Just installed the Wild Horses door seals

[JAFO]

EDIT: I wanted to mention that before ordering these seals I called Wild Horses and talked to them. They told me that they tested many seals and the ones they sell seemed to be the best they could find. And if not happy I can return them.

So, these are a little better than what I bought from TBP, but I am still not totally satisfied. I'm going to see if the doors close better over time.

I followed the Wild Horses install video to the T.

Results-
Before install both my doors were closing with no gaps. Of course with no seals they closed easily.

Passenger side. Seal installed, and immediately as I eased the door closed I knew that it wasn't going to be great. You feel resistance with the door about four inches from closing. If you just push the door closed it doesn't latch tight. So, I had to slam it. It closes fully, but I have close to a quarter inch near the back bottom edge of the door jutting out. That sucks.

Drivers side. Same deal. I have to slam it pretty hard to latch fully. And the rear bottom edge is jutting out a good 1/4". Not what I was hoping for.

I played around with door adjustment, though remember the doors looked fine before the seal install. I got the passenger door to close a little tighter after moving the door latch (at the rear door post) in as far as I could. But I am really closing the door hard.

I can't seem to get the drivers door better with adjusting.

I slammed both doors and walked back to the house. I'll leave the Bronco in the workshop overnight and see if things are better tomorrow. Maybe they will squish in some. It is raining anyway, so the Bronco can't come out to play.

I sure wish the results had been better. It is a lot of time installing these things. This is the second attempt (first tried some from TBP and they sucked worse). I do want to keep the cold air outside, so I guess I'll leave these in place, though not liking my doors jutting out at the bottom.

I took some pics. I'll post them later when I get time to download off the camera. Too lazy right now.

 

[DirtDonk]

Sorry about your hassle JAFO. But my gut feeling is that if it does not close well now, it's not going to be better (enough) the next day either.
Yes, they do slightly compress (sometimes) but more often than not, if it's bad now, it's bad later.

And we have tested many and found these to be good. BUT (and that's a big BUT!) like all brands we've experienced over the years, even these have bad batches now and then. Not as often as the others we've worked with, but often enough that we do have to backtrack now and then.
Just like any other warranty though, it only saves you a little wasted money. Does not save you the time and trouble of doing the work and then trying to find a better set. As you've already seen, some are indeed worse, but that's little consolation.

Right now the Metro brand had good results with a few members here, but our experience was anything but good, with more hard ones than soft by far. And now they're all out anyway and won't have more for quite some time. If at all... They're a little vague on whether or not they'll continue to make them.
With luck though, they're listening to customer complaints and will make the new batches softer and softer until they get it just right.

The consistency (or lack thereof) sure makes it seem like all the "manufacturers" are actually just distributors and are buying from the same few actual manufacturers. And suffering the same fate.
Perhaps it's an issue with machine settings (temp, time, etc) or perhaps it's an inconsistency problem with the supplier of the material (rubber?) instead.

So as you already know, there's zero problem with us taking them back. The problem now is finding some that work. There's only so much you can do with the existing ones.

Some things others have done however, are:

1. cut the metal reinforcing plate out of the front "blob" there at the top of the lower seal where the body meets the windshield frame. This is probably the most common point of resistance for these things.

2. Carefully bend the flanges (the seams along the front and rear of the door opening where the seal mounts) inward slightly. Unfortunately this doesn't do anything for a tight fit between the door and the floor areas that butt right up to the door itself.

3. Some have cut a section out of the rear face of the seals to give the effect of softening them up. Basically just reducing the amount of material that's being squished between the door and floor.

4. Plan-B...

As long as the doors are adjusted so that they latch at the same level as the body and fenders, your adjustment is correct. Any tightness above and beyond that is all in the weatherstripping.
If the doors are latching slightly recessed though, make sure that you adjust them out to be flush so you have a good starting point.

Give us a call if you want them returned.

Good luck.

Paul

 

[Teal68]

Paul,
Have you all ever tried Steele? I hear they are amazing, but I don't have any experience.

http://www.steelerubber.com/door-weatherstrip-70-2429-72
http://www.steelerubber.com/roof-rail-filler-70-2436-73

Might be worth WH's checking into.

 

[DirtDonk]

Heard the same thing, but the samples we got were no better than any of the others.
By far the worst (sorry to say) was the Soffseal. The sample was hard as a rock all the way through, and the size of the reinforcing bit molded into the front chunk/lump/thingy was so big you would have had a hard time closing the door past the 6" mark!

