Weather seals perished - not very old

[Cliff Johnston]

Hey everyone, i bought all new rubbers from Rubber the Right Way for my 64 Deville when i restored it 6 years ago. However the side window weather seals (or wiper seals) have all started to fall apart already. the car is stored indoors at all times so i'm surprised to see this happening.

Has this happened to any of you and if so did you find a better product from another supplier? Or do they all come from the same place?

Cheers

Cliff

[Jason Edge]

I get all of my rubber items direct from Steele Rubber - www.steelerubber.com. I have never had any issues with their stuff and not sure if they had suppled the Rubber the Right Way, which is more of a 3rd party discounted reseller.  If you buy items from RTRW they will sometimes source their rubber seals from Steele. When they do, the items usually arrive in a Steele Rubber bag (as it occurs with OPGI, now defunct USA Parts and others). There are other sources so I am curious if you kept the bags or know the brand of rubber seal. I know if you deal direct with Steele and have an issue they are known for quickly making it right. With that said, I installed a lot of window and door rubber seals from Steele Rubber maybe 15 to 20 years ago with no issues as of yet.

[Cliff Johnston]

Hi Jason, thanks for your reply.

I can't remember seeing anything but Rubber the Right Way on the packaging. I might try my luck and see if they are prepared to help me out. Probably wasting my time. 

Cheers

Cliff

[Chris Codd]

Same thing happened to me, but I had purchased from Steele. I guess some products could sit in storage for some time and maybe that's what I received. Rubber the Right Way often gets some of their products from Steele and my last shipment of seals from Rubber the Right Way had their sticker right on top of the Steele products. I think it's just kind of luck of the draw with getting an actual quality part or not. My car is garage kept and always parked in the shade when I take it out. 

[Tony and Ginny 429]

There product quality may have been better 20 years ago than it is now  like many other products  —per Jason’s experience 

Disappointing  news in any event but always good to be informed so thanks for the feed back on those rubber parts 

Enjoy 

[Cliff Johnston]

Gents, i sent an email along with some photos to RTW yesterday and to my surprise they have replied and offered a credit to whatever parts i require. They also indicated that they have been phasing out one of their manufacturers (PUI/Restoration Specialties) due to quality and availability issues, and that they are a Steele Rubber supplier as well and are happy to provide those to me.

So that is a great outcome that i wasn't expecting!

[Dave Schneider]

RTRW is a reseller.  I live 10 miles away and visit them when I need rubber.  They MAKE all their flat rubber in the back of their shop. I think they supply flat rubber to Steele and others. 

[Cliff Johnston]

Hmmmm Interesting......

[Cliff Johnston]

gents, just an update i received from RTW last night.

They stated that all Steele Rubber product numbers that start with an "8" are actually manufactured by other companies, not Steele.

Apparently the only 2 companies that do manufacture the seals i require are PUI (under the catwhiskers brand) and Montco/Repops. Apparently i would have received PUI last time so they are going to send me the Montco product.

Cheers

Cliff