hey guys just bought a weatherstrip kit from wilcox and just wondering if there's any tips or tricks to make it go easier new stuff on and getting the old stuff off,and what adhesive do u guys recommend ? i wld imagine a warm day wld be best.

thanks mike

 

Biggest trick is to sterilize the tracks and mounting areas. I did that with a dremmel and 1/2" wire wheel.....

assemble the new rubber and do a "dry run" to see the fitment. NEVER EVER glue the entire piece. Thats weather strip suicide. Use 3M weather strip adheasive ONLY in thin strips around curves and corners. ONLY after the dry run so you can see where the loose spots are. Many sections do not need glue.
Have a drill handy to drill out the rusted screws that hold some sections. Have a replacement screw available,.

I used 4 & 6" bondo plastic spreaders to tuck the rubber in along the edges so it did not get cut. DO NOT attempt to stretch or pull on the rubber to get it down in the tracks...this will result in leftovers at the end.
Example...on A pillar,. lay it out and start with both ends in place and work toward the middle otherwise you will end up with the ends being way out of position. Never stretch...always "tuck" and on the roof panel....very critical, be very certain that you are pushing the edges all the way down...they are very thick and difficult to press in, but push short sections of 1" at a time and it will go down.

After the dry run on each section, pull it out gently, add minimal glue to the loose spots....A pillar might need a 1-2" thin bead near the top corners and very end..thats it. Same for B pillar. Roof used almost NONE.
Cleanliness is the big trick...new rubber mounts better when going in clean tracks. If old glue is left behind that will make the new rubber stand up too high and you will never have good sealing or never get the roof back on or get a ton of wind noise...
When completed, wipe with silicone grease or armour-all gel to lube the new rubber and help with the initial settling in period. It will have to compress and mold itself for a final fit.

 

wow thanks for all the tips,very in depth description.its gonna be my first attempt at this just hope it goes easy and ill have to just take my time i guess.

thanks mike

 

leesvette says it best,

 

Only things I have to add are to buy some 3m general purpose adhesive remover. It works great at cleaning up the old adhesive. Get the quart can of liquid (not aerosol) any leftover is good to have in your garage.

On the door panel strips you use adhesive only on the top under the big block pieces of strip where the screws go into door panel. The blue push pins hold the rest of the strip in. Your doors will be a little hard to close for a few weeks but they will eventually settle in

 

Damn! I wish I hadn't done mine, now. I did the windshield header job the first week of March. my weatherstrip was cracked and was starting to look bad.
From what "leesvet" said, it appears I have committed "weather strip suicide". I ran a thin bead of 3M adhesive in the channel and then spread it with a narrow squeegy I made. I was just following what was done at the factory. That's the way it appeared was done on my car. Plus, that's what it said to do on the 3M box the tube came in. I didn't unscrew and remove the tracks, either. They looked good to me, I saw no evidence of water intrusion, and I've never had a leak. I put the top up and latched it while it cured overnight.
The hardest part of the job, for me, was the actual cleaning out of the channels. I was told that acetone would work on the old adhesive. Wellllll...it does, but not very quickly. I used a lot of Q-tips. Now, I know I should have used little strips of terry cloth, instead.

OK, so now I've got to replace the strips on the soft top where it meets the side windows. So, to avoid "weather strip suicide" again, what should I do this time? Are there any tips, tricks, or tools I should know about? (I bought the "weatherstrip removal tool kit" and have to say it was not much help. They are just too wide to fit in the channel.)

I wish someone would take a video or post photos of the ENTIRE process and make it a "sticky" here. It sure would help out fellow C4 owners in the future.

Thanks.

 

From a craft store I bought a bag of "popsicle sticks". I cut flat ends for scraping old softened adhesive, used the round ends to gently push the WS into the channels.

When doing the hatch strip, I used a plastic broom handle to support the glass while the strut rod was removed. I did not glue the hatch WS but used a Li grease, as that's what was apparently used by the factory.

I suggest doing the job on a warm/hot day; leave the WS laid out in the sun so it gets warm & flexable.