Beltline weatherstrip fitting

[Chris Codd]

I had purchased some new weatherstripping from Steele Rubber and removed the old beltline weatherstripping that was stapled on. The new weatherstripping has a bunch of tabs on it instead of staples. Are you supposed to drill out the old stainless steel trim to make it fit? Just wanted to ask before I go putting holes in it. Also, do y'all use any sealant as well?

[Chris Codd]

Here's a photo for reference.

[Kurt]

Any "after" pics?

[Chris Codd]

Sorry, I didn't get any photos after. It was late when I finished and I've been rushing to get the car together for a big show here in Maryland happening this Saturday. 

[Chris Codd]

Alright, well I just winged it last night and it seemed to turn out pretty nice. Not sure if anybody cares, but I'll post how to do it just in case since there doesn't seem to be any info on here about how to do it. With the door panel off, you can adjust the window to lower below the beltline. There are three Phillips head screws in the rubber weatherstripping. Remove those and you can now slide out the stainless steel trim with the original weatherstripping still attached. Using needle nose pliers, remove the old staples by pulling them back. A flat head screwdriver comes in handy here. After carefully plying off the old trim, I cleaned up the area with some stainless polish leaving a nice clean surface. The new Steele Rubber weatherstripping uses tabs instead of staples, so you will need to line it up with the stainless trim and mark it. I used a paint marker to mark each tab and then drilled holes test fitting as I go to make sure everything lines up correctly and the tabs fit snugly leaving a flat surface. Now with all the holes drilled and the weatherstripping test fitted, I used permatex black silicone sealant to line the weather stripping and then attached the weatherstripping to the stainless and bent the tabs back. I used some clips to make sure it had a good seal until it dried. I then used the old weatherstripping to mark where to drill out the old holes for the three screws and voila, it's done. 

[tom servas]

We used window felts from OPGI which came with new staples to fasten as original ones did.

Did need to remove old staples which would not line up anyway.