Fitting door window weather strips

[yorkshire_spam]

The door glass outer "weather strips" - anyone got any tips on fitting these? Or am I going to have to take the windows out just to get decent access to put the clips in place?

[Carledo]

You can buy a special tool from Rimmers, Robsport and a couple of the best trim shops.

Being a total cheapskate, I use a front wishbone shim from a Herald/Spitfire etc held in a molegrip (these shims are endlessly useful, I always have a handful in stock)

I start the clip on the door with a pair of flat faced point nose pliers then push the weatherstrip down a bit at a time using the shim/molegrip combo to hold each clip up individually. If you get the right weatherstrip, thumb pressure is enough to fit them, get the cheap nasty ones and you WILL struggle!

I use exclusively the strips sold by Fitchetts for Spitfire. They are too long, but easy to cut down with a tinsnip. If you look at them carefully and are not a lazy bum, but cut a bit off each end, you can get 5 clips to line up nicely with the recesses in the back of the strip and the 2 window buffers built into the strip into correspondingly neat positions.

An awful lot of practice means I can now fit all 4 in under an hour and I hardly ever lose a clip down the door!

Steve

[dollyman]

It's worth buying a tool Sam, i lent my tool to a new member who lives local and he did his in just over an hour and he has never worked on a car in his life. He did use blue tack to hold the clips to the tool to save rooting in the door bottom.
He bought his strips from Winn's and they were a perfect fit.

Tony.

[yorkshire_spam]

Thanks Steve / Tony, I've ordered one of the "special tools" I'll see how I get on once that arrives!

[geeksteve]

My front drivers side has three clips because I dropped so many clips and cut my hands so many times I was getting blood on the glass. Three seemed like enough..

[cleverusername]

Get the special tool, it is well worth it. Even with it it was a nightmare job. It is just a very poor design.

[yorkshire_spam]

Tool is on order, annoyingly this delays re-fitting the door cards etc.
C'est la vie.

[Magenta Auto Sprint]

The tool is useful but when I did mine, I unbolted the window regulator and dropped the glass just enough to get the tool in.

Malcolm

[yorkshire_spam]

Thanks Malcolm - I'll take a look at that option.

[Carledo]

My home made tool(s) work just fine with the glass in place. I ve never used an official offering but always thought it looked a bit big and clumsy. Never dreamed it wouldn't be fit for purpose!

Steve

[dollyman]

Tool is on order, annoyingly this delays re-fitting the door cards etc.
C'est la vie.

The chap i mentioned Sam did his with everything in place. He just had the glass wound down. I wished i had thought i could have posted mine to you and return it when finished.

Tony.

[yorkshire_spam]

Tool arrived and the bloody thing needs modifying, it's too wide to fit between the door panel and the glass. Grrrr.