Door window felt

[JackL]

I purchased door window felt for a 57 Chevy truck and the pop in male split clips on the back metal plates are miss aligned. Does anyone know where to get felt strips that fit the O.E.M. holes in the doors?

[mr48chev]

One of the TF guys will give a suggestion and it will probably be buy from a certain supplier.

Welcome to the board tell us about your truck.

[MARTINSR]

OMG reproduction parts, instead of "Exactly as original" in the catalog if they wanted to be honest they would put "Similar to original, can be used if nothing else is available."

I mistakenly bought two sets of those for my 1965 Buick Gran Sport BOTH sets were wrong not having a single hole line up and they were VERY different from one another, it was hilarious how bad they were. Do they not have a measuring tape in China?

Brian

[JackL]

They don't get the fact that we work hard on these vehicles and don't mind paying a fair price for parts, but not when they don't fit?

Putting window regulators, new vent rubber and weather stripping is hard enough when trying not to scratch fresh paint, but this puts the cherry on the f-ing whip cream when the last thing doesn't fit and you have to pry it loose to try to modify it?

[mikebte]

O ya, nothing like buying from a reputable parts house to only find the parts wrong, miss labeled or built like Crap. I have had this many times and I often I can do little to nothing about the issue. I can only return the part and start over on my search.

The last part I order came in a bag with a label stating it was for a different vehicle and not for my of truck. But I could tell from looking at the part it was correct and it did indeed work.

Sorry for your bad luck, Sounds like this was putting you close to completing a job.

[Daze57]

They don't get the fact that we work hard on these vehicles and don't mind paying a fair price for parts, but not when they don't fit?

i agree 1000%--- i still dont understand why some companys just dont get it !!!
we do work hard on our projects ---we only want stuff that fits -- i dont think thats asking for too much
just sayin

[JackL]

I visited my upholstery guy Tom at Collins auto trim in Downey Cal. that did my interior and he said to use the universal beltline felt with the stainless bead, DK Hardware sells it 877-509-8040. He showed me his installation using the universal trim, he was forced to use the universal trim as his windows are the one piece without the vent window, see the silver door picture below. Once I tried to install the ones I purchased, I had to pry them back out to cut the pin to fit the hole. Once installed, they set too low as well and the paint is scratched do to all of the prying. Since the window bottom rubber stop is not accessible after the window is in, I hole sawed a 2-1/4" hole, removed the bottoming rubber stop to allow the window to drop another 5/8" to make it easier to install the universal beltline strips. Then raise the window and put a new lower rubber bottoming stop in the door, mine has Rod Door door panels to hide the hole. I'm attaching a few photos, the silver one that Tom did looks better than factory. I will order the universal next week, meanwhile, repainting the scratched paint on the driver side! The front left hole was misaligned and the problem as well is that the holes are down too low in the door for the beltline to be in the right position, the strip would need to be taller so the pins could be lower for the proper stainless bead height. The right side is all finished with the lower rubber stop removed to allow the window to go down to make the install easier once I receive the new strip material. The adhesive Tom used is the Sikaflex 220+ Cold Applied Direct Glazing Adhesive also available at DK Hardware. If you access their web site it is mainly shower doors, but they have an automotive tab you can click to see the beltline strip they carry. Be sure to get the stainless bead type if you want the stainless look otherwise they have the black bead type. Tom said you will need to cut the bottom end of the beltline strip with tin snips a little to allow you to shape the end of the stainless up to match the curve of the window opening at the rear of the door. After it is cut and fit, use the adhesive to attach the shaped piece to the door and use small wood wedges or paint sticks to keep pressure against the strip from the glass and let it set overnight. Tom said he used a little solvent to clean the excess adhesive from the paint and stainless bead right after the wood wedges are installed.

[DransportGarage]

Originally Posted by JackL

<snip> universal beltline felt <snip>

I love the look of the universal beltline felt. I checked it out at DK Hardware. I was ready to buy. It's not too expensive -- $40.28 + S&H for two 6' pieces, p/n YM372. Then I took some measurements. The opening without felts on a TF truck is about 7/8" wide. The dimension taken up by two pieces of this felt is 15/32", just a little less than 1/2". That means the window - with a little crush against the felt - has to be about a half inch thick to rub against both felts, which it isn't, and doesn't. The window will rattle like a BB in a boxcar. (There probably won't be a rattle because the front and rear channels will support the glass, but it appears there will be a gap.)

I really wanted this to work for me, but it won't. Please prove me wrong, because I want to go back and buy this stuff!

[JackL]

Bob,

Check out part # YM9396, it is 21/64, another option is to remove the crimped in male split mounting pins on the replacement felt and glue it in at the correct height with windshield adhesive

Jack

[DransportGarage]

Originally Posted by JackL

Bob,

Check out part # YM9396, it is 21/64, another option is to remove the crimped in male split mounting pins on the replacement felt and glue it in at the correct height with windshield adhesive

Jack

We're getting somewhere! ...but, the working dimension on YM9396 is 17/64" since the bead is supposed to hang over the edge of the lip. The price jumped to $36.21 ea. for the 8' part, with a TF truck needing two of them.

