the inside...

classicbroncos.com

 

[billh1289]

He is referring to the Amazon clip-on bulb weatherstripping in the link I posted.

http://[URL]https://classicbroncos.com/forums/threads/door-seal-escapades.305785/#post-3323962

[/URL]

Thanks. I probably should have caught that as many times as I’ve read your thread….

 

[DirtDonk]

Me too. But to my mind, the seller was “Amazon“ and nobody else.

 

[billh1289]

Me too. But to my mind, the seller was “Amazon“ and nobody else.

Yep. I went right to eBay and put in door seal escapades like a putz…

 

[sprdv1]

Took my doors 5 years of slamming and they finely close right. The rubber softened up over time and heat.

whatever it takes

 

[sprdv1]

Me too. But to my mind, the seller was “Amazon“ and nobody else.

LOL....