Has anyone out there ever changed the weather stripping on a third gen with T-tops? I'm planning on changing all of the weather stripping pieces on my 85 z28, door seals, T-top seals etc..... Do you recommend a certain brand? I've seen the SOFSEAL kits on ebay that come with a 14pc kit to change every seal. The kit runs $500. Any input would be great. After a while you get tired of the water in the passenger side.

Thanks to all.

 

I've used softseal on just about all my cars,but never on the t tops. So far they were all great with perfect fit. So should be the same for the t's.

 

Might I recommend a set of SFC's first?

 

I used soft seal on a customers 87 El Camino and I wont use then again. They had the wrong size retainers so I had to take out all of the old ones and put them in and you run a risk of tearing the seal doing that. They are too short. It took a bit of streching to get the ends at the top of the doors where the screws go to line up. Then the screw holes are in the wrong positions and the is no plastic reinforment molded in so the may tear later on as they shrink more. Not good enough for the money they cost.
JC Whitney has sets that are cheaper. Not OEM quality but not bad. I put a set in my mom's S10 and it worked out fine and the cost was not bad. I feel better about spending less on the Jc Whitney kit than I do about spending more on Soft seal and not getting good quality.

 

I don't have too much to offer in the quality of replacement stripping, but while you're waiting on the new stuff, spray the old ones down with a healthy coat of WD-40. I must make it clear that this is NOT a permanent fix, and you shouldn't do it unless you plan on replacing the weather strips in the next year, as continued use of petroleum products on non-fuel grade rubber will cause it to break down after a while, though it'll swell the seals and make them effective while you wait on the new ones. If you wanna see what it does long term, buy a cheap wheel cylinder rebuild kit and soak the parts in WD-40 for a few minutes, just keep in mind that the brake parts are more sensitive to it than weatherstriping, so the reaction will be more extreme there.

 

Hey Dan where do I look for these SFC's?

 

Quick question is there a special weather stripping glue you guys recommend or is 3m fine.