TR2/3/3A Question about TR3 Rubber Windshield Seal

After five months in the body shop (I don't have a garage and no way to do body & paint work), I just got my '58 TR3A back with the body in showroom condition repainted in BRG. However, the newly installed rubber seal between the bottom of the windshield and the body of the car isn't sealing. It puckers up about 1/8" above the body in several places. The shop suggested that it will lie straight against the body after it has spent some time in the sun warming up. I question if this is correct as I tried speeding up the process with a heat gun with little success. Is there supposed to be some sealant to firmly attach the rubber seal to the body or is it supposed to be just a friction fit? Any info or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Bill

I'm looking forward to reading responses to this. My lower windscreen seal has been 1/4" above the body ever since I got the car. Someone suggested it may have been mounted upside down or something. Heat has *never* improved the situation.

Tom

Ditto. The wide part of the seal is not (or at least should not be) perpendicular to the section that goes inside the frame, so there is a definite back & front to the seal. But I'd swear I put mine in right, and it still doesn't lay down against the body as it should. Nor has that changed any in some 4 years stored outdoors in the SoCA sun.

I third the idea that the seal is on wrong, it needs to be flipped over. It should take one to two hours to do if all goes well. Some of the new seals are marked which way they should go.

I would think the sun would expand it and make it wrinkle it up even more. For some reason my laid perfectly flat but leaked horribly in heavy down pours. I took a tube of clear silicon caulk and a very small bead just under the lip and it worked like a charm.

When I put the new seal on mine, I had a gap on both sides. I had noticed that there were gaps on the old one before I removed it. I think that is why they say; they're a devil in the wet, because they sure do leak!

If the seal is contacting well everywhere but at the outer curves, then it is installed in the correct orientation. If it is barely touching along the center 'flat' section of the body, it is in backwards. The only way I've found to minimize the problem in the curves is to remove the windshield frame and while pushing the seal in the curve area toward the rear, put some silicon caulk in the front of the seal and hold it there until the silicon dries. This holds the seal 'rearward' and lets in make better contact. Be sure to wipe off any excess so it will not be seen when installed. Good luck.

It may be we're the minority, but seems there shouldn't be so many folks who experience this problem.

Tom

Close up pic would help us!

This may be as good as it gets. I have never been able to get a perfect seal there -- and though a gap of an 1/8" or so doesn't look too bad, in a heavy rain you will feel like you're in a submarine that's been hit. Have towels (cloth or paper) handy.

Since you have a '58 I don't think you want to use any sealant to secure that edge as one of the great things about the earlier cars is how easily the windscreen slips off for a real wind-in-the-face experience.



The TRA Philosophy states "We believe that the person inside an automobile who is cold in the winter and hot in the summer--just like the weather outside--is a more healthy person"... they might have added 'and wet when it's raining'.