Elan Door Seal - A Potential Option

[tonyabacus]

I noted the comments about the COBaines product and was reminded that their rep came to see me over a seal for a hardtop on another make of car. The reason for the visit was because the usual seal they supplied (Similar to most of the other suppliers) was causing chaffing and marking of the paintwork as the hardtop moved during driving, as they all do to a greater or lesser degree.

The hardtop had its original 50 year old seal still in place and we determined that the profile of the replacement was very slightly different from the original, but more importantly the Shore hardness factor of the rubber was possibly harder on the replacement, which was the potential reason for the the chaffing issue, together with fit of course. The rep went back to HQ and spoke with the technicians regarding production of the seal but with a lower (softer) Shore factor. However it transpired that they would need to manufacture a new mould (not sure why as we talked about just changing the material which could have gone through the existing mould, or so you would think), which for a one off job worked out quite expensive.

However it occurs to me that given Elan owners search for the Holy Grail of door seals, whether there would be enough people willing to buy such seals and make it worthwhile getting some made that do the job satisfactorily, may be worth looking into. Certainly Baines were happy to come down and talk about the possibility rather than just close the door on the idea.

The website below makes for interesting reading regarding Shore hardness but also there are a couple of seals with dimensions that look similar to the original seals, the second site shows the flap type seal which I think was an original fit at one point, but also gives some interesting info on compression values,

https://rubbersmart.co.uk/product-categ ... ons-seals/
https://rubbersmart.co.uk/product/self- ... -x-14-5mm/

From memory the cost of the mould was around £750, so as you can see there would need to be a good number of buyers to make it viable, unless those with very good contacts in the Elan supply world could persuade one of them to stump up the cash.

Meanwhile the search goes on..................
Tony

[Neal Stoul]

Neal, I just searched COH Baines website and DX73 is not found. Typo perhaps?

Here is the COH Baines despatch note for the DX73 seal. Maybe they have discontinued it? The Phoenix Trim Company and Sue Miller supply one that looks the same but they are both stiffer than the Baines version.
Bill

[RichardHawkins]

Tony,

If you are looking for people to share the cost, I am willing to help.

Richard Hawkins

[XKR]

Tony,

I'd certainly be interested in taking this further.

Peter

[Frogelan]

Interesting reading on this subject.

I had a quick look to see what is available from independent firms and I was quite impressed (no affiliation) with "edgetrims.co.uk".

Their range is quite wide and interested me as they offer different colours and closed cell foam rubber for the draught seal at the front of the door (that I picked up on while watching Paul Haigh's marvellous production on You Tube).

The only aspect missing are the Shore values but they may be able to reply on this subject.

Andrew