[DML] Re: Another solution for window felt

["therealdmcvegas" <DMCVegas@xxxx>]

I suppose it could be done this way. The biggest concern would 
be keeping things from getting too messy. Assuming that the 
rubber portion the felt is adheres to is still snuggly in place on 
the steel bracket on the door. You could probably hold the front of 
the felt w/a pair of long needlenose pliers, and use a screwdriver 
to push the felt against the rubber. But given the hieght of the 
window sill on the tollbooth windows, you'll have alot of difficulty 
positioning your hands. Removal of the upper door trim is much 
easier, and will allow you to do the job thorough enough so that 
you don't have to worry about doing it a 2nd time.

When you remove the upper door trim, you can have access to 
pull the bracket, and reglue the felt entirely. Also, if the rubber 
portion has come loose, you can now re-crimp it tighter with your 
hands to allow it to have a more firm grip on the bracket. To glue, 
I first attached the rubber to the bracket, and used Krazy Glue 
gel. It's important to slather it over the entire contact area 
between the felt and the rubber. But, you cannot have too thick a 
layer of glue. Too much, and it can bleed thru the felt. I use small 
metal paper clips to hold everything in place. When I say metal 
clips though, it's the black, triangular ones with the silver 
handles. I leave them on for about 10-14 minutes, and 
everything is good to go. This same method worked quite well in 
the door trim next to the A pillars. The clips are held on long 
enough to let the glue set into position, but not too long that they 
risk marring the surface.

To be a little more explicit, the problem with the window felt is a 
combination between both the glue, and the dropping glass. The 
felt is as long as the glass @ it's widest point. So when the 
glass drops below, it loses contact with the front portion on the 
felt. When it comes back up, it pushes against the glass. In high 
temperatures, the glue can soften. Thus each time the glass 
goes up, it moves the felt up a little bit. Until finally, the felt has 
moved enough that durring the up travel, it can dig under the felt, 
and seperate it. Once this is done, on the down travel, the glass 
will actually grip the rubber, and pull it from the steel bracket. And 
then when the glass goes up and down, it can make contact with 
the bracket, and will be scratched. So now you can see how the 
problem snowballs!

DMC Houston sells new window felt that overcomes this 
problem. Their strips are shorter, thus they never loose contact 
with the glass, and should not allow the glass to dig under the 
felt to cause a seperation. I would also imagine that they have 
also improved upon the glue as well to be more resistaint to 
softening . But you would have to ask them that to know for 
certain. If you do order the strips from them, you do have the 
advantage of ordering real Fir-Tree clips at the same time to 
replace any damaged ones you may encounter durring the 
process. Real clips are always more stable than the "ghetto" 
ones that you have to make from cross-overs @ the local auto 
parts store.

I'm not advocating any one particular route to take for you window 
repairs, just stating two that work. DIY, or NOS: It's up to you...

-Robert
vin 6585 "X"



--- In dmcnews@xxxx, "Kevin Abato" <delorean@xxxx> wrote:
> Can this be done without disassembling the door?
<SNIP>