Revive those old door seals, Shin Etsu grease
Nothing like having an old car and NLA parts. Rubber gaskets and door seals take a beating and in our Auto Off Topic 20-30 year old or more car sweet spot, these gaskets can be hard to come by. There is hope, as long as the gaskets aren’t ripped or torn, Shin Etsu grease (08798-9013) can be used to recondition them. Developed by Honda to fix leaky roof seals on Del Sols. At $20 a tube, it’s pretty cheap and it’s easy to use.
Shin Etsu grease in the Honda box.
The Montero had some wind leaks near the driver’s side door and during rain storms I was getting water leaks on each side of the truck in identical spots. After I had the windshield leak tested, blew out all the sunroof drains and it still happened. Seemed like the door seals were squished out.
Prep is easy, grab some glass cleaner and a microfiber rag and clean all the seals down and the sealing surfaces on the body. You don’t want to grind dirt into the seals.
Put on some nitrile gloves and squeeze some out of the tube and rub it all along the seals, both on the door and body, repeat for the rest of the doors.
The Shin-Etsu is just visible as the clear/white grease on the seals.
Doesn’t take much grease and, but beware of where your clothes might rub getting in, because you might get some grease on them. You could let is sit for a few days and wipe up the excess if you want.
Additionally, if you’ve got a door seal that has separated from the base part that clips to the body, it can be repaired with some super glue.
A sad droopy door seal.
Grab some gel super glue, this is less likely to drip.
Run a bead of it and then carefully stick the seal back into place, when it feels good, close the door and let it cure.
There you go, with a few inexpensive products, you can do a little maintenance to your older cars. I greased all the seals in the Montero before I stored it for the winter and had no leaks from water. When I got the truck out for the season, I notice the doors didn’t stick on the seals like what happens sometimes when cars sit. I also don’t have a wind leak from the door anymore. I will definitely be taking the 20-30 mins it takes to clean and grease the seals on all my cars. Seems like a good way to preserve the door seals and keep the cars in good shape.