dRock95MarkVIII
Well-Known LVC Member
As most know, wrinkled rear window seal/rubber molding is a common issue on the Mark VIIIs. I got to meet Debi/MsM8tress at Carlisle this year and she explained how they all get it, and there isn't much you can do about it 
My Mark also suffered from this, and though I've only had the car all but two weeks it annoyed the crap out of me. On my way to work yesterday I was looking at the car for a minute and came up with a cheap and easy solution to hide the problem.
I know some have tucked the seal in, and some have even trimmed off the wrinkled portion. Trimming was not an option since some of my wrinkles extended past the sheet metal seam. I tried tucking it in a little bit when I bought the car and it seemed to make it even more noticable. So I wanted to try something else.
A few months back, I purchased some door edge guard molding to trim out the bumper opening for my custom tip install on my Marquis
This stuff is only like $5 a roll, and available at any autoparts store.
I figured this would work well to slip over the edge of the rubber molding - since it is much more rigid I knew it would help to hold it straight.
So I spent 5 minutes and installed a strip of it along each side. The ends were cut at an angle to best hide the seams. The inside of the molding has a little adhesive, so it should not come off while driving. I've had this molding installed around the exhaust tips of my Marquis for months without a single issue.
Does it look factory?
Just about, close enough that most anyone would never notice it.
Does it work to hide the wrinkles?
Yes! The molding is rigid enough to keep the seal edge straight and hide most of the wrinkles.
It's not perfect, but 100% better than before.
Here are some pictures I snapped real quick, please excuse the dirt.
Before:
Not too bad, in fact most did not eve notice it until I pointed it out or they got closer. It looked worse than the picture depicts, though. I guess mine was in the early stages of it.
After:
closer shot:
Notice how the ends blend in to the corners pretty well.
I tested the seal today with a hose and it doesn't creat any leak issues.
The only thing I should mention that I noticed is if the car sits in the sun for a long time, like mine did today, the door molding heats up and becomes more plyable. As it does this, it will just barely get small little humps where the bad wrinkles are. Once the car cools off, this goes away - however it still looks WAY better even while this happens. Given the cost, and ease, I wouldn't care if I had to do it every few weeks. Those wrinkles looked nasty :tongue2:
One roll will do both sides at least 2 times over.
To install just slip it over the edge, lift up the seal as needed to get it on easier.
So, overall I'm pretty pleased with the results - little things like that annoy me and stand out like a sore thumb. I'm glad it looks better for now. The best solution is gasket/rear glass replacement, but who the hell wants to do that? :biggrin:
I will let you guys know about long term durability as well, but like I said before it's so easy to do and cheap even if it lasts a month it's well worth it to me.
My Mark also suffered from this, and though I've only had the car all but two weeks it annoyed the crap out of me. On my way to work yesterday I was looking at the car for a minute and came up with a cheap and easy solution to hide the problem.
I know some have tucked the seal in, and some have even trimmed off the wrinkled portion. Trimming was not an option since some of my wrinkles extended past the sheet metal seam. I tried tucking it in a little bit when I bought the car and it seemed to make it even more noticable. So I wanted to try something else.
A few months back, I purchased some door edge guard molding to trim out the bumper opening for my custom tip install on my Marquis
This stuff is only like $5 a roll, and available at any autoparts store.
I figured this would work well to slip over the edge of the rubber molding - since it is much more rigid I knew it would help to hold it straight.
So I spent 5 minutes and installed a strip of it along each side. The ends were cut at an angle to best hide the seams. The inside of the molding has a little adhesive, so it should not come off while driving. I've had this molding installed around the exhaust tips of my Marquis for months without a single issue.
Does it look factory?
Just about, close enough that most anyone would never notice it.
Does it work to hide the wrinkles?
Yes! The molding is rigid enough to keep the seal edge straight and hide most of the wrinkles.
It's not perfect, but 100% better than before.
Here are some pictures I snapped real quick, please excuse the dirt.
Before:
Not too bad, in fact most did not eve notice it until I pointed it out or they got closer. It looked worse than the picture depicts, though. I guess mine was in the early stages of it.
After:
closer shot:
Notice how the ends blend in to the corners pretty well.
I tested the seal today with a hose and it doesn't creat any leak issues.
The only thing I should mention that I noticed is if the car sits in the sun for a long time, like mine did today, the door molding heats up and becomes more plyable. As it does this, it will just barely get small little humps where the bad wrinkles are. Once the car cools off, this goes away - however it still looks WAY better even while this happens. Given the cost, and ease, I wouldn't care if I had to do it every few weeks. Those wrinkles looked nasty :tongue2:
One roll will do both sides at least 2 times over.
To install just slip it over the edge, lift up the seal as needed to get it on easier.
So, overall I'm pretty pleased with the results - little things like that annoy me and stand out like a sore thumb. I'm glad it looks better for now. The best solution is gasket/rear glass replacement, but who the hell wants to do that? :biggrin:
I will let you guys know about long term durability as well, but like I said before it's so easy to do and cheap even if it lasts a month it's well worth it to me.
