Door Seal

It's a rainy day. And because of that, you naturally have your windows closed. But despite that, the rainwater still manages to seep into your cabin. What gives? The door seal may be to blame. Water is seeping inside the cabin because the seal may be damaged or is already worn out. Aside from water, dust and noise will also make their way inside if you don't replace the old door seal. Fortunately, installing a new door seal isn't that difficult. In fact, it'll only take you more or less an hour. We'll guide you on how to do it correctly.

Required skill level: Novice

The tools you'll need:

1. Pliers/trim panel removal tool/screwdriver/razor
2. Drill/rag/emery cloth

Before anything else

Park your vehicle on a level surface. Afterwards, activate the parking brake and chock the wheels.

Removing the Old Door Seal

Now that the safety precautions are out of the way, proceed to the door that requires a new door seal. Open the door and inspect the old seal. Check if it's held in place by clips, screws, or glue.

• If the old door seal is clipped, use pliers or a trim panel removal tool to pry it away from the frame.
• If it's screwed, use a screwdriver, of course.
• If it's held in place by glue, grab a razor to cut the door seal.

Cleaning the Door Frame

Before you attach the new door seal to the frame, it's best to clean the area first to ensure a tight fit.

• If your new door seal utilizes screws, drill through the holes on the frame to make sure that they're clear of debris.
• If your new door seal will be glued to the frame, wipe the entire area with a rag first.
• If your new door seal is going to be clipped, it's ideal to sand it lightly first with emery cloth.

Measuring the new door seal

Naturally, the length of your door seal needs to meet the specifications of the door. So grab your new door seal and measure it against the frame. Make sure to leave a little extra material when you cut the door seal -this is the safe way to go in case you need to make a few adjustments. Remember, it's better to go over than to come up short in this case.

Putting it in place

After all of those, you can finally secure the new door seal in place. Again, how you go about it depends on whether the seal needs to be clipped, screwed, or glued. But regardless of the manner of attachment, you shouldn't have any difficulty in securing the new door seal in place as it's a pretty straightforward process. We've got one tip though for those who use glued door seals-don't close the door for at least six hours. Let the glue dry first before doing so.