2002 C5 weatherstripping
 

My weatherstripping is in bad shape in the corners on both doors in the upper right hand corners. It is not on the doors but on the body. Any suggestions as to where to purchase these?

Mick

It's gonna hurt, but bite the bullet and get OEM.

I believe there is a vendor on this forum that sells OEM..do you know Who that is? Does anyone know the correct part number?

:lurk: subscribed.

My 2004 is tearing a bit in what sounds like the same spots.

I believe the vendor selling is either VetteNuts or Gene Culley.

Mind if I ask why? I just want to know what the issues are with non-OEM brands that I should look out for when its time to replace mine...

When my 01 developed water issues....
After clearing the udders and a few other things, the service department at the dealer recommended I replace all the weatherstrip. THey also said most of them were no longer made, and I would have to go 3rd party, and to have the body shop replace them, as body shop labor was significantly less than service department labor.

I bought the set they recommended... It was a complete set - 14 or 15 in total, IIRC, hood set, front and rear halo, B pillar, window track, doors, L/R roof, and hatch.

As it turned out, some of the seals in the set were oem, some were not.

The front halo, hatch, hood were OEM, the rest were aftermarket.
Never did figure out if the doors seals proper were OEM.

The 2x roof, rear halo, and B pillar seals were obviously not OEM, and variable quality.

That is, multi-piece construction poorly "welded" with gaps/thickness deviations still allowed water through. THe rear halo had cotton-ish material in the inner drain tubes, (restricted water flow). The first rear halo was the right size, but (per the body shop) had some other issue, the next one had not been properly trimmed, so there was a blockage at the weld point, the 3rd replacement was the wrong size and didn't fit, and the supplier declined to replace it a 4th time.

The 2x roof seals had gaps and construction problems.
Supplier replaced those, but the replacements had the same problem.

(...Multiple discussions with body shop and dealership management left out....)

And coming to find out, GM does still make all the seals.

Body shop ordered those - no more fitment or construction problems.
And most of the leaks went away.

But

The aforementioned set does *not* include the large trapezoid shaped inner door seals, which for some inexplicable reason, the dealers body shop failed to check...

(...more discussion left out ....)

Car was sent to a leak specialist.

He found a number of additional leaks the dealer could not find, none of which were weatherstrip issues.

He also took the door panel off -
He found the interior seals (those trapezoid shaped ones I mentioned earlier) were cracked, and the drains in the bottom of the door were clogged.

So when water back up in the door due to the clogged drains, the cracks in interior seal allowed water to overflow into the interior.

Replacing the interior door seal and clearing the clog finally stopped the water intrusion.


As a side note, there are several other threads on here about OEM vs 3rd party seals, especially for the roof. Many of which talk about poor quality of some 3rd party seals. Much cheaper in the short run, but not in the long run.

OP - I think you are talking about the short vertical pieces of weatherstrip on the B pillar?

I'd venture to guess you take your roof off a lot. The "ear" shaped piece gets folded under and (eventually) tears if you dont get the roof aligned just so when putting it back on.

Age doesn't help suppleness of the rubber. Some people have recommended using dielectric grease to help maintain flexibility.

I stick to OEM parts. My trim shop friend suggested wiping the rubber with baby oil every 6 months.

Mickster: are these the same areas on yours? Looks like they also extend across the entire halo area at rear of the targa.

Yes

If you decide to replace the weatherstripping, I agree OEM would be best.

If you want to try and fix the tears that are there now, try some Permatex Adhesive Sealant (Black Silicone) Part #81158. I used it on a couple of tears in my weatherstripping in about the same places as yours and it works very well to seal the tear.

Thanks for the referral. I would certainly be happy to help out!

Sorry to bump an older thread, but my upper door weatherstripping are falling out and crap. I've been having leaks from the front left and front right of the doors/windows. Pretty bad on the left (driver side). Then the other day I noticed the stripping hanging!

Then on the passenger side the bottom weather stripping is hanging and causes the door to struggle to close.

What can I get and do?

Also because of the leak on the driver side, the roof lining is hanging and that yellow stuff has been coming out... not sure how to fix that either (not wanting to just 'glue' it.... that would be horrible), there must be replacement stuff.

I got a 2000 FRC

To establish a baseline, I would go to the local GM body shop and hear their story/cost.
Then shop around and see if you can find better pricing using OEM parts.

There may be a "leak specialist" company in your area.

The one here charged by the hour to find the leak points the dealer missed and were not affected by weatherstrip. e.g. Inside the door panel, another just above the drivers left footrest, et al)

The benefit of a dealer/shop, even at higher cost, is if it continues to leak after they replace it, and they supplied the parts, then the fix is on them.

Downside is cost, but are you are comfortable replacing it yourself?
If so, then get the parts from one of the forum vendors, and DIY away.

If not, then find out if the same shop will install customer provided parts.
(As you can see from my story above, it can get difficult when 3rd party/customer supplied parts are involved.)

IIRC, there are a couple guides in the sticky section of either this forum or C5 tech forum.

I think the 'yellow stuff' you reference may be the headliner insulation.
(IDK enough about FRCs to say)

Yes the headliner is hanging and it was leaking around that area and the yellow insulation was falling out :(

would you be about to help me get weather stripping Gene ? How do I contact you

Mine are holding up great, as I've always lubed my rubbers with the dielectric good stuff often.