Window Seals Fading

[Wess]

The rubber seals that run along the bottom of my driver side windows on the exterior are fading and appear to be drying out. I'm looking for suggestions as to what products I can use to treat these seals and possibly restore them a little. Thanks!

 

[crixtopher]

hey I'll second that one, you beat me to this question Wess

mine are spotty. only guess I have had is that maybe every time this car has been washed by its previous owner he didn't dry it properly. seems to me when I am drying it off thats where most of the water gathers in small puddles and it might be leaving water spots on the rubber. is this the same thing you are talking about ?

 

[Ian Macoomb]

I got some stuff from Don Mallinson's company (can I mention the name here?). The stuff is called Wurth rubber care. Comes in a little bottle that's a bit like a bingo dabber. It's perfect for this purpose but you'll need to touch it up every couple of months.

 

[98taurus]

I have the same problem on my 98, as I think a lot of Gen. 3 owners do. I bought some Mothers Back to Black and it works wonders. You have to apply this every month or so and it stays black.

 

[crixtopher]

thanks for the info, will try soon and report back . . .

 

[99V8SHO]

Black shoe polish?

 

[Wess]

I thought about shoe polish, but my goal is not to blacken alone, rather to treat the problem and restore the finish at the same time.

 

[Funmart6]

Back to Black does work very well. Use a "Mr. Clean Magic Eraser" to clean the molding, then apply the "Back to Black".

 

[svtsho]

In case you decide that like me you want to replace them. Here are the part numbers:

1F12-5421452-AA RH Front door outer belt molding

1F12-5421453-AA LH Front door outer belt molding

2F12-5425596-AA RH Rear door outer belt molding

2F12-5425597-AA LH Rear door outer belt molding

I believe that these are updated parts (model year 2000/2001), in looking at the later Taurus they do not seem to do the same thing that the 96-99 do.

The price on these is $28.99 each for the front, and $23.99 each for the rear from FPN.

Bill

 

[crixtopher]

I have the same problem on my 98, as I think a lot of Gen. 3 owners do. I bought some Mothers Back to Black and it works wonders. You have to apply this every month or so and it stays black.

maybe a bit late to post, but I did get some Mothers and finally applied it today, even with just a "lunch break quality" application it looks ten times better. As suggested I will likely re-apply and touch up. seems to do the trick, thanks again all

 

[Mr. SHO]

When they are really rough, the first application of Back to Black might not do much for very long. Mine were pretty dried out, so I spent about 5 minutes on each seal with the B2B and finally got them looking good, but the next day, they started to dry out in spots. I kept touching them up with the B2B every few weeks, and now they look great and I haven't touched them in months. They still aren't smooth or uniform in texture, but at least they aren't ashy and dry.