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2015 rubber strips on sliding doors?


nuke
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I just bought a used 2015 TC XLT Wagon LWB with the sliding doors on both sides. It was an ex-Hertz rental.

There was a strip of what appeared to be rubber weather stripping in the vehicle when I got it. It goes on the back edge of the door glass/plastic. (took me a while to figure it out). It is missing off both sides and I only have the one piece.

I'm sure it was the victim of many Hertz car washes on rental return. It is kind of dumb to have an exposed piece like that, but it is what it is.

Does it serve any purpose, other than to visually close the gap when the door is closed? Keep wind or rain out? I think I found it on the ford parts online diagram. Not sure if it is needed/wanted, or just some doodad that's going to fall off again anyway.

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I'll say that they seem to be prone to falling off... One of the "new" cars on the lot I looked at had it installed on the wrong side because it had fallen off and the dealership didn't know which part of the car to put it back onto. They had it installed on the edge of the rear window (and it was making it very hard to open the sliding door on that side).

Other folks who have had theirs longer will probably chime in about this, I remember reading thread titles about loose door/window trim but didn't know what they were referring to specifically until I'd seen it myself. A search will probably come up with the threads about it...

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Well, I found both of them now. :) There sure are a lot of places something can get lost under those seats. The doodads are just weather stripping material. The blue TC in the forum header photo has them. It covers the "crack" between the back edge of the sliding door where the black plastic trim is. Without it, the paint color shows through the crack.

It glues on to the inside rim of that vertical plastic trim piece at the back edge of the sliding door window.

I'll probably go get some weather stripping cement and glue them back on. I can't believe anyone in their right mind at a car-company did this, but they did. Leaving an easily damaged bit of soft rubber exposed to the outdoors, people, cats and car washes is pretty dumb. I'd say garanteed to fall off in short order.

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......Does it serve any purpose, other than to visually close the gap when the door is closed? Keep wind or rain out? I think I found it on the ford parts online diagram. Not sure if it is needed/wanted, or just some doodad that's going to fall off again anyway.

I took a look at my 2015 Wagon that still has both intact. It appears to be mostly cosmetic. There is a separate weather seal around the entire door opening. Although it may serve to keep rain and debris off the middle support arm for the door in the closed position. Mine are already starting to loosen at the bottoms. I may need to get some extra adhesive on them before they disappear. Can you post a photo of how it looks with the trim removed? The untrimmed gap at the front doesn't look too bad. If the missing trim isn't noticable it might be better just to remove it if it gets too loose, before it falls off and gets lost. At least that way I could put it back on before I try to resell it.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I guess I get to be the first to try this repair so I thought I would share my experience and lessons learned. I got some of the 847 adhesive from Amazon. I had been worried about being able to get it into the small slot the trim fits into, but the tube has a nice narrow nozzle that fits easily. All work was done with both doors fully open and working from the rear bumper area.

First I removed the rubber seals. They pulled out easily and I was able to see why they are so loose. It looks like just a single strip of double sided adhesive was used on only one side to attach it. And it was on the plastic trim side, so when the door closes and seal is pushed away from the metal side of the door, it can easily "roll" in the slot and come almost entirely out. Adhesive on both sides is needed to hold the rubber in the slot. Or a thicker tab strip that is actually compressed in the slot.

Once removed, I covered the area in protective masking tape since I would likely get adhesive slopping around a bit as I inserted the rubber strips. I just covered the entire area then cut out the slot. FIRST ERROR: The masking at the bottom needs to separately cover the metal of the door and the plastic window trim. I used a single piece to cover the both areas. The adhesive was much more runny than I was expecting and I did overdo it a bit. It oozed out under the single protective masking I had put on and filled up the gap under the tape. Better to let the extra ooze out from under the plastic trim and run on top of the metal for easier cleanup.

When applying the adhesive, I put a thin bead on both sides of the rubber tab strip that goes into the slot and spread it with a disposable paint brush. Then I ran two beads inside the slot, one on the metal door side and one on the plastic trim side. I did not allow it to dry as some installation methods suggested for a contact cement type of fit. I figured a wet-to-wet insertion would allow me to move the rubber strip as needed and provide more of a caulking effect for the fairly loose fitting strip. The amount of adhesive was pure guesswork and unfortunately I can't suggest any other way to do it. Once the adhesive was applied, I quickly reinserted the rubber trim in the slot, being sure to bottom it out. Being able to move it did come in handy as I was about 1/4" too low once I got to the other end of the strip, but I was able to just slide it up a bit because the adhesive was still fluid. When installing the strip, the natural tendency is to position the exposed portion of the strip running parallel to the door surface like you are used to seeing it when the doors are closed. But this will cause the tab portion of the strip to roll out of the slot. Let the exposed portion rest at about a 60 degree angle to the door surface and keep pushing the tab portion into the slot until the adhesive firms up enough to hold it in position.

