I have a 99 Corvette which I bought for a really good price about a year ago. This past year I have become addicted to restoring things to a point where my wife is pulling her hair out. As most of you can attest, I try to do as much as I can myself since we all know how vastly expensive the stealership can be.

Anyways, I decided to replace my external door seals this weekend since they were very weathered and rough. I already bought both seals on gmpartsdirect and they were about 1/2 the price of GM.

Stupid me, I didn't first check to see if anybody else had done this. From looking at the seal, it has about 6 small pieces of plastic that appear to pop into a hole. Sound easy, right?....wrong.

I ended up taking the door panel off to get better access to the old seal. I was ready to begin. The first thing I noticed was there was no screw at the front of the door to hold it in place. I proceeded to "pull" on the seal throughout the length of it. To my surprise, I started hearing cracking from inside the door. I was able to finally get the seal off with a little force. As I looked back at the door I noticed small tracks that the seal fits into and then it appears you are "supposed" to slide the seal 1 inch back to lock it in place.

The result: I splintered 2 of the fiberglass guides and broke 2 others.

I am totally depressed now because what seemed like a semi easy project is now going to cost me who knows how muich to fix my f up.

I was so upset I took the car up to the GM stealership to have them take a quick look at it (with the door panel off). Two techs told me the best case scenario is to get a body shop to try and fix the fiberglass guides. The other guy told me I may have to replace the whole door.

There is no "part" that you can replace inside the door per GM parts dept.

I have now learned a valuable lesson!....MY only hope is to take it to a body shop Monday and see if the can mold new or fix the fiberglass guides. It seems like it is always something!!!!

Has anyone experienced this problem before and what was your experiences fixing it.

Here is once pic of a couple of the guides.

http://www.zanacom.com/fup.jpg

 

don't feel badly. This has happened to all of us at one time or another... whether it be automotove or home repairs. One starts out with a project that should be a slam dunk, and it turns into total disaster.

It's certainly happened to me... and more than just once.

 

I bet I could fix that. That is the nice thing about fiberglass. A little resin, a little mat and before you know it you have something to grind into shape.

Good luck.

 

Don't feel bad. My DYI radiator flush ended up with me putting on a new water pump. What price do you put on learning??? All can be fixed.

Mark

 

Sorry to hear. Hope you get it fixed without spending too many $$.

 

But it's not fiberglass, it's composite!

 

I agree with Mike Mercury, I've encountered more than one project that's gone south, and usually turns into multiple projects. Good luck with the repair.

 

Check your thread you started on this same thing in C5 Tech too.

 

It's SMC, right? (Sheet Molded Composite)

SMC is fiberglass, just a fancy name for it. Fiberglass is a composite of polyester resin and glass fibers.

 

I got it, thanks lonestar. I actually like that approach the best. I just wonder if the composite repair is even feasible dollars wise. I'd like to ultimately fix them to keep the seal connection original as possible but I'm afraid the price will be hundreds of dollars (I have no idea) since there is 4 maybe 5 of them that need attention. Not that it really matters since you cant even see them anyway. I guess that is just the **** side of me when trying to restore things. It might make sense to just use the double sided tape and be done with it anyways.

 

Here is a pic of the door trim (seal)



Here is a couple more of the door and damage

 

boy, i'll say.

 

Good luck with the repair

Chuck

 

Well, one small benefit to you (and a large one to me ) is that I was just about to take mine off and clean them (hate the streaks when you open and close the window after you wash it). So you probably saved me a bunch of trouble in not replicating your "logical but possibly not best" approach to getting them off.
Thank you for posting.

 

That's why I always start my D-I-Y projects early in the morning - the hardware/parts stores are open all day!

Good luck!

 

Everybody learns from someone else's or their own mistakes...
While you stated you were trying to restore some things on your car, in this case the cost of repair may not be justified by the expense. If the double sided tape won't work, I'll bet 3M has an adhesive that will provide the solution.

 

Ouch!! You can bet that I have learned from your misfortune. It will all work out somehow, don't be too hard on yourself.