47 Beetle, Door Perimeter Rubber Seal

[Martin Southwell]

Most of us have been there, and I've seen it time and again with friends and their cars, whereby we feel we're on the restoration home straight, especially as we about to get the doors fitted out.

To crown it all, we come to fit the door perimeter seals, which on the face of it looks straight forward enough to fit, and find that things aren't that easy. The replacement seals frequently have more mass than the originals, and the cross sections are rarely the same. On top of this, some seam to made of spongey compact foam, and others of licquorice!

Having managed to fit them, the real frustration comes when trying to close the doors. Instead of the original, satisfying, cla-dunk, the door now refuses to close, or needs an elephant to reverse into it, to enable closure. So many people I have spoken to over the years, have trimmed their door seals down here and there to make things fit, and the result is not often a credit to the vehicle.

The picture above shows the cross section of the original door seal from the 47 Beetle, which having just cut through it, is still firm, yet flexible, 70+ years on. Note the shape of the cross section. Is anybody aware of anything similar for sale anywhere?

The closest to this I've seen is from http://ww2vw.com/door-seal/ which rather than having a round section, has a square one, with the lip on the side, and if like their other seals, maybe in a slightly harder rubber. Anybody have experience with these?

[KTPhil]

I often forget about JC Whitney but they are still there. Any of these close?:

(Unfortunately they don't show profiles anymore...useless!)
https://www.jcwhitney.com/results/?N=0&Nf=pric...6&VN=0

Or maybe any of these?:
(I know, you've probably done this search ages ago already...)
https://www.google.com/search?q=door+seal+profile&...uT7ZRqKmlM

[djfordmanjack]

try to contact them. oldfashioned service but they might know how to find what you need. send them the pic of your og seal.

http://www.doepper-profile.de/
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Hotrods, Fords, Veedubs and Triumph Twins !

52 Barndoor DLX Coachbuild project
55 Wolfsburg panel project, og paint Taubenblau L31
62 Dickholmer, custom color Seeblau L360
63 1500 Notch, og paint Rubin Rot L456
67 1500 Käfer, og paint Lotus weiß L282 w/red interior

[Suboval]

Have you tried these companies?

https://www.soffseal.com/
https://www.steelerubber.com/

Send them a picture and they might be able to match it.
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It all works on paper.

There's two things we learn from history:
1.) History repeats itself.
2.) We don't learn from history.

[0nebadbug]

Also check with CR Laurence as well ... you might not see the one you want exactly but they are pretty good at finding what you are looking for if not shown in the profiles if you call them and ask as they may have it somewhere in old stock...
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[Martin Southwell]

[djfordmanjack]

yes they are really, really oldfashioned. but they do have the sweetest rubber and other restoration hardware parts. They have all the og loop carpet. their paper catalog is a mess, it looks like a 1980s mailorder thing with dozens of blurry copies out of a 1970s copy machine... that's why I said they are oldfashioned. maybe you have some friends in Germany who personally know Herr Döpper. I still have to recommend them because they do ask what you exactly need and they have been around for decades, if not centuries.

Try [email protected]

ask for profile# 54 it looks a lot like what you might need. they do have the actual dimensions in the paper catalog. the squarish part is 11x13mm, 22mm tall and the actual seal area is 15 mm wide. they do send out samples !
_________________
Hotrods, Fords, Veedubs and Triumph Twins !

52 Barndoor DLX Coachbuild project
55 Wolfsburg panel project, og paint Taubenblau L31
62 Dickholmer, custom color Seeblau L360
63 1500 Notch, og paint Rubin Rot L456
67 1500 Käfer, og paint Lotus weiß L282 w/red interior

[vwtrey]

Are any of these close?

http://www.doepper-profile.de/artikelauswahl.php5?kat=Profile~Kantenschutz+mit+Moosgummi

[djfordmanjack]

the '54' profile I mentioned looks a lot like the WWIIVW part, but the seal lip seems to be bent in the other direction, much like on your og section.
I cannot find it on Döppers page, but it is in the paper catalog.
_________________
Hotrods, Fords, Veedubs and Triumph Twins !

