Date:         Sat, 18 Jan 1997 13:16:29 +0000
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         vwbus@netbiz.net
Subject:      Re: Pop Top Seals -  Same or Not?

> for hardware and vehicle use.  I'd suppose I'd have to see them side by
> side to find out for sure. I'd be curious to swap a tiny end of one with
> someone who had the McMaster-Carr stuff and find out if they're the same or
> not (that is, assuming I order it).
> 

Been there done, it, if Ron's is the same as WCM or Whitney's, the
McMaster-Carr seal is EXACTLY, 100% the same seal, or to qualify was 
when I ordered it last, about 3 months back, so I just ordered 35 
feet more of the stuff which I will recieve Tuesday but I'll be out 
on business till Thursday so I'll post a review of it at that time.  
And  another neat thing I just found they supply it now in 
off-white as well, which might look really good on a fiberglass top, 
but I ordered the black to verify it is the same.  I also note that their price 
royaly beats all VW suppliers and they are still likely making at 
least 100% markup themselves, so the average VW supplier is probably 
reaming it to you at least 150-200% if he buys it by the 1000 ft 
roll (probably on the order of $0.60/foot I'd guess from the OEM in 
quantity)

The stuff WCM and Whitney sell is in no way for vehicles only, it is 
simply generic weatherstrip, and the McMaster-Carr stuff is made by 
the exact same supplier, I'll bet my life on it, same construction, 
same clips, same pebble grain texture (and I mean exactly same pebble 
grain texture) etc.  Got a 6 inch piece left from the '77 WCM seal 
sitting right here beside the Mc-Master-Carr roll I have yet to 
install on the '81.  McMaster-Carr sells EVERYTHING for EVERY 
purpose, a neat company, but catalogs are only available to the 
select few, getting mine required a bunch of belligerence and 
messages as "Senior Project Engineer" on company stationary etc, they 
are highly coveted at work for speccing mechanical parts quickly.

Oh and I'll note for the record, this stuff is in no way nearly as 
correct, impressive, as the origional seal which is a complex 
extrusion of perfectly contoured sealing shapes.  This stuff is 
simply a bulb on a vinyl edge piece that happens to work out nicely.  
The bulb does not appear extremely well bonded to the edge, but the 
WCM stuff has been working fine on the '77 for 1.5 years.  It does 
not fit perfectly around the rear corners, particularly on a 
Vanagon as it is bent in too sharp a radius, but compared to a 
falling off origional seal it is 100% better.  The thing that truely 
pisses me off is that if VW had used aluminum or stainless clips in 
the origional it would have been good for life, it would be 
exceptionally neat to find the OEM for it and get them to extrude the 
stuff with aluminum clips, even if they did only the side stuff not 
the front.

John
vwbus@netbiz.net