URO Door Seal install and review

[pklym]

A few months back, I revived a thread regarding URO door seals versus OEM. There had been lots of talk about URO changing their design or materials to better match OEM seals. It was not confirmed whether or not URO had again updated their seals so I reached out to them and got a quick and friendly response. The seals had recently been made with softer material and they had not heard any real negative feedback since. The URO rep offered to send me a pair if I would let him know my thoughts and take lots of pictures and review the process on here. I couldn't say no to that offer. So, I got the seals for free but my feedback below is based on my experiences. I owe this board far more than the value of a few seals.

 

A few notes: I have never installed door seals before-OEM or otherwise. My drivers side door is misaligned and remains that way, more on that below. I don't know how old the old seals were, they were on the car when I bought it 7 years ago. I don't know what brand the seals were. I am pretty sure they were not original 41 year old seals because, though they were fairly dry and leaked air, they were mostly in one piece. And they were installed slightly wrong on the bottom end (more below). Forgive the awful shape the car is in. I started too many projects at once instead of just enjoying the car.

 

Well, sort of one piece, with some creative repairs

 

If you zoom way in you may be able to notice the door did not sit flush with the seal along the leading edge of the vent window frame. This was before. It is really hard to get a good picture of this.

 

It took some prying to get started removing the old seal off, but once it started it just peeled off.

 

 

Good news! The new seal is new looking, the old one...not so much:

Here is what is left after removing the seal, a whole bunch of adhesive residue:

 

Ruh roh, some rust peaking through. I never should have took that three year hiatus to the east coast, car went from virtually rust free to...not so much. I did some very rudimentary rust repair and sealed it, hopefully it lasts.

 

This next step is the worst part of a not very fun job. Removing the residue, I used rubbing alcohol and goo gone and a lot of scrubbing and friction. I should have bought something stronger, don't make my mistake, get something you have to wear three sets of gloves for.

 

 

Not exactly perfect but at some point frustration gets the best of you and you have to move on. 

 

Next, time to start installing. Start with the rear uppermost corner, it's easy to identify on the new seal its the hard squarish thing. For a hot second, I wanted to use the wrong side seal, it just looked like it fit better but you can figure it out with some staring.

 

Ugh, but how the heck do you get this thing started? I know you have to wedge the lip into the metal groove and door, but it just won't go. I was working with a small putty knife...and a butter knife...and a few screwdrivers... I added some dish soap as lube and applied a bit of heat (don't add heat). Finally, I got it started. I don't have any tips for how it happened, it just started going in at some point. Work slowly wedging the lip in towards the front of the car. 

 

Once you get it started, it gets easier.

 

I just kept working forward until I got done with the lip part and then working down from the starting point until I got done with the lip part. DON'T DO THIS. More below, but just get the top right part started with several inches forward and several inches down.

 

After I got there, I started gluing in with 3m weather strip sealant stuff. I again failed to have the right tools on hand and lacked adequate clamps to hold things in place, but it mostly worked out.

 

 

Look! I'm all done?

 

Nope, I screwed up. I did wrong.

 

How does the stupid end fit in with the stupid skid plate? My previous seals had the tips wedged all the way under the skid plate but there is just too much material here. What's wrong? Are the seals faulty? Too long?

 

 

Did I work too slowly? Did the seals stretch out too much as I worked? Sort of.

 

The FAQ cleared up wear the tips were supposed to slide in--to the upper part of the skid plate, but I still had too much material.

 

Return to this picture from above:

 

Doesn't quite line up at the bend real nice.

 

Time to pull up all that fresh glue I put down and get back to scrubbing adhesive again...BOO

 

What you need to do is after getting the top corner of the seal started just a bit in both directions, skip ahead. Go to the end of the lips on both ends (just above where the glue starts in the picture above) and then wedge them in place, go a few inches up to secure it. Now, work inward from both directions until finished. My problem was I stretched the rubber too much on the upper ends and was left with extra material down below. 

 

Lesson learned.

After trying again, I was in much better shape. Still not perfect because I rushed the front edge out of frustration, but now I can get the skid plate back on and tuck the nibs in.

 

The other side was much much quicker, though I am still an inpatient man.

In hindsight, I maybe should have left the skid plates on the whole time to use them as two more guideposts. Lack of proper clamps led to hurried work.

 

 

So what's the verdict?

 

My driver's side door is still out of whack. The seal didn't fix the serious alignment issues I have with that door! Go figure. 

 

The passenger door, however, was aligned well before hand. The leading edge of the vent window was flush with the seal before. The new seal, as seen above, pushes the front edge of the door a little bit. Is this a problem of hardness of materials? Or just the newness of the seal? I don't know. It is not enough to make closing the door too tough. I have not tried realigning the vent window because I want to see if the seal breaks in. I have been applying some rubber conditioner and I think it is making a difference. When the seal was first installed I could barely engage the door lock on the passenger side (because the door was being pushed outward a bit). Now it turns just fine. I think that means the door is settling into the seal.

