I agree with exploring the options - when I first went looking for rubber parts that had become obsolete [pre-internet], Carpenter and Steele weren't as visible, and Metro was in every magazine - used their parts and was satisfied, but they had a limited range of specific parts back then ... later from a couple vendors I got some SoffSeal door seals - will never buy anything with that brand name again - really just leaves the 'big 2' along with Danchuk and Bob Drake, who likely both source most of their rubber parts from Steele and Carpenter, and 'Counter Parts', who I believe mostly deal Asian knock offs
one thing about changes in formulations over time - today standard rubber formulations are much superior to those in the past - I used to have to replace wiper blades on daily drivers pretty regular, ones from the FLAPS it was usually every year - I got a pair of Steeles when I was ordering some stuff and they've been on the '58 for a lot of years and still work fine, due I'm sure to a higher quality rubber with UV inhibitors
to bring it back on topic, there's no way I'd ever use the generic side door seals on the TF barn doors again, and Steele is the only supplier of the correct one, although I might have been able to send the originals off to someone else to be copied, I trusted Steele to do it right, and they did
Bill
