belt molding

[Dave WM]

Just went out and tested again, up and down several times, no more issue. Will be interesting to see if the other door has the same initial problem. Now I just need to wash the car and see if any water weeps out the bottom of the door, I think I will remove the door panel and look for it while washing.

[Tweeds]

Any updates? Did it keep all the water out? I just replaced the door weatherstipping only to find out water was coming in through the window as well. My window belt strips are hard as a rock, and they don't even put pressure on the window to make a good seal. Now I'm in the market to replace them, but finding the proper part is proving surprisingly difficult. I sure don't want to fork over a several hundred dollars to replace everything (the chrome molding and the rubber), I just want the rubber. Anyways, the stuff Skillard makes seems like it'll do the job, but it just looks silly to me. The link posted earlier in the comments to the rubber you got on zcarsource didn't send me to the actual listing. Maybe it's no longer available? Either way, could you send me a link to the listing, or give me the part number, please? And, if it's not too much to ask, I'd be interested to see a picture of what it looks like on the door. It looked pretty high quality in the other pictures and video! Thanks!

[Dave WM]

8 hours ago, Tweeds said:

Any updates? Did it keep all the water out? I just replaced the door weatherstipping only to find out water was coming in through the window as well. My window belt strips are hard as a rock, and they don't even put pressure on the window to make a good seal. Now I'm in the market to replace them, but finding the proper part is proving surprisingly difficult. I sure don't want to fork over a several hundred dollars to replace everything (the chrome molding and the rubber), I just want the rubber. Anyways, the stuff Skillard makes seems like it'll do the job, but it just looks silly to me. The link posted earlier in the comments to the rubber you got on zcarsource didn't send me to the actual listing. Maybe it's no longer available? Either way, could you send me a link to the listing, or give me the part number, please? And, if it's not too much to ask, I'd be interested to see a picture of what it looks like on the door. It looked pretty high quality in the other pictures and video! Thanks!

the ones I got are working great, I would NOT use the skillard, I want something that looks like factory, what they have looks like it would work, but does not look right to me.. Call up zcarsource and find out whats up. You want the ones with flocking and correct formed to fit the existing hardware. Its not easy to install since you have to figure out a good way to attach, maybe they were getting too much griping about that and pulled them form the listing.

[Freez74]

I bought some of those last year also, I wonder why they don't show in the listing?

[ensys]

Good luck trying to call the blokes at ZCar Depot.

They've stopped posting a phone number, and email is your only avenue.

Maybe it's a Covid thing....

[w3wilkes]

Google shows ZCardepot phone number as (844) 865-2473. Don't know if it's any good though.

[Tweeds]

Called ZCarSource - the manufacturer of the rubber piece alone no longer makes it and such is the reason it no longer shows up on the site. However, ZCarSource still has some stock left, and for the price of around $110 a piece, you can ship your chrome to them, they'll install the rubber themselves, polish the metal, and ship it back. That's over $200 for both sides, but is still cheaper than buying an entirely new assembly. I'll do some research and see if I can't find another avenue. The rubber alone would have cost around $20 a piece, which is significantly cheaper. Hopefully things work out.

[Freez74]

Wow.  I'm glad I bought mine when I did.  It's really not that hard to install, but time-consuming.

[Tweeds]

Finally found some time to hunt down these rubber pieces. Unfortunately, I came up empty handed. The only standalone rubber I found was by Skillard, as well as some reproductions of the entire assembly (chrome and rubber). Here's the zstore's reproduction and zcardepot's. I think what I'll have to do is send ZCarSource my chrome, and let them install the rubber they have lying around. However, if anyone has access to the rubber Dave WM ended up using and could get the dimensions, I could continue my search for general purpose strippings, one's not made specifically for the z, that is. I installed door weatherstipping by McMaster-Carr, and their stuff fit and sealed perfectly on my 240, so there's a chance a company manufactures window trim which coincidentally work on z's. 

[heyitsrama]

@Tweeds I emailed zCarSource and asked if they had any around, they stated that they do not, is this a service that is only available if you ship your old one to them?

my driver side really needs to be replaced 😕 

[Tweeds]

@heyitsrama Yep! From what they told me, you've got to ship your chrome to them, they'll install the rubber, polish the chrome, and ship it back. Should take a couple weeks they said, and the price was about $110 per piece of chrome, so over $200 for both. More expensive than if you could buy the rubber alone, but still way cheaper than an OEM replacement. 

[Freez74]

There must be some other type of rubber that would be suitable for this.  $200 is a lot of money for two strips of rubber.