 

I went through a car wash yesterday and my drivers window poured water through wear the window is off kilter (no surprise--well, I mean it was quite a surprise when I got drenched) but the passenger door held tight, even with the front edge being a bit off. 

 

Overall, I think I am happy with the seals. I could have done a much better job installing, and if (heaven forbid) I have to do this again, I will do a better job. I will also almost certainly buy the cheaper URO seals. Since this install, I have ordered a URO trunk seal, which looks like a much easier job.

 

 

[Simeon]

This is one of a handful of jobs on this car that I would love to have seen done on a moving production line when the car was built. 

[jrhone]

When I did the seals. I used wd40 and lubed the seal and slid it into the groove from the front and pushed it back into place. Drivers side took an hour of trying different things until I got it done. Passenger side took 5 minutes. 

[Tommy]

Now that you have a contact to URO could you ask how to identify the latest revision seals? Especially something that can be seen and specified without having them on my hand. I'm afraid that if I place an order to some retailer I won't have a clue how old seals I will get. 

Also any recommended place to get them in Europe?

[Stevenc22]

Yeah if URO did change the rubber compound, they didn't change the part number so no way of knowing whether you have the hard or soft seals. I recently bought URO seals and got the old hard kind. 

 

For the record my 2002 has been through 3 URO seals and 3 BMW seals due to various paint and body work issues. (Ive spend like $2000 on seals alone, its crazy). The hardness of the old URO seals is SO different compared to oem seals, its not even close!

[tonybeemer]

Seals are great just got a pair of uro seals through blunt seems soft and fit fine no problems .., then again I don't know what the old hard stuff felt like ... 

and a little off topic I noticed in the passenger door pic you have electric windows?? Is this something you did yourself ? Is it a kit ?  Where did you get that from ? 

[Redtail]

Good write-up and timely. I was just talking about getting a new set of door seals and I'm a little hesitant to drop more than $500 on BMW seals. I'll give the UROs a shot and hopefully get a set of the new soft type.

Edited July 12, 2017 by Redtail

[PatAllen]

vent window seems to be pushed away, they need to change the mold too. not only the rubber.

[PaulTWinterton]

Until Uro makes a statement confirming and guaranteeing that their seals meet the current specs of OEM,  I'll pay the dealer price.  Poor fitting seals suck and the work to find out they suck eliminates any benefit gained from buying the cheaper product.

I replaced my driver door seal 9 years ago with OEM and it's still supple as ever.  Money well spent.

 

Don't get me started on their windshield gasket.  Totally different fit from OEM and problematic in the corners.

Edited July 13, 2017 by PaulTWinterton

[Greg_Tchilinguirian]

2 minutes ago, PaulTWinterton said:

Until Uro makes a statement confirming and guaranteeing that their seals meet the current specs of OEM,  I'll pay the dealer price.  Poor fitting seals suck and the work to find out they suck eliminates any benefit gained from buying the cheaper product.

I replaced my driver door seal 9 years ago with OEM and it's still supple as ever.  Money well spent.

 

It's been 13 years for me.  Still soft, supple and leak free.

[stephers]

Yes and those were the good old days when BMW actually made most of their own stuff.   Isn't URO supplying BMW with door seals now, I believe. I may be wrong on this but here was a thread on this quite some time ago.

[Henning]

Very interesting and honest post, indeed.

I replaced my seals about two years ago with OEMs. Nearly drowned them before in glycerine to keep them longterm-soft so they may have swelled. After installing, it was nearly impossible to close the passenger's door, I had to remove a kind of knuckle above the upper hinge.

I also removed the outer stripe in the triangle area since it was pressed way too high. The seals are straight-line all the way but there's a step from triangle frame to big glass. That worked out quite well.

Concerning power windows I can recommend the early E24 style:

Drilled four holes into the door's inner frame and they directly replaced the non-powered ones. I wonder how pklyms door cards will fit...

 

Henning

 

[stephers]

Those electric windows look like Spall ones. I used to have a set of those on my 69 1600. Worked very well and were actually quite fast. Spall also made electric door locks and of course, their electric cooling fans.

 

Like the idea on the early E24 ones but you are back to those not so great motors.

 

Thanks, Rick

[chargin]

On ‎7‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 6:15 PM, Greg_Tchilinguirian said:

 

It's been 13 years for me.  Still soft, supple and leak free.

 

My front leaked and my rear window walked out after 6 days

[NYNick]

Just did my door seals. Argh, what a pain.