Date:         Fri, 12 Apr 2002 09:37:49 -0400
Reply-To:     The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Subject:      Re: Comparison of Pop-top seals requested
In-Reply-To:  <59.1a0d0104.29e80eea@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

> Marshall, I used the ones from the Bus Depot.  Easy to
> install, very good quality, will not rust, no glue needed except for the
front
> edge seal of the poptop.

We now have a new front edge seal design that has a built-in metal clip just
like the poptop seal and luggage rack seal. So the entire kit can now be
installed without any adhesive.  As with our other seals, this is excusively
available from the Bus Depot.  At best, the other vendors have a similar
seal that does need to be glued in. At worst, some simply provide an extra
length of poptop seal to use along the front edge of the poptop (as another
listmember discovered when he bought a kit elsewhere).  This saves the
vendor a lot of money but is completely incorrect for the application.

> The seal for the luggage rack does not have the
> rubber attached as the one for the poptop.  This may
> or may not present a problem.  The seal  is left out so
> that water can escape from the luggage rack.  However, the
> leading edge may vibrate under certain driving and wind
> conditions. What I did to solve this was to cut a piece of the
> rubber tubing from an old pop to seal the length of the width
> of the leading edge of the luggage rack and
> stuff it between the new seal and the roof.  Vibration cured.

As Frank noted, the lack of an insulation bulb on the luggage rack seal is
intentional, as it allows proper rainwater drainage and is close to the
original VW design.  Less than 2% of our customers have a problem with wind
noise with such a seal.  I believe that in those cases, the luggage rack has
come just slightly loose over time causing a bit of a larger gap there than
originally existed.  Most of the time, repositioning the seal just slightly
cures this (or tightening down on the rack). Otherwise we do have a "bulbed"
version of the seal available, although I don't really recommend this
solution unless you do have a wind noise issue because it impedes rainwater
drainage. Besides, some people have reported that the bulbed seal actually
_increases_ wind noise, so even when the situation occurs (which, as I said
is rare), using a bulbed seal is not always a solution anyway.  While a
non-bulbed seal can be installed with the luggage rack fully in place, a
bulbed one requires loosening or removing the rack. (I suspect that in some
cases, among people who reported no wind noise with a bulbed seal, the fact
that they loosened and retightened the rack to install it was what stopped
the noise; had they done the same with the non-bulbed seal the same
improvement would have occurred.

Our poptop seals are different from, and superior to, all others on the
market. They are not off the shelf generic weatherstrip but are specifically
designed for Westfalia campers. The bulb on the poptop seal is correctly
placed, same as the VW seal, for proper sealing, and the finish is closer to
original than any other seal. The front seal is correctly shaped and does
not need adhesive. The luggage rack seal will not impede rainwater drainage.
Bottom line is, you can't get a better product, or even a comparable one,
anywhere else at any price. Period.

- Ron Salmon
  The Bus Depot, Inc.
  (215) 234-VWVW
  www.busdepot.com

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