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3K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  Three Fat Tigers 
#1 ·
Just thought I would share some restorative thoughts that might be of help:

Part 1: black shoe polish works wonders for the vertical window seal, door handles and mirror boots, as well as the lower body side molding, and the A pillar window seal which the upper half had turned gray.

I normally use the Allen Edmonds polish in a 2.5 oz tube, made in Germany, easier to use from a tube than from a tin, and about the same price per oz as a local tin of Kiwi.
Allen Edmonds: Premium Shoe Polish
I ran out for this project, but the Kiwi werked fine too.

Before and after shots:
(low light with an 10 year old camera, so looks notably better first person)

The seal looks perfect, and brought the once upon a time dark gray door handles back to a nice dark gray again. Note for the full effect, you might have to reapply it a few times, buff with a towel. Don't have to worry about it staining the paint as it won't. Later it won't come off on hands or clothes, and lasts for quite some time, if not forever. I've been using this technique for years on my other cars, especially on black plastic bumpers, never seen it wash off, streak or anything, or even fade again. One car I have with black plastic bumpers had some areas with very odd uneven bleaching, this solved it and though I did initially have to reapply it about 5 times, I've not since had to reapply, this now several years later, still looks 100% perfect.

This also works very well for dark gray or black leather seats where you have scratches or cracks, hides them very effectively. Thinking about trying this on the leather steering wheel next. Wear gloves if you don't want your hands stained.
 
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#2 · (Edited)
Part 2: Also thought I would share some observations on replacing the convertible top side window seals, keep in mind I have zero prior experience with these cars. Though I have been restoring cars for many years.

Wax coating (if present):
I'd first remove all wax from the seals as this will not look good or be as easy to clean off once installed, and would interfere with the use of adhesives. It's only there to keep the rubber from degrading prior to install. I was able to clean one seal with just silicone spray and an old sock, but the other one was much tougher, had to reach for some 3M adhesive remover+sock and fingernail action. Found that there was still quite a lot of wax inside the seal, the dandruff in the image below came from inside the freshly cut seal, there was quite a bit more than is shown.


Adhesive:
Would not use 3M super weatherstrip adhesive as this can be quite difficult to clean out if you ever have to redo this.

It's rock hard, had to use a chisel. I also find that it often has very limited to zero grip on this type of rubber seal. The channels that hold the seals appear to be made of chrome plated plastic so scraping them clean without damaging is not as simple as it might seem. Contact cement would be a better bet, but as with the original factory glue, I would expect it to have a limited lifespan. Best bet would be urethane, like 3M Window Weld, would do a better job and will last, cures in about 2 hours to a solid rubber; note must prep-clean surfaces with gum cutter or similar.

The factory adhesive long ago gave up any actual function, and as there were no problems arising from that, I'm not going to use any adhesive unless a future problem indicates a need for it. I do however recommend using the anchor clips as these are effective and actually quite easy to install (more on this later).
Anchor Clips:

More 3M Weatherstrip adhesive:

Seriously nasty mess and no grip at all on the rubber, this after only 3 months.


Making the cut:
The MB seals we bought from the dealer were between 1/4 and 1/2 inch longer than what came off the car.

This would make using the old parts as a measure for where to make the cut potentially disastrous. Best to wait, install the whole strip, then make the cut. And as it turns out, even though they were longer, the new parts still fit perfectly.

Installing:
I would start by installing the seal in the front section, don't bother with the rear section yet, then latch the top down and make sure the front of the seal meets tightly with the top of the A pillar seal, making sure the header bow seal doesn't come in between this joint.

I found that an simple door trim tool, made of plastic, works perfectly for pushing the seal into the channel.

Once you have that were you think it should be, continue to install the seal into the rear section, fully seating it in the channel. Might look from below and behind along the inboard side of the seal to make sure it looks like it is centered in the channel. Then run/rub your hand over the seal from end to end, back and forth a few times, the goal here is to have the seal find it's happy spot where it's going to settle in and live the rest of it's life. And this so that after you make the cut, the seal is not then going to want to shift fore or aft and thus change the position of the cut which could cause problems when raising the top. As part of that process, I would also unlatch and raise the front bow just enough to clear the windshield, the re-latch it, repeating this a few times.

Then make the cut. I used an brand new razor blade clamped in a vice grip.

Made the initial cut, centered right between the front and rear channels, then pulled the rear section out and finished the cut.

Reinstall the rear section, then make sure both sections are again in their happy spot, just line up the center cut. Then install the anchor clips, very easy to do: just pull the seal down at the end, slide the clip inside, use an right angle pick to help position it, then push the seal back in place, doing only one end of a section at a time.

If employing adhesive, you could also do this at this time in a similar manner.

If anyone thinks I should embed/attach the images into this thread as apposed to linking to them, just let me know.
 
#5 ·
Nice write up.

Just one thing, though.
I had steel claw like spring clips holding in the soft top / window seals......no presense of any type of "factory" adhesive.
And when I replaced the seals, I didn't need adhesive.
 
#7 ·
Great Information on the window seals.

Once completed, did your windows fit tightly against the back vertical edge of window?

I first replaced my hard top window seals, adjusted door so everything was tight. This is how MB manual 72-195.pdf explains it, they say do the hard top first.

I then replaced the soft top seals. It was pretty easy using silicone spray and a screen tool from Home Depot. Now the back "vertical" glass edge does not press up against the rubber. about 1/16" gap. the book says to adjust the convertible top.

Did you need to do this?
I am still looking into adjusting the seals on the rag top.:)
 
#8 ·
Once completed, did your windows fit tightly against the back vertical edge of window?

I first replaced my hard top window seals, adjusted door so everything was tight. This is how MB manual 72-195.pdf explains it, they say do the hard top first.

I then replaced the soft top seals. It was pretty easy using silicone spray and a screen tool from Home Depot. Now the back "vertical" glass edge does not press up against the rubber. about 1/16" gap. the book says to adjust the convertible top.

Did you need to do this?
I am still looking into adjusting the seals on the rag top.:)
I didn't have to make any adjustments, everything seals up perfectly, no leaks in the rain. I didn't see anyway to adjust the seals, like you can in many newer convertibles, and I wouldn't think you would normally need to after what is a very simple seal replacement. Can't imagine how you would adjust the top to fix this, I would think the windshield header would be the factor that sets this relationship in stone.

Sorry I didn't respond to this post earlier, I had just moved after posting and was without internet for a long time.
 
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