Steele Rubber Products door seals

[markeb01]

A while back I mentioned I that I had installed new door gaskets about 10 years ago from Chevy Duty (now Classic Parts). I thought at the time they were a little oversize and was disappointed they weren't exact reproductions of the originals. Note - they still appear as new, nice and soft and spongy. Over time and multiple adjustments the doors now operate perfectly, but I was hoping new seals would make it even easier to close the doors.

Thinking there might be something even better available, I purchased new seals from Steele Rubber about a year or so ago. They've been sitting in a closet pending a new paint job, so they've been well taken care of.

First the good news. On 60-62 bodies, there is a gasket on the door that acts as a rain gutter. The Steele Rubber version is much closer to original, fits perfect, is very soft and conforms well. The door closes easy, the new seal works fine.

Now the not so good news. I spent about 2 1/2 hours attempting to install the driver side body seal, before giving up and reinstalling the 10 year old version I already had. The Steele Rubber body seal is actually much smaller than the Chevy Duty version, but where the older example is a closed cell sponge, the new version is more like a thin hard vinyl tube. It has no sponge effect, and doesn't stretch or conform well to the tight corners. I had two major problems, the lower rear corner of the dogleg and on the floor under the rocker sill.

With the old seal, I used one or two clamps on the dogleg and it stuck tight. On the new seal, 16 clamps and 2 hours cure time wouldn't keep it from puckering and popping loose. Besides these problems it just didn't look good. The old seal conforms very nicely to the body. The new seal doesn't reach as far into the corners making it look undersize, and allows the gasket adhesive to show.

When it came to the rocker sill, the seal would not compress at all, and ultimately I tore one of the screw holes out of the rocker sill trying to tighten it down. At that point I gave up and pulled the new seal, cleaned up, started over and put the old seal back on.

The above is offered for what it's worth. Someone else may love these body seals, but I would not buy them again.