SECOND ERROR: I removed the masking too early. My initial thinking was to that pulling off the masking while the excess adhesive was still fairly fluid would prevent it getting spread around. That is slightly true, but it made cleanup much harder. Leave the masking on until all the excess adhesive is cleaned off. I used Acetone as recommended on the 3M data sheet. I did some tests in hidden areas of paint and plastic before cleaning the larger visible area. It had no effect on the paint or rubber, but did affect the plastic trim that I had uncovered by removing the masking too early. My test spot showed some black on the rag when using the acetone on the plastic so I did multiple small passes when cleaning the adhesive off the unprotected plastic. It ended up leaving the area a bit smoother and shinier than the original area, but not enough that it attracts your attention. Hopefully as the plastic weathers over time, the appearance will even out. But if you leave the masking on, that should be enough to protect the plastic surface during cleanup.

It took about 20 minutes for the adhesive to get totally set up to where I felt confident in not disturbing the placement of the reinstalled rubber strip. Leave the doors open for this entire period or it will roll the strip back out of the slot if the adhesive is not fully set up. If you have left the masking on the plastic, the acetone will quickly clean up any excess adhesive from the surrounding areas. But use care around the plastic as it can be affected by the acetone if it gets past the masking.

Here's some photos I snapped along the way:

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post-5019-0-14317900-1455850331_thumb.jp

post-5019-0-08352500-1455850339_thumb.jp

post-5019-0-60885200-1455850345_thumb.jp

Edited by DonShockley
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Don. The 3M- 847 has been part of my tool box for Many years and It was used on the Rubber Trim on the TC with in the first month I had the car.

I must say that the Job you did was terrific and showed tremendous thought and preparation . The pictures were great.

I squeezed some adhesive in the groove put the gasket on and closed the door. My level of commitment to the project was no where near as great as yours. It has been over a Year and the glue has worked.

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I hate having to redo jobs. My goal was to do it once so I never have to think about the trim getting pulled off at the car wash, etc. Hopefully I'll never have to do it again before I trade the TC in on my next vehicle.

And right now, loose trim is a bit of a pet peeve due to my job. Every year just before the state inspection (which was just done yesterday) we have to inspect/replace gaskets on some tank hatches because we keep using cheap door seal weatherstripping from the local hardware store that installs with sticky tape. Spending just a bit more for proper gasket material and adhesive would make it last more than 1-2 years and probably save money in the long run, but I never seem to win that argument.

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I was not faulting your Job at all. I think that the 3M product is the most important thing in this whole discussion,

Even though our approach to the situation was different Our choice of the same proper adhesive was the critical thing in this situation.

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I was in Vegas last weekend. I've never seen so many TC Wagons. Lots of taxi versions, and a ton that had to be rentals on the strip. It was kind of funny, I hardly see them here in Silicon Valley. I noticed that all the taxi versions lack the strips. About 1/2 the normal (presumed rent-a-cars) had one or both strips missing.

There's a noticeable gap, but I don't think most people would notice it. I don't think they serve any real purpose.

I'm thinking to leave them off. Even if glued securely, they seem really susceptible to damage and wear.

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If it is no hassle to get to the dealer it might be a good Idea.

I always have the 3M stuff around so it was less that 10 Minutes for me. The Rubber parts on cars seem to fall off all the time regardless of age I guess I am use to it .

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'm still under warranty. I wonder if I should let the dealer tackle it? They'll just put two new ones in with the double-sided tape.

That's exactly what they did with mine. Fell off again too. I joined the 3M club.

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  • 1 year later...

There was a recall on the 2014 for the panel in the sliding doors not being properly glued (glued? and not spot welded go figure). I have a 2015 and the driver side sliding door panel is coming loose. I talked with Ford and they are aware of the problem but there's not been enough complaints to trigger a recall on the 2015. So if yours is coming loose call Ford. Or if yours had to be fixed and you kept the receipt call Ford and report it. Once they get enough complaints they will issue a recall and if you've already had yours fixed you will be reimbursed.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Glad I read this thread!  I remember seeing some stray rubber strips in the back when I picked up (used) my 2024 transit connect, and I cuoldn’t figure out where they went.  Now I have an idea of where to look. :)

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  • 3 months later...

That has changed in a few years.  A lot more wagons on the road now.  It used to be only commercial vans.

 

 

On 2/21/2016 at 10:21 PM, nuke said:

I was in Vegas last weekend. I've never seen so many TC Wagons.

 

I hardly see them here in Silicon Valley.

 

 

 

 

 

On 2/21/2016 at 10:21 PM, nuke said:

 

 

 

 

What does a 2024 model year look like?  Got any pics?

 

On 3/31/2018 at 4:18 PM, jakeru said:

 I picked up (used) my 2024 transit connect,

 

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