Date:         Sun, 19 Mar 2000 20:42:22 -0700
Reply-To:     Jon B Kanas <kanas@QADAS.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jon B Kanas <kanas@QADAS.COM>
Subject:      Luggage Rack Rattle
Comments: To: "pooncerelli@HOTMAIL.COM" <pooncerelli@HOTMAIL.COM>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Jason and Fellow Listers,

I know what your noise is;  It took me six weeks to find mine on my 1983...  I
found it in minutes on the 1987 (experience pays!!)  It's the new seal you
installed.  If I'm correct, the seal you installed had a 'U' shaped channel
which firmly slid over the edge of the luggage rack.  Glued to this 'U' channel
is a round bead of soft rubber, which seals against the roof of your Vanagon
when the seal is installed.

The bead of soft rubber on the new seal is your problem;  Air, being deflected
off of the windshield picks up the rubber, then is snaps back against the roof
of the Vanagon.  I tried several fixes, the most successful was to cut the bead
of rubber seal from the U channel and remove it.  I made clean angle cuts at
either end of the windshield frame, near the rain gutters.  I filled the open
hole of the channel remaining with black silicone, and the appearance is
excellent.  The second best fix was to remove the luggage rack, and put a strip
of 1/2" self-adhesive weather-stripping (normally used between pickup beds and
camper shells) along the top of the windshield so that the rubber bead of the
luggage rack weather-strip was securely compressed.  This worked for about 1
year until the self-adhesive weather-strip disintegrated.

Unless you want to go to the dealer and pay for the factory seal, you will need
to fiddle about with the after-market seal until it is quiet.  I purchased my
aftermarket seal from Bus Boys several years ago.  It is basically a good seal,
and the price is significantly better than the dealer part.  I would really
like to see an seal which is a single, molded piece of rubber.  In addition to
the noise problem, I have also had the rubber seal separate from the 'U'
channel in different places.

Regards and good luck,
Jon B Kanas

Boulder County Colorado:
194249 sq Hectares surrounded by reality.
Working hard to keep it this way