How to Replace Weather Seal on a Car Door

The weather seals on your car play a vital role in the overall comfort of the vehicle. Sure, they keep rain and water from entering the interior of your car, but they also keep down wind noise and can quiet the vehicle while cruising down the road at speed. If these weather seals go out, as tends to happen with an older car or a restoration, then they should be replaced. Otherwise you risk damaging the inside of the car as well. In this case, the project vehicle is a 1996 Honda Civic, but the process is similar for other vehicles.

Instructions

1

Open the door and locate the weather seal. This goes around the entire perimeter of the entryway to the interior, and is made of black rubber. Locate the seam in the weather seal, located at the bottom of the door, around the middle.

2

Pull off one side of the weather seal with your hand, and then work your way around the entire door, pulling the molding out from around the interior. Notice that the seal fits on a channel of sheetmetal which rises up from the seams, as this is where the new molding will go.

3

Lay the new molding out on the ground and notice the shapes built into it. The replacement molding is contoured for a specific vehicle, so it will have corners in the right places. Pick one of those corners and hold the molding by that part, then push it onto the channel on the corner of the door.

4

Work your way around the molding, pushing it into the corners along the way, until the seam lines up in the bottom of the door again. Use the flathead screwdriver to tuck the new molding behind any plastic panels if necessary.