Sticky Rubber on Hard Top

[Theo113]

The rubber around the side windows has become sticky and adhears to the windows when closed.  This results is black deposits on the window edges where they contact with the molding and makes the windows and doors difficult to open. Will this require replacing the moldings?  Is their an option which would be to treat the molding to stabilize it and to reduce its stickyness so as not to adhear to the windows thus not requiring replacement.  I am unsure if replacement is needed where one would have a job like that done.   Thanks for your comments.

[Theo113]

Sorry, I am using the term molding when I supposes the correct term would be weather strippiing.

[Pawel66]

Not familiar with this particular phenomenon, but I would have thought you could try to clean them with some degreaser and then apply something to protect rubber (one of the bodywork specialist told me not to use talc (talcum?) on rubber.

I am not sure if it is rubber deteriorating after some modern "rubber protection wonder" or just their age or various "protection wonders" applied in the past reacted together forming what sticks to glass.

If it comes to the worst - these seals are available at MB dealers and they are not excessively expensive and easy to replace. Also those on the window frame, just that these are not sold left and right any more, there is just one part number. It takes being careful to make the windshield/roof corner fit same way on both tops.

[Theo113]

Thank you Pawel.  I would not be opposed to the replacement solution thanks for the informaton that MB has the weather stripping.  Perhaps a body shop/ collision shop or a restoration company would be able to perform this task as this is not somthing I would take on myself.   Thank very much!
 

[Pawel66]

There are also sort of clip springs that prevent seals from sliding. Once you talk to the dealer about it, get those too, yours may be rusty.

[Theo113]

Thanks Pawel..

[Pawel66]

Theo, since I dragged you into this, I feel guilty so I will give you the whole truth, just to save unnecessary dialogue with the dealer who will say they do not have such old car in the system, then he would not be able to find it as there is no part list for the hard top for 113042, they are shown on the door part list, etc...

 A 113 725 19 66 weatherstrip, hard top, left (same part number goes for the soft top)
A 113 725 20 66 weatherstrip, hard top, right (again, same part number for the soft top)

If you decide to change the weatherstrips in the front pillars:

A 113 725 17 66 weatherstrip, A pillar, left and right, so you need two.

A 113 988 02 78 clamp, 2 of them go for each part of the weather strips, so you need 4 on each side for top weather strips and 2 for each side for front pillars weather strips.

Now: if you decide to change the front pillars weather strips, you may need to replace the weather strips in the soft top as well, unless the shop will make them fit same as they were before with soft top fitting. A pillars weather strips need to fit both tops weather strips.

In the good old days, the weather strips for front pillar used to be sold left and right. Now there is one part number. This weather strip needs to be sealed at its top. One of those you would install will be sealed, the other one you need to flip upside down (to fit the other side) so it will not be sealed at its top. What you can do is, when cutting it to fit the pillar (they are a bit too long), if you cut the sealed end, you can then extract the seal from this end and glue it in at the top to seal the weather strip from the top. Otherwise you would need to cut a piece of rubber and glue it so that you have that weather strip sealed.

The old front pillars weather strips were nicely finished with fabric-like surface. Not sure if the new ones are the same quality. If you have them in good condition, I would keep them.

[ja17]

Now that these cars are nearing 50 years old,  am finding that a lot of the original rubber parts and moldings are tuning to sticky "mush". Not sure if is the sunlight, age or temperature.  Probably all of these factors.

[Theo113]

Pawel,  thankyou thankyou for the amazing detail on this issue.  Now I am quite sure I will not begin to attempt this job myself as I will leave it to some currenty unknown SL guy.  I am not sure my excellent mechanic would do this type work but I have asked him for a reference should he not care to attempt this job.

Thanks again 

[Theo113]

Joe,  thanks for your comment.  Guess it is good to know I am not alone with this issue.

[kampala]

The old front pillars weather strips were nicely finished with fabric-like surface. Not sure if the new ones are the same quality. If you have them in good condition, I would keep them.

I bought Mercedes a-piller vertical seals a couple of years ago and they have the fabric coating that is needed for the glass to slide ( it is now black fabric so not easy to see). I had read here that aftermarket items did not have the fabric but never bought them so don’t know for sure. 

[Pawel66]

I just got the new ones form MB dealer and they do have the fabric (I had to fit glass and seals for both tops). I think any rubber, as long as available and priced reasonably, is best to be bought at MB dealers.

Just that I had no comparison with the earlier weather strips, so I wrote the remark I wrote as I heard some Members were mentioning that quality topic. So the "deterioration" is one part number for left and right ones, but it is easy to go over that.

[Theo113]

Thanks to the responses here my SL guy was able to quickly identify and confirm the parts that needed to be ordered, thanks.  He had seen this problem and has had past experience with resolution of same.  Good news, thanks again all.

[dirtrack49]

Hi all,

Slightly off topic. I am also contemplating a restoration of my hardtop on a 1966 230SL. However, I am concerned about removing the hardtop itself. Last time this hardtop was off the car was when I was 18 years old. I convinced my parents that we needed to see what the vehicle looked like with the top off. That was over 50 years ago.

So my question would be, what do I need to know about removing this hardtop after 53 years? Will the seals just give out? Most likely the soft top will be trash. Anything I should know before removing it, or suggestions as to how to go about it?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Tom L.

[hauser]

Try bug and tar remover on sticky plastic and rubber parts.

[Theo113]

Thanks Hauser......was able to remove some of the sticky rubber deposit from the top of the window were it meets the rubber weather stripping using products similiar to those you suggested.  However the problem occurs again if the window is again closed on the sticky stripping.  The final solution, i believe , is to invest in the replacement of the rubber which I have scheduled.  Thanks for your comments.