Rubber seal problem on vert body!!!

[attwater]

Question for the guru's out there: There is a rubber seal that runs along the molding up where the body meets the convertible top. The seal is right underneath the black molding. The black molding swings all the way around the top of the trunk and around both sides of the car. Post paint/bodywork, the seals are now wavy and coming out from the molding. They are clearly old and there is no way to make them look like they did when new. This looks terrible in my opinion. Why is the seal there? Does it need to be there? I've seen one vert with the seals removed and that whole area was rusted. I don't know the cirsumstances of that persons car... Can I replace those seals? With what? Is the part still available? If I do remove them, I am afraid there will be residue that will be hard to remove... Has anyone run into this issue?

[JSvert240sx]

When I got my car ( first car, 4 years ago) the Seal was hanging out bad on one side and would not stay in for long if I pushed it back into place. I decided to rip out a few feet of it and cut it where it was good and it actually looks pretty good now. No rust issues for me but you can see a line in the clear coat from where it was in constant contact for the 9 years before I bought the car. With a little rubbing compound it doesnt look bad. Just my $.02

[top_secret]

I've seen them without the seal it doesn't appear to make a big difference. If you use weatherstrip adhesive to install it back, it won't come again, and if you hit it with some "back to black" it will restore 90% of its looks. If I removed mine I'd probably fill the void with some weatherstripping from autozone or something. Make sure you pull that stripping out if you are painting though, and reinstall it over the new paint, otherwise your clear will peel.

[attwater]

You guys are fast... Thanks! The seals were removed during the paint process (car was stripped to frame), the seal is old, so clearly it did not reinstall well. It actually looks really wavy and there is no way to straighten it out. If I remove the seal, what about pulling off the molding pieces, laying a small bead of black silicone caulk down and then reinstalling the moldings? Any potential devastating consequences from such an action? I would not make the caulk bead visible. Thoughts? Does anyone know the quickest way to get those molding pieces off of the car? I'm guessing the trunk piece comes off first...
Modified by attwater at 11:48 AM 4/18/2006

[JSvert240sx]

I think that seal is more for asthetic purposes than anything, so that doesnt sound like a bad idea. Never attempted to remove those side trim pieces though, although I think when I reprayed my trunk I pulled off that piece of trim. Should look good either way since you got the fresh paint.

[top_secret]

my friend replaced most of his window moldings with smooth seams of black automtoive window expoxy because they got damaged when he stripped them for paint and he didn't feel like hunting down new ones and it looks pretty good (this is on a hatch) and I think they'd probably look pretty good on a vert too.