Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2007 09:43:34 -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: Pop Top Seal Differences
In-Reply-To: <945495.41722.qm@web33312.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> Anybody had experience using both Bus Depot
> and Van Cafe type seals? BD uses no glue,
> while VC comes with glue. I remember years
> ago replacing one and using the glue. No big
> deal and seem to look fine after. Both are the
> same price. Here in AZ the sun kills everything
> so I expect the rubber to take a beating in this sun.
> Anybody able to compare from expeirience?
Since nobody else has chimed in, I can present my dissertation on poptop
seals. They were the Bus Depot's first product, and I know them well because
I designed them myself after finding the other aftermarket alternatives
lacking.
Most other suppliers use the same off-the-shelf generic weatherstripping for
the poptop seal, the luggage rack seal, and even (in most cases) the seal
that goes between the two. This saves them money, but the product was never
designed for VW poptops and is not optimal for that use. All three of my
seals are different, and specialized for their jobs. None of them is an
off-the-shelf generic product.
Poptop seal: The others have a textured finish that looks different from
stock. Mine has a smoother, closer-to-stock finish. The precise location of
the insulation bulb is also different. Mine is a bit closer to the location
of the insulation flap on the original VW seal. This better insulates your
van to prevent heat loss (or water reaching the canvas in torrential rain).
Flat seal (between poptop and luggage rack): Most other suppliers just send
along a second piece of the same generic weatherstrip, which is absolutely
nothing like the original flat seal that VW used. Those that do use a
closer-to-stock seal, have one that lacks an aluminum clip, so it has to be
glued to your poptop. Ours has the correct profile, but uses an impregnated
aluminum clip, so it just pushes into place like the other seals. This
design is exclusive to us, and means that no glue is required to install any
part of the Bus Depot poptop seal kit.
Luggage Rack seal: The other suppliers simply include yet another piece of
the same generic weatherstripping they use for the poptop, which has an
insulation bulb. If you look at an original Westfalia luggage rack seal,
you'll find that it has no insulation bulb. That is an intentional omission,
as such a bulb can trap rain water between the luggage rack and the roof
(causing rust on your roof). Look at the cavity of your luggage rack and
you'll see drip holes that allow rain water to flow through the luggage rack
onto the roof, rather than collecting inside the luggage rack. That water
then flows off the sides of the roof (since it is curved) into the rain
gutters. If you put a bulbed seal on your luggage rack, it seals up the gap
between the luggage rack and the rain gutter, preventing this drainage. My
seal lacks the bulb for this reason. As a side benefit, this allows you to
install the seal without having to loosen or remove the luggage rack (which
saves you a tremendous amount of time/hassle). The only case where you will
need an insulation bulb on the luggage rack is if your luggage rack is
slightly loose, and you get wind noise. In that case (quite rare), we do
offer a bulbed seal as an option, but strongly recommend that you notch the
bulb on the sides of the luggage rack. Of course, installing that seal will
require loosening the luggage rack (as is required with the other vendors'
luggage rack seals). I don't recommend using this bulbed seal unless you
absolutely have to. 99% of the time, the correct non-bulbed seal will work
perfectly fine, avoid having to loosen your luggage rack, and provide
maximum rain water drainage as VW intended.
There is no significant difference between the actual rubber used on the
various aftermarket seals, so in terms of longevity they will all do about
the same (which is to say, quite well).
Links:
<http://busdepot.com/view.jsp?model=43&category=47&group=94&prodgroup=-1>
<http://busdepot.com/details/canvas.jsp#seals>
- Ron Salmon
The Bus Depot, Inc.
www.busdepot.com
(215) 234-VWVW
_____________________________________________
Toll-Free for Orders by PART # : 1-866-BUS-DEPOT