DOOR - GLASS SEALS REMANUFACTURED

J

josephp6man

New Member
Hi,

I am in the process of having the door - glass seals re-made to original spec with the metal strip bonded into the rubber. I've found a suplier that can do this to a good quality - the same firm in the US who have done the bonnet badges, rather than any of the UK firms I've used for reproduction rubber previously - and we've reached the stage where I have firm quotes.

The reason for this post is that I would like to know what you the people would buy them for. If the concensus on price is too low, then obviously it is not a viable project.

I'm looking for an honest opinion on what you think either a single one or a set of four are worth, or what you would give. I have told Chris York the price that I intend to sell them for. It won't make you say a low price but if some say a higher price then I can't then go selling them at that price without being rumbled!

If any one wants a set, would you want to pay up front for a set, or part payment? firm orders will let me know if they will sell as everyone seems to want them and we all know they are obsolete. two new ones went for silly money on ebay the other month ( good for the seller ) at over £120.00.

Time from my order to the manufacturerto first deliveries will be around 5 months.

Over to you please for your opinions.

Joseph
 
Joseph,

Welldone for doing this.

The door glass seals have been long overdue. I bought a set from Scotts which are good but were very expensive. I think in the region of £75 when they were available.

The JRW seals for £25 when I last bought them were just plain strips un-shaped. It takes a bit of effort to get them to fit nice but due tot he construction they will never be the same as the originals.

Going by the sort of prices for other cars I think that a correctly made seal will need to sell for atleast £20 per door.

I have some experience with having parts made and the basic tooling tend to be around the £1000 region, so this needs to be spread over the prodution run. That would probably make a set about £200 for a reasonable production run and to spread the costs out.

So what will people pay for a set £25 you would lose an arm, £75 they would sell but not fly off the shelf and at £200 it would be hard to shift them in any great numbers.

For me I currently don't need a set but would pay £75 for a set as I have already done so in the past. But you know what it is like, everyone wants the rare and unobtainable parts but few put their hands in their pockets when they get the chance to buy them.

I hope it goes ahead and if it doesn't there will be people kicking themselves in years to come for not going for it.

Colin
 
hi colin,
that is a very nice reply and well put. i too have in the past looked at the cost for these mould wise and two different places in this country came out at over £1600.00 per mould before the cost of getting anything from them, which made it like you say uneconomical to get them remade. i am using the same supplier in california who made the bonnet badges for me. something i had not noticed was apart from the length difference of front and rear of just over three inches, the shape is the same where it runs under the quarter glass, so what hopefully is going to happen is rather than four moulds we are looking at two with an extension in the middle to make up the difference. that will cut down on mould costs by half and makes it more viable.

joseph
 
The door Glass Window seals (window scraper) available from Scotts in Australia are as good as you will get for the price and they fit well. I inherited a set when I purchased my 3500s and fitted them. Although they do not have the metal strip inside them like the Rover originals, they are located and bolted between two metal surfaces which keeps them straight. If you have a Rover Repair Manual just follow the instructions for removing the window glass and frames. When you get to the stage of lifting the glass and frame from the door, just lift them a couple of inches and stop there. You can then remove the old weather seals and install the new ones. The rest is "the reverse of the above" as the manual says. At current exchange rates, a set of Scotts window seals would be around 70GBP.
 
80 to 100 pounds for a set of four in my opinion. My car came with a replacement set though so i'm unlikely to need them for a couple of years...
 
When I bought my S the NSR seal was shot and it's oppo was on the way out, so I bought a pair of rears from Scotts. Whilst not perfect, they did fit pretty well. As I bought a few other bits and pieces at the same time the shipping cost wasn't excessive, but still significant.

Rebekah (the '66 2000) came with 4 new-ish seals fitted that (I think) were from Ray Weekly's old stock. These are nothing like good enough and need binning - so I'll be up for a set of four Ian!

Like Colin, I'm in engineering and deal with getting parts tooled up and manufactured. Amortising tooling costs is difficult to do with any certainty - and is often a finger in the air job!

So well done for making the effort! :)

Cheers,
 
I would be down in the £60-£70 region for a set I think. I've used the JRW ones & once fitted they are fine, though the rubber is perhaps a little less flexible than the originals when you wind the window down.
Bruiser could do with a set.
 
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