I have a question about a piece of door trim that I may need but have never seen for sale. If I remember correctly, when I was preparing my car for the shop, there was a u channel trim that was metal coated in vinyl that went along the door at the top. It had a textured surface and was rusted out when I removed it. I have all the weatherstrips to replace. Is this a necessary piece? Do I have to try and find an old one in good shape? Thanks.

carl

From your description is seems like you are talking about the welting. It overlaps the stock rubber weatherstrip trapping it between the welting's "U" shape and the metal flange on the car that it goes over. It should be around the entire perimeter except across the bottom where the black scuff plate covers the weatherstrip. Funny that you should have only found it along the top of the door, I suspect you meant the door opening. I suppose the rest was rusty and removed a long time ago.

The replacement aftermarket Precision weatherstrip now comes with the welting bonded to the actual weatherstrip. Many don't like it as it tends to be too wide adn too stiff making door closing a pain.

If you are buying new Nissan weather strip, you will have to get the welting separately. Not sure if it is N/A from Nissan or not.

Many here (me too) have tried and liked the Kia Sportage weatherstrip as a replacement. There is a recent thread about this here. Search for Kia, you'll find it quickly.

Hope this helps. Weatherstripping is a hot topic lately.

Jim

Jim, Yes I meant the door opening. The weather strip kit I bought from MSA and I didn't look closely at. I just passed it on to the body shop guy. I do know that it did not have any metal parts to it. All the weatherstrip I got was just rubber. I saw the KIA thread but did not think enough to read it. I will have to go back and read it more closely. Thanks.

carl

I think what you are referring to is the finisher that caps off the carpet BEFORE the aluminum sill plate.

It is metal, covered in vinyl. On mine the vinyl shrank, so I stripped it off and refinished it with Truck Bed Liner. The result is that it looks the same and is far more durable.