52 Barndoor DLX Coachbuild project
55 Wolfsburg panel project, og paint Taubenblau L31
62 Dickholmer, custom color Seeblau L360
63 1500 Notch, og paint Rubin Rot L456
67 1500 Käfer, og paint Lotus weiß L282 w/red interior

[djfordmanjack]

found it. top of page and to the right.

http://www.doepper-profile.de/artikelauswahl.php5?kat=Profile~Gummiprofile&von=61&bis=73
_________________
Hotrods, Fords, Veedubs and Triumph Twins !

52 Barndoor DLX Coachbuild project
55 Wolfsburg panel project, og paint Taubenblau L31
62 Dickholmer, custom color Seeblau L360
63 1500 Notch, og paint Rubin Rot L456
67 1500 Käfer, og paint Lotus weiß L282 w/red interior

[Martin Southwell]

I know I've seen it mentioned here before on Samba, but what is the correct, i.e. ex factory, way to mount pre 52 Beetle door perimeter rubbers? From memory, it's not what you would expect. A friend is about to mount some, and would like him to see what is what before doing any cutting about. Thanks.

[dmooresc]

have a friend who also got stumped with this question so I did some research to help him out. theSamba article link shows how to cut and overlap at the corners:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=176166&highlight=seal

then I developed this graphic to depict how the seal is oriented in its grrove

[Martin Southwell]

Thanks for this info. I knew I had seen it somewhere before.

[virtanen]

That's my door in the picture

[finster]

this is from the BIOS report on the volkswagen published in 1947.
these are views looking down on cross sections of the door and B pillar (section 4) and door and A pillar (section 5)

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nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect...

[Martin Southwell]

Excellent drawing. Reminds me of the various drawings my engineer father used to produce. Same layout, script etc. Not easy to produce, especially in those pre PC/CAD days. Some of us who are old enough to have done Technical Drawing at school can attest to this.

As can be seen in the drawings, the door perimeter rubber had a round cross section profile where attached to the door, unlike the later square profile we're all used to today. In the picture at the start of this thread, and reproduced below, part of the original door rubber from my 47 (same year of the drawing) can be seen, which, apart from a small spur, is exactly the same.

I've been trying for years to see if I can find this profile somewhere, but I quess that the reality is that as the square profile has a greater contact area with the door metalwork, then it is less likely to fall, or be pulled out, and is why it was superceded. Nevertheless, I'll keep searching, and there seems to be quite a selection to be had, such as this retailer: https://www.deltarubber.co.uk/PDF%20Seperated%202015/p-section-piping.pdf

[Martin Southwell]

The friend has today fitted the door rubbers as per instructions, with the below result, which understandably he's not very happy with. I must say it does look rather Heath-Robinson! Can it be tidied up in any way, and must surely be glued?

[52 split]

i would just trim the lip or small bump back a few mm til the flap lays flat against the upper seal and use a small dab of glue. also looks like a small bit of debris in the corner to be cleaned out.

[DylSki]

Hi,
I'm carrying out a few small jobs on a friend's 51 & he has asked me to look at why his doors are SO hard to close (even with the windows open). The existing seals were purchased from West Coast Metric 8 years ago & although they are fairly new, the rubber compound is already quite hard & the edge against the B post is now very wrinkly down the entire length. It appears the the flange is also too long. I also noticed that the flange was stretched in places & did not "sit" well at all.
So, I bought a set from Wolfsburg West & I have to say there is a world of difference. The compound was a lot more flexible & although the flange was a bit wavy from being folded for shipping, I was able to fit it without any real problems & the doors now shut as you would expect. There were a couple of areas where the flange was not sitting well, so I put a strip of 50mm masking tape on the problem areas to hold it in the correct position & after a day or two with the door closed, it all now seals as it should.

Hope this helps.

US Spec Polar Silver 56 Beetle.

[sweden]

On my februari 1951.

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