Line up the seal and begin pressing it down firmly beginning in one corner and moving your way down to the opposite corner. Take care to ensure you don't stretch the rubber, as this can lead to cracking further down the line. Once you are happy with the alignment, press the entire seal again to fix it permanently.
Rub vaseline or vaseline intensive care all around the doors, and on the frame of the vehicle that has contact with the doors, and on anything that could cause the doors to freeze shut. I've done this for over 40 years, on cars and my daughter's truck and it works. I'd reapply it on a regular basis.
If the seal gets damaged or perished, water will track down the front of the door and into the car. A visual inspection is usually sufficient to diagnose whether it's the culprit. Sometimes if the seal has become hardened, they can be rejuvenated with silicone spray or rubber restorer.
A: Usually, silicone spray (not grease) liberally applied a few times over winter does the trick. Spray the rubber and wipe it off with a cloth. The silicone spray will displace any moisture and will keep the rubber weatherstrip from sticking to the metal of the car.
Once the rubber seals have been cleaned and freed of contaminants, protect them against moisture, heat and frost with a silicone lubricant. Not only does this ensure a long life, but it also keeps them looking their best all year round!
Protect your new rubber car seals
To elongate the life of the seal, you can take steps to protect the rubber. WD-40® High Performance Silicone Lubricant is ideal for use on rubber materials.
Products like Vaseline and silicone spray contain petroleum (crude oil) and many solvents. These penetrate well into your rubbers and affect them from the inside.
To further protect your car's rubber seals from drying out or cracking over time, it is recommended to apply a silicone-based sealant specifically designed for automotive use. This will provide additional moisture resistance while maintaining flexibility.
Common causes for water leaks include: Broken or missing door seals. Perished or shrunken rubber seals. Perished seals around sunroofs.
If the car is more than 20 years old, it's worth replacing the automotive seals. The older the car door rubber, the less effective the seal will be. The quality of car weather stripping has improved greatly over the years so a new seal will always be more effective than one that has seen 2 decades of use.
WD- 40® Specialist® Water Resistant Silicone Lubricant protects seals and locks on your car door to make getting the job done right in cold weather.
For sealing around the exterior of a door, or anywhere that could be exposed to water and harsh weather, choose a GE-branded 100% silicone sealant, like GE Supreme Silicone Window & Door sealant. This sealant is 100% weatherproof, permanently flexible and won't crack or shrink with temperature changes.
Vaseline is a brand name for petrolatum, which is also known as petroleum jelly. Common uses include moisturizing and protecting the skin, treating minor cuts and scrapes, and providing a sealant for wood, metal and concrete surfaces.
Spray WD-40 Specialist® Silicone Lubricant and work the product into the seals. Repeat for each door. Don't forget the trunk!
Should you use WD-40 on rubber parts to protect them from cracking? No, absolutely not. In fact, it may damage rubber by dissolving and washing away the oils in the rubber. It may react with the rubber and make it gooey, or harden it.
Jellys. Glycerin or Vaseline swiped over a door lock, then pushed inside a few times will coat the lock with a moisture-repelling lubricant that can prevent freezing.
However, knowing if the o ring is made from ordinary natural rubber or synthetic rubber is where the problem lies, as petroleum will degrade natural rubber. To avoid such problems, we'd recommend the use of silicone lubricant for seals and o rings.
As your vehicle gets older, the rubber seals around the doors can become weaker and stop working as efficiently. They can dislodge themselves, become unstuck from the door frames and start to leave a space between the door frame and the rubber seal itself.
Water leaking in, or around the outer edge of a vehicle's door is a sure sign of door seal issues. Along the same lines, water running into a vehicle's floorboard from behind the driver's side or passenger side door panel is indicative of a leaking door membrane.
Spray car door hinges with WD-40 and lithium grease
If so, squirt the hinges with WD-40 to free them, and move the door several times to work in the lubricant. Once the hinges are in working condition, just squirt them with white lithium grease, operate the door several times and then wipe any excess away.