Slide Seals - Is There 1 Brand Better Than The Rest?

[wdk450]

I've got to bite the bullet and replace all of my slide seals before the California rains begin in the late Fall. There have been many threads on slide seals over the years, and I wanted to know with the passage of time our esteemed members have found a certain brand that seems better than the others, particularly in the area of lifetime and UV resistance to rotting?

One of the Sage bits of wisdom that my late Dad shared with me is that "You never buy anything - you only rent it"; so I want to get the best "rental" value I can.

 

[SLO]

I’m sorry I can’t answer your question as to longevity or UV resistance. I just replaced one of my slide seals this past 2019 winter. I went with AP Products seals. The reason was, my Bighorn came with Boyd seals. The slide seals started cracking at about 4 years. So I didn’t want to go with the original brand. To be fair, I have full body paint, and there was paint on the seals. That could have caused deterioration of the rubber. Just telling you why I went with AP Products. Hoping they last.


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[mlpeloquin]

Bill, have you thought of putting Areospace 303 on the seals. It is a great UV protectant that I have used on plastic and vinyl, but never thought of using it on the rubber seals. My seals get torn up from traveling and not from sun exposure.

 

[jayc]

Another vote for 303 Protectant. I just bought a new bottle.

 

[wdk450]

Gang:
Well, I looked around on the internet, and most all of the listings were for AP (Brand) EK series seals. I found a vendor on the Walmart Website that seemed to have the lowest prices, about $250 for 35 feet of the longer 3-2/3 inch wiper seal and the 1 inch D seal. This is more than enough for my dining room slide which I measured out at 29 feet of seal. I ordered this stuff online yesterday afternoon, I am in a remote area East of San Diego in the mountains (TT Oakzanita Resort) and the ranger was knocking on my door at noontime today with the packages!!!!!

Nowhere online can I find some installation instructions from AP products. There are a bunch of you tube videos, but most of them cover replacing just the bulb seal, or other types of seals on other RV's. The AP 018-316 has some of that special tape on it. I finally found "additional product information" on the RV Upgrade Store website listing for this part that the tape is "HATS heat activated tape that is in a non-tacky state until heat is applied which activates the bonding property". It also says that you have to have a completely clean and dry surface for it to stick.

I have an industrial heat gun, but am unsure if I heat the tape directly and quickly try to press it in place, or heat the other side of the seal that goes through to the tape. I am a little worried about melting any part of my new seals.

So, anybody who has done this: What methods did you use to clean the slide frame where the wiper seal mounts, and how did you activate the heat tape???

 

[mlpeloquin]

Bill you have extra length, so cut off six inches or a foot and test it. That way you will be sure on how to apply it.

I used the one with a pull off cover and the added screws inside the D seal tracks. This was on the sweep under the slide that 80% fell off along with the channel it was attached to. I found it rubbing against the tire tread at a rest stop and cut it off. The metal channel was only held on with two screws. One an inch in on the back end and one three feet in from there at the begging of the second and long piece of metal channel. I was shocked it held up through all the driving we had done including 70% of the second trip across the country!

 

[wdk450]

I used the Contacts E-mail address on the AP products website to pose the adhesive tape question to them. I received the following reply:
"http://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/31502O/3mtm-heat-activated-attachment-tape-4981.pdfYou do not need to apply heat to the tape. The adhesive is already activated.
Thank you"

The surface under the tape on the seals seems tacky, I will be sure to clean and prep the mating surfaces with rubbing alcohol, and replace any screws I find on the old seals.

 

[SLO]

When I installed my slide seals the most time consuming part was removing the adhesive part of the old seal. My seals were the one piece wipers that did both the interior and exterior walls. The adhesive was only on the exterior wall and the interior part just screwed on. I tried several chemicals to remove the old adhesive and none worked very well. The problem was a lot of the rubber wiper seal tore off before the adhesive released. I used a plastic putty knife and carefully scraped off most of the rubber and adhesive. Then used rubbing alcohol to clean it up. At least 2/3 of the job was getting the old adhesive off.


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[wdk450]

When I installed my slide seals the most time consuming part was removing the adhesive part of the old seal. My seals were the one piece wipers that did both the interior and exterior walls. The adhesive was only on the exterior wall and the interior part just screwed on. I tried several chemicals to remove the old adhesive and none worked very well. The problem was a lot of the rubber wiper seal tore off before the adhesive released. I used a plastic putty knife and carefully scraped off most of the rubber and adhesive. Then used rubbing alcohol to clean it up. At least 2/3 of the job was getting the old adhesive off.


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One of the You Tube videos I saw on the slide seal subject was about a guy who used a rubber decal remover device chucked into his drill for removing the old rubber residue. Maybe I will see if I can get one of those.

On Edit: I did a websearch and found those eraser wheels: https://www.amazon.com/Decal-Remova...argid=aud-801738734305:pla-422099422692&psc=1

 

[wdk450]

Did the job on the living room slide. The bulb seal pulled right off, 1 screw on each end. The flap seals were secured by self drilling screws and the pressure sensitive adhesive on the back (like on my new stuff). I removed all of the screws and pulled the flap seal off the slide surrounding exterior surfaces.

Next was surface prep before installing the new seals. I found that I had a layer of caulk on the top and outside edges of the joined flap and bulb seals, and a moderate amount of deteriorated rubber and old adhesive on the flap seals adhesive mounting surfaces. I found that some adhesive removal spray (like Goo Gone) along with a paint scraper ( https://www.harborfreight.com/5-in-1-painters-tool-69557.html ) and a stainless steel kitchen scrubber worked well to take off the old stuff. A final wipe down with an alcohol soaked rag left a clean surface ready for the adhesive strip on the flap seal.

I then laid the old flap seal pieces over the new flap seal pieces, cut the new pieces to length, and drilled through both pieces at the screw hole locations. This way I could use the old screw holes in the slide surround. I then put a screw in one of the flap seal end holes, pulled back the adhesive covering tape to the next screw hole, and began mounting the flap seal. I went over the areas above the adhesive seal with a pressure roller to enhance adhesion. Following this procedure I moved from one end of the flap seal to the other. Next the bulb seal (cut to length) slides on to one end of the flap seals and is slid into position. The ends are secured with 1 screw. Last pf all, caulk is applied to the external top edge of the flap seal and to the bulb seal. I found that a clear plastic disposable spoon made smoothing out the caulk line and removing the excess caulk easy.

1 slide done - 3 to go!!