Re: Weatherstripping & seals

Posted by HH56 On 2019/1/26 17:04:06

Am sure you've guessed that unlike Ford and Chevy, the Packard options are seriously limited in availability. I believe the current offerings are between Steele Rubber for many items and for some door and trunk weatherstrips, Kanter has some kits plus a few NOS specialty pieces. Prices and quality are comparable but there can be some significant differences on a few items so it pays to compare. You may have to buy from both places to find what you need and some items are not available at all. I wound up filling holes and cracks in old pieces to make them suitable as a silicone mold pattern and then casting a few small and solid pieces out of Urethane rubber.

I believe other than some old NOS items Max had carried and still might have in stock they currently just second source thru Steele and offer a bit of a discount if you buy from them. I am not sure where Kanter has his repro items made but I do remember comments Fred posted on the forum a while back where he went to great effort to say Steele was not his supplier at that time. I don't know if that has changed. Some generic extruded items that will work but may not be perfect to originals can be had from Restoration Specialties. Metro Molded Rubber has some extrusions and a few other items but not nearly as much as Steele in the way of Packard specific pieces.

Steele is the largest supplier of repro rubber in the old car industry and probably has the best selection of special Packard specific pieces but not all of their offerings are perfect repros -- primarily in the way some mount which can lead to some fit issues. The items are functional and look good but whereas Packard might have had a steel core in the middle of a piece to hold a shape around a curve or used a screw thru rubber and a metal tab, Steele's repro might just be the rubber which will need to be glued on. One other thing some have noticed is that Steele's items are often not quite the same hardness as original items and it seems to vary by piece. 55-6 windshield and rear window weatherstrip and rear suspension bushings are some items that seem softer. The softer weatherstrip doesn't want to hold the molding securely and causes a bit of grief when installing glass and moldings. The suspension bushings have been known to wear quickly.

Having said that, Steele does go to the trouble and expense to make the repros and are the only game around for the most part in what has to be a low volume product for them. Rather than having nothing I guess it is fortunate they take any interest at all in Packard pieces and guess we can be thankful they do.