Date:         Thu, 24 Jan 2002 11:54:44 EST
Reply-To:     FrankGRUN@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Frank Grunthaner <FrankGRUN@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: wind/seal noise
Comments: To: albell@uvic.ca
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

Aargh, I'm unclear here. How did the seals get into the luggage carrier to
begin with? Perhaps an effort to use seal oil for a better sealing surface
with more preload for the rubberized seal.

I experimented with the seal loading in an effort to eliminate the wind
buffeting noise. As many have noted in this colloquy, I was blindsided by
this problem after replacing the luggage carrier seal with the Bus Depot
seal. I found the problem to be directly related to the loading of the
Fiberglas carrier when the retaining screws in the front and side are tied
down. I thought I had eliminated the problem when I placed my not
inconsiderable bulk in the carrier (sat it) while tightening the holddown
screws. Unfortunately I just moved the buffeting point (unloaded) up to 85
mph or so. Then over time, I found the buffeting point continued to move to
lower velocities. Finally at around 65 mph for the onset, I retightened. The
buffeting point went up to just over 75. I was confused, as the loading
factor (my bulk) had increased by about 11 pounds to a not inconsiderable
sum. Sure enough, the system relaxed again over the summer months.

Finally, I replaced the luggage seal with the bulbed version first offered (I
think) by Go Westy and now also purveyed by the Bus Depot. No further
problems up to 98 mph. I am convinced that the profile of the Bus Depot
un-bulbed seal matches the VW OEM but that the compound formulation is not
the same. It appears the stiffness is marginal. Probably works back east and
up north because its frozen stiff and doesn't thaw till the camping season is
over.

Frank Grunthaner