TR4/4A Hard door closing after replacing rubber seals

[Gerald_Gordon]

Since new rubber door seals were installed in connection with a respray, closing the doors of my TR4 has required considerable force. Has any one else experienced this, and have you found a solution?

If the cross section were too thick, perhaps softening the rubber with a heat lamp and/or a heat gun and then closing the door until the rubber cooled might permanently compress the material. If the material were too stiff, though, then that technique might not work.

Your suggestions would be most welcome.

 

[JerryVV]

Heating will not work unless the seals are actually a thermoplastic and not rubber. A thermoplastic will deform under enough heat. Rubber will not, unless of course you burn it. Where did you get the seals? I bought mine from TRF and they worked just right.

 

[tomshobby]

I recently finished restoring our Midget. After buying rubber parts from one source that did not fit I ordered them from MacGregor and they fit properly. Now doing more work on my TR6 and will be using MacGregor for all the rubber parts.

https://www.macgregorukcarparts.com/

 

[tdskip]

Assuming everything fit properly before hand? Any tweaks to the door(s) as part of the respray?

Sometimes new door seals can take a while to compress into shape...

 

[Rut]

I recently finished restoring our Midget. After buying rubber parts from one source that did not fit I ordered them from MacGregor and they fit properly. Now doing more work on my TR6 and will be using MacGregor for all the rubber parts.

https://www.macgregorukcarparts.com/

This is the best source for seals, fur flex, etc. made. The website is always out of date and I strongly suggest a phone call for quicker service. The owner knows our cars and won't sell you the wrong or ill fitting product.
Rut

 

[Geo Hahn]

Since new rubber door seals were installed in connection with a respray, closing the doors of my TR4 has required considerable force. Has any one else experienced this, and have you found a solution?...

My experience too. The only solution for me was time. After a while (perhaps 6 months or so) the closing returned to normal as the seal took a set.

Meanwhile (as you have found) more force was required to close though it also seemed to help to close the door with more follow-through -- keep your hand on the handle and force applied as you close, not just slam the door freely.

This situation was no problem for my wife as her first car was a '50 Studebaker Commander with big heavy doors. She learned to close doors with a mighty slam and continues to do so to this day. I cringe, but say nothing.

 

[TexasKnucklehead]

I cringe, but say nothing. My experience too.

I am happy to hear I am not alone. My brother and I have always been "overly aware" of any rattles or squeaks in our cars and have pretty much trained anyone riding with us to help locate the source. "Slamming doors" is another of our quirks. My Dodge pickup has hinges that were glued on, and I have been known to show it to people who cannot help "slam" the doors. My 1/2 daughter (the other 1/2 is car-door-slamming-gorilla) can't help it, and I try to act like I don't notice when my shoulders touch the bottom of my ears. Sorry I can offer no help with the difficulty in question, I also don't know what to do about mine, other than laugh. I always thought things like this would get easier, once I got older.

 

[Gerald_Gordon]

Thank you all for your thoughtful replies. Before answering your questions, I should explain that because I am able to be with my TR4 for only two weeks during April and two weeks in November, most work is done by my mechanic in my absence in order to maximize my driving time.

JerryVV, your point is well taken that heating the rubber will not soften it enough that its cross section could be permanently compressed. I had hoped to accelerate the process that Geo Hahn describes in which the seals compress with time, but maybe only time would do what heat would not. My seals were from Moss Motors.

Tomshobby, Rut, and Geo Hahn, the doors have been closed since two weeks after the new seals were installed in November and will be opened again in a few weeks. Perhaps the seals would have compressed by then. If not, then I will install either the MacGregor British Car Parts seals as tomshobby and Rut recommend, or TRF seals as JerryVV did.

Tdskip, the door closing was not perfect before the respray, but the problem then felt related to the latching mechanism. During the respray, the doors were removed, dismantled, and reassembled with the mechanism and hinges greased and adjusted, and they now require Geo Hahn's Studebaker technique to close. (Geo, my wife used to have a 1956 Studebaker, so I do know the feel! And the steering was twice as heavy as that of my 1954 Chevrolet. Even my 1952 Chevy 3100 truck steered more easily.)

TexasKnucklehead, I will post again in a few weeks when I have news to report and if nothing has or could be improved, then I will adopt your attitude about it.

 

[Gerald_Gordon]

Having just spent two weeks with my TR4 that had been parked since November, I am pleased to report that the doors do, indeed, now close more easily than they did immediately after the new seals were installed at the beginning of November, although not as easily as do those on my Toyota. (My mechanic says that they close about as easily as those on his restored 1978 Corvette.)

Thank you all for your advice.