The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Installing chrome lock strip in rear window rubber

Ok, on to installing the lock strip. You can put the seam of the rubber strip pretty much anywhere. On the corner glass, I was taught to put it on the inside (facing the center window). On the center window, I was taught to put it dead center at the bottom.

Start the lock strip at some other point, though. Usually I start the lock strip 180 degrees around the window opening from where the rubber strip seam is. Get some Dawn dish soap. I've also been told Murphy's Oil Soap works well, but I only had Dawn when I did this last week. Rub some on the lock strip (a foot or two) and also on the rubber piece. You won't need too much.

Insert the lock strip into the rubber piece as shown in the first image below. You will basically insert the lip of one side into the top slot of the rubber piece. Insert 4 or 5 inches of the strip at a time. This work will go slowly and you want to be very careful doing it.

Now set your screwdriver on the ledge formed by the lip of the other side of the lock strip and carefully push it upward and into the slot. You can see me doing this in the second image below and you can appreciate why the screwdriver blade end needs to be nice and straight. The popsicle sticks are in the slots to mimic the pinchweld and the glass piece. You'll discover pretty quickly that pushing up on the locking piece pushes up the rubber piece and also that this lock piece makes the pressure on the pinchweld and the glass become very tight...hence the lack of need for sealer. Take your time. Please be careful with the screwdriver as it isn't difficult for it to slide off on you. Occasionally you will need to push against the top of the lock strip with your thumb (or a piece of very smooth wood) to help push it in place and occasionally you may need to run your ball end tool through to help pull the rubber piece up and over the lip of the lock strip. If you make your own ball end tool, please remember to heat the tool with a propane torch before bending it or the metal might break.

You will notice (as you would expect) the straight parts go much better than the curves. At least until you get the hang of this. Have you ever felt like you get good at a task just about the time when you finish? Same thing here. You'll be doing really well at this by the end.

Here are some hints:
On the corners, grip the lock strip and twist it (clockwise or counterclockwise as needed) to make inserting the lip side into the slot of the rubber piece. Hard to put into words, but you'll get the idea when you're working.
Pull the corners of the strip down into the bends to help remove puckers or buckles and pull/push to try to starve the corners for rubber.

I've used this strip made by lots of makers...Steele, Soft Seal, others and I've never seen one which would install neatly without some extra help.

Good luck. If I think of other things, I'll add them