Then I found YM3096 ($36.25 ea.), which is 9/32". That would require the window to be 5/16" thick to touch (no crush). My windows are .230. Building up the back of the part with windshield adhesive is a possibility, however.

[JackL]

Bob,

The YM9396 on page 11 indicates 9/16" tall yet 21/64 thick? If the opening width is 7/8", that is 56/64, the glass at 15/64 and two felt strips at 21/64 equals 57/64 with no crush with the stainless bead overhang at the top and the crush it should fit snug. If it is too tight, I may bend the inner door metal on a bit of an angle to allow the window frame to slip between the felt?

I've ordered the YM9396 as well as the Silka 220+ urethane adhesive standard delivery, once I receive it I'll post the outcome.

Jack

[DransportGarage]

Go for it, JackL !! And welcome to the forum!

[JackL]

Bob was right!

The universal strip came in and it wasn't wide enough, math was correct, I think the door felt was marked wrong. Anyway I purchased the stock pop in felt and although I purchased it from a different vendor, It dosn't fit due to miss alignment of the mounting clips. I took my Dremel tool and cut the crimped mounting clips off of the strip, removed the rubber, cut it to length and roughed up the metal so the adhesive would stick. I applied the urethane adhesive and spread it with a paint stick about an 1/8" thick. With the window down and lower bump stops removed, see previous post, I applied the strip and used door shim wood wedges for house doors to hold the weatherstrip in place overnight. I have done three so far and the last one will go on tonight. I made the stainless strip flush with the top of the door and used the urethane adhesive in the picture in the above post. My upholstery guy said to use gas on a rag to clean the excess adhesive off of the paint, worked pretty good.

[DransportGarage]

Originally Posted by JackL

Bob was right!

I hate that when that happens.

Originally Posted by JackL

The universal strip came in and it wasn't wide enough, math was correct, I think the door felt was marked wrong. Anyway I purchased the stock pop in felt and although I purchased it from a different vendor, It dosn't fit due to miss alignment of the mounting clips. I took my Dremel tool and cut the crimped mounting clips off of the strip, removed the rubber, cut it to length and roughed up the metal so the adhesive would stick. I applied the urethane adhesive and spread it with a paint stick about an 1/8" thick. With the window down and lower bump stops removed, see previous post, I applied the strip and used door shim wood wedges for house doors to hold the weatherstrip in place overnight. I have done three so far and the last one will go on tonight. I made the stainless strip flush with the top of the door and used the urethane adhesive in the picture in the above post. My upholstery guy said to use gas on a rag to clean the excess adhesive off of the paint, worked pretty good.

It looks like you recovered well! I learned the gas trick - for removing tar - back when there was still lead in the gas. Another option is enamel reducer, like the old Ditzler DTR-601. It smells and acts exactly like Goo-Gone. You can also use the DTR-601 to remove scuffs, etc. from vinyl upholstery. (Learned that from a trimmer, 40 years ago.)

I assume you used the gas to wipe off the excess while the urethane was still wet? (...because urethane is impervious to everything once it dries.)

What would have happened if you hadn't cut the metal strip off of the back of the felt, and you had just cut the clips off?

Also, let us know who the "different vendor" was, and the part number of the felt strip. Great job!

[JackL]

Bob,

Yes it was still wet, the urethane adhesive is very tough when it dries, so yes I cleaned it with gas before it dried. I bought the glass felt kit from the Truck shop and the second set of beltline weatherstrip from Brothers, they both looked like they were from the same source by the way they were packaged and both were miss aligned. I cut a portion of the miss aligned pin to allow it to snap in, but when I snapped them in, the were too loose and positioned too low and wobbled up and down when I rolled the glass up and down, that's when I decided to go the pins less way? If having them low doesn't matter to you the trimming the pins and adding adhesive would be another option and easier.

One other note, it is hard to keep from smashing and distorting the felt when you place the wedges between the window and the felt, so tonight I plan to use a long piece of 1/8" plywood against the felt and the shims between the glass and the plywood to spread the force more evenly against the felt. I learned that using the window frame to spread the force helped, but to the rear the frame bends down and you loose the support, so rolling the glass up after you glue it in place gives you the back support at the rear. The picture above on the passenger side shows the shims between the outer door and window frame to put pressure on the felt.

Thanks for the input!

[DransportGarage]

Originally Posted by JackL

<snip>
Thanks for the input!

Thanks back at ya! This thread will, I'm sure, help others down the road (including me).

[JackL]

Both sides completed

[DransportGarage]

Originally Posted by JackL

Both sides completed

Very nice! When do you want to come to Ohio to do mine?

[JackL]

Sorry Bob, not retired yet. I bought a 55 second series few years ago that came with the
single glass kit still in the box. I need to get it down from the rafters and see if the beltline felt is wider than the DK Hardware stuff?

[DransportGarage]

Originally Posted by JackL

Sorry Bob, not retired yet. I bought a 55 second series few years ago that came with the
single glass kit still in the box. I need to get it down from the rafters and see if the beltline felt is wider than the DK Hardware stuff?

I'd be interested in what you find out. I rolled my own on having single glass cut. I have squeegee-type wipers, but they're not going to cut it.