I am concerned of the avalibilty of the oem door seals. years back I bought some cheaper door seals off eBay that were just a bit thicker than it should have been. the foam pressed out of the upper corners when the door was closed. are there any 3rd party options of any quality or suppliers to stay away from?

 

not sure what the concern is about the OE door seals, they have plenty

8871-58-760 for Right
8871-59-760 for Left
8871-62-761D for the hatch

 

I saw a "limited quantities" on eBay through Mazdatrix. I had also been watching parts that should be easy as hell to procure be nuts to get. (rear brake calipers, windshields, struts... ) Atkins has the window channel greyed out, which I will need also. But that could be solved with a universal channel if it fits within the spec. Sometimes it takes some work to find the parts.

 

its kind of interesting because Mazda has left those parts you mention, shocks, windshields, calipers, to the aftermarket, and that is the stuff you can't get. also interesting because Mazda has done this with the newer cars too.

 

I concur on the OEM door seals, superior fit to the aftermarket seals. There are companies that rebuild calipers, problem is many do not return the old cores which results in nonavailability of certain parts. It took me over three months find a rear right caliper for my 85 GSL-SE. It's like trying to find a unicorn sometimes when your looking for parts for a First Gen RX-7, but It's not realistic to expect OEM parts for a platform that was discontinued 33 years ago either. My daily driver is a 2000 Acura RL and I'm finding a lot of "grayed-out" items when looking for parts for it, and it's only 19 years old.

 

I bought a pair of these Metro aftermarket units from Rockauto a few months ago, just got around to installing them on the LE this afternoon:





$60.89 plus shipping for the pair from Rockauto:

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...3&jsn=343othet

I bought another pair of Metros about ten years ago, transferred them to three different FBs, they're still out in the shed in good shape.

A bit tricky to set them in just right, you've got to wiggle and jiggle and use a spatula to set the top edge in.

But when they seat just right they are perfect, tighten up the air space and make the door shut like a new car.

So I'd recommend the Metros, save lots of money, quick shipping and perfect fit.

I don't even use adhesive, makes them easier to transfer from one car to another.

 

Ray, any chance of seeing a picture of the doors closed?

 

Dude this is an awesome writeup, thanks for the info! I'll be getting a set of these for sure this year, I am in desperate need of new seals for my FB. Driver's side is particularly chewed up.

 

My only issues with these are that they stick out farther than the oe ones. Like they are more plush and foamy. When you shut the door you can still see them squeezing out. They do work and they do seal the doors so I can't really complain.

I'd like to try a set of the Mazda ones next time but these seem to be hanging on and I don't see any reason to replace them... Because they aren't broken; don't fix them.

 

Certainly Richard, tomorrow with some daylight I'll take some better pictures with the doors closed and open and post them up.

Concerning this problem with these Metro seals "bulging" or "sticking" out, I don't see this at all.

I just took a close look at the Metros I put in on Sunday and some original seals on another 35 year old FB I have.

Both sets of seals look the same, projecting about 1//4 inch beyond the edge of the door but not bulging out anywhere.

The only difference is that the new ones aren't all deteriorated and are more plush, forming a much better seal.

I'll get some better pictures and closeups tomorrow.

PS: OEM door seals are likely to cost you more than twice the cost of these Metros from Rock Auto. I just checked Atkins Rotary, they have them for $72 each ($144 total, plus shipping for the pair) and there's no indication these are original Mazda parts, so they are probably aftermarket as well.

Disclaimer: I'm not associated with Rock Auto or Metro in any way, nor was I ever an employee of Mazda or Atkins Rotary - no conflicts of interest!

 

Thanks Ray, I appreciate you sharing your experience with your purchase of your seals. I love that you added a disclaimer. When did we get to a point where a person can't be happy with a purchase without being called out as a shill?

 

Yeah I've gotten to that age where it seems to me that everybody is complaining about everything and nobody is appreciating anything.

I'm determined to be the person who appreciates things.

Unfortunately I got home from work today after dark so I couldn't get the pics but I'll shoot them tomorrow morning as soon as the dew clears.

 

OK, I got some good light so here’s some pictures of the door seal install.

The seals have two beads on the mounting face that run along the top of the door, one upper (outer), the other lower (inner).

These beads need to seat into two corresponding grooves on the door.

Getting the beads tightly seated is tricky but it needs to be just right to avoid bulges and detachment of the seal.

After some trial and error, I found that the following steps work well:

1) Seat the corner of the seal on the corner of the door.

2) Work the lower (inner) bead into the lower groove on the door, wiggling the upper (outer) bead into place but without trying to seat it.

3) Finish up installing the rest of the seal consisting of a bunch of clips that fit into holes on the door. This is where you add a bit of adhesive if you want a permanent bond.

4) Finally use a putty knife to gently seat the outer (upper) bead into the upper groove on the door. Do this by inserting the knife between the seal and the door (see the last pics) and pushing straight down on the outer bead until it moves past the edge of the groove. When the outer bead moves past the edge of the upper groove the seal expands and pushes the upper bead into place, then with a little snugging it fits perfectly.

The first seal took about a half hour, until I discovered the putty knife trick. The second was less than 15 minutes.

Check it out!