Has anyone done the T5 Door Seal Mod to their Custom?

[thedugmaster]

I know a lot of the VW guys do a mod to there poverty spec surf buses to add additional door seals to their cab doors (as fitted to the high spec Caravelles) and I wondered if anyone had done anything similar to their Custom doors?

The purpose of doing this is to reduce door bounce and give the door closure a much less metallic, cushioned sound more akin to a car door.

I've got a Titanium Tourneo which as far as I know is the top spec you can get in the UK and even my bus doesn't have enough sealing and buffers around the cab doors as I'd like. I notice that there's door bounce on closing and even though I've profiled all of the doors all round it still isn't as nice a 'shut' as I think it could be. Also, I've noticed that there's a shape in the body pressing for a lower front door bump stop to be fitted (in the rear corner above the sill), but on my 2014 model year there no hole punched out and no buffer fitted.

The VW bus mod is described here...
http://www.vwt4forum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=647273

I've ordered some stick on rubber seal and I'm going to fit it as per the VW mod to see what the difference is, if any. Also, I feel that the standard Ford rear carpets in the bus are very low quality, thin and offer little in terms of sound deadening. Recently, I paid £70 for a fully tailored mat set off eBay and the difference it makes in terms of reducing road noise inside is really obvious. The mats were in 3 parts and cover the entire floor of the bus including the whole cab and rear all the way back to the tailgate.

[a11y]

Ha, I did that on my T5 and it worked brilliantly.

I'll need to check, but pretty sure my 2017 Custom has extra door seals all the way around the edges - I'd eyed it up with the intention of doing the same but am unsure it's needed on mine. Perhaps they added them to later Customs? As I say I might be wrong though.

[thedugmaster]

Ha, I did that on my T5 and it worked brilliantly.

I'll need to check, but pretty sure my 2017 Custom has extra door seals all the way around the edges - I'd eyed it up with the intention of doing the same but am unsure it's needed on mine. Perhaps they added them to later Customs? As I say I might be wrong though.

Be great if you can post a photo of your door on here so we can have a look. My bus is a 2014 and I definitely think it needs better seals and a door stop at the bottom.

Sounds like Ford have picked on this also.

[DrDeAtH]

Dynamat on the inside of the door skins will make them sound less tinny.

[a11y]

Hmm, unsure if this is standard or not actually – no extra seals stuck to the actual door but a decent seal right along where the door edge closes onto on the body. Can’t say I notice any excessive noise from around the doors on mine, it’s already far quieter/refined in the cabin than my T5 was, although admittedly mine was 13 years old so you’d hope VW moved things on with the current T6 equivalent.

[a11y]

Dynamat on the inside of the door skins will make them sound less tinny.

I dynamatted my T5 doors to death - great improvement.

[thedugmaster]

Hmm, unsure if this is standard or not actually – no extra seals stuck to the actual door but a decent seal right along where the door edge closes onto on the body. Can’t say I notice any excessive noise from around the doors on mine, it’s already far quieter/refined in the cabin than my T5 was, although admittedly mine was 13 years old so you’d hope VW moved things on with the current T6 equivalent....

I'll check when I go outside but I think you've got the same seals as I've got. If you look near the sill on the bottom rear of where the door shuts you'll see what I mean about there being a circular 'flat' in the pressing for an adjustable door stop, probably the same one as at the top rear of the side doors.

I'm going to run the extra seal on the outside of the door aperture to stop the bounce. When my cab doors are closed I can hold the door handle and push the doors in by nearly 10mm. There's no way that there should be that much movement in my opinion (I used to be a door, bonnet and boot profiler at BMW so I'm a fussy git lol!).

[thedugmaster]

Dynamat on the inside of the door skins will make them sound less tinny.

I dynamatted my T5 doors to death - great improvement.

Me too. I've covered the inside on my cab door skins and the backs of the casings and agree it makes a heck of a difference. However, this is not helped by there being too much free play in the doors, by not being held against any door stops.

I don't understand why Ford would not fit door bump stops to cab doors. Well actually I do, it's because it's an unnecessary cost on a van, and unlike VW who recognise that their Caravalle models need to be more car like, Ford don't - yet!

[thedugmaster]

Right, so I've now done this mod and my initial thoughts are that it is definitely worth doing.

I've applied one seal to the passenger door and 2 to the driver's door. There was no need for the shorter secondary seal on the passenger door as the fuel filler takes the place of the door panel.

IMG_0382.jpg

IMG_0384.jpg

IMG_0385.jpg

I have to say that it makes a heck of a difference to the way that the door shuts, much more car like. Also, the additional short seal on the driver's door really goes a long way to stopping the door bounce at the bottom, although it does make the door a little harder to close (makes a nice dull thump though).

The other thing I've noticed, is that there's a lot less vibration in the door, meaning that the stereo actually sounds better. I've noticed that I can now turn the bass up quite high and still hold a reasonable volume before the speakers start farting.

All in all, 15 mins and 25 quid makes it a no brainer.

[a11y]

Excellent result, think I’ll add that to my list of stuff to sort out then. Thanks for posting.

Remembering back our T5 doors required slightly more force to close after fitting the extra seals but was worth living with for the improvement.

[JethroFlint]

thedugmaster

Many thanks for posting. This looks like a great idea.

What seal did you use please?

[bigjohnthomas]

Lolz you bloody girls
There's nought up with the door seals
You need to smoke more fags and drink more beer

[S60r]

Any links to the rubber thingy you used? eBay / amazon special?

I’m ok for fags and beer just can’t find the rubbers

[yasser]

looks a bit like this stuff

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Car-Vehicle-W ... Swv4VZ3vIa

[thedugmaster]

After a fair bit of research and talking to the VW boys on Facebook the general consensus seems to be that this stuff is the best...

https://www.vwdialadapters.com/product- ... ike-a-golf

16mm x 16mm VW California door seal.



It makes a heck of a difference / improvement I must say. Not just to the door shut but to the sound quality of the stereo speakers too.