So I can't say that Steele isn't worth at least trying. Just make sure they're aware of the issue and would be willing to take them back as well.
I like their ads and the fact that they advertise on some of our favorite automotive shows these days. That does not guarantee a good fit of course, but it's nice that they talk about their product and company so you can see what's up.
Maybe they'll even tell you for sure whether they mold their own, or buy them from another source. Definitely worth asking.

Granted, we never actually tried the Soffseal unit on a Bronco, but from our other experiences it wasn't even worth the effort. You can tell by hand up to a point if it's going to be crap or at least decent.
We can't tell for certain it's going to be perfect, as every Bronco is different and a "soft" one to the touch might just work great on one, just acceptable on another, and not at all on a third.
We actually do get very few back overall, and still sell quite a few of them. But it doesn't make us any happier that we still have to take some back.

Most of the ones I sell personally, I test feel to see if they're at least softer than the ones I remember from the "bad old days" of the last few years. But even that only goes so far.

For comparison, even the best aftermarket replacements are NOT EVEN CLOSE to same density as the factory originals. Yes, they might last longer before starting to crack and tear from age and use (most of the issue with stock ones), but the originals were like sponge rubber with mostly air. You could compress them quite a bit more than any of the replacements I've seen.

BajaBronco has tried many over the years, and has some opinions on which ones have worked the best for him most often, but I bet that anytime he finds an NOS set still in a sealed box, he'd pay a premium price to grab them!
Maybe he'll chime in with his more recent experiences and who's come through most often. Andrew?

Paul

 

[JAFO]

I may have modified things enough for the Wild Horses seals to do for me. I was up at the shop and just got back to read the comments from DirtDonk.

What I did was (as I see was mentioned) I bent the flanges back slightly on the rear door post. I used a wood drift and hammer and just whacked a few times to get it to bend back a bit. I already had the seal glued on and the seal seems to handled the whack OK.

Also, along the bottom I just cut the back flange off the seal with scissors and removed the plastic pins. Then I glued the seal in place. That seems to have given enough clearance now that the door doesn't seem as tight and I was able to adjust almost all the gap out at the bottom where the door was jutting out. I still have to shut it a little hard, but not having to slam it anymore, which is nice. Door fit is not perfect, but I guess they never are.

Cutting the back of the seal off with scissors and used pliers to pull those plastic tabs back out.

Seal is glued in place all the way around now, including the bottom.

Glued in place.

 

[Slowleak]

Check the metal flange where the door strap hits the body. Mine was bent from the door swinging out and was in causing the seal to pinch. I also sprayed my seals with silicone spray. That helped a lot with the door closing.

 

[DirtDonk]

Nice going JAFO! Good kill (fix) and even the color of the Bronco matches that glue!

Does it still come up against that front molded bit that's at the windshield level? Less? Same?
If it's some sort of metal inside, maybe you can hammer it down a bit. If it's plastic, then I'm not sure how one would go about yanking it out, modifying and then reinserting into the "blob" without actually destroying the part.

But hey, if it's working...
Now maybe you will actually benefit from the time factor. Now that the doors close, leaving them closed for a time might just do what you were thinking in the beginning and compress things enough to make up the rest of the difference.

Good luck.

Paul

 

[JAFO]

Drove around today. Doors are closing pretty good today.
And things seem sealed ok no air coming in or no whistles.
Looks like they'll do.

 

[Whoaa]

X2...good job JAFO and good heads-up on installation tricks!

Did you use the 3M brand glue/sealer?

 

[JAFO]

Yes, used the 3M glue (ordered it with the seals from WH). Bottom part seems stuck good. I still can't just swing the door closed (yet), but I might be able to adjust the catch some more. Work in progress. But I just firmly close the door and it shuts tight.

 

[DirtDonk]

I would only adjust the hinges and latch enough to make the door skin flush with the rest of the body. I would not (normally) try to make the door proud just to be a better fit with the seals.
I suppose if I was so close, but not quite, I might let a little bit of the door stick out. But not enough to be a visual distraction. Even on an old utility vehicle like these, a good fitting door is a nice thing to see.

If the door still has a little way to go before being perfectly flush however, I'd definitely be getting out the wrenches and screwdrivers to make that adjustment. Even a tiny bit would probably make a difference in how the door closes against the seal.

Paul