The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors Windlace Options

I think that's caused by the extra length of the bulb section on Jim Carter's offering. If you go back to the picture I posted in the thread above, you'll see that it's a bit longer than the original stuff and longer than what Steele and Restoration Specialties sell. Mine looks pretty good around the corners. Here's the best picture I have but it's of the easy corner in front. The trick is to try and stretch the material around the corner as much as you can.

Sorry for the delay. The back corner is terrible. Pulling it tighter will pull the windlace out of the channel. Adding more material to the corner makes it worse.
I got my material from Classic parts and agree that the “bulb” is longer than original. Wish I had gone to Restoration Specialties. Over the years (and 3 trucks) I have purchased a lot of rubber parts and pieces from them. Not sure what I am going to do now as I still have the passenger side to do.

Yeah pulling it tighter can pop it out of the channel. I wouldn't be satisfied if the corner had a kink in it. That's why I bought my windlace from Restoration Specialties after reading here about issues with it and comparing the piece of original windlace with what I bought from Jim Carter. Even though I had already bought windlace, I bought the stuff from Restoration Specialties (the tan color which I liked best of he options.) I offered the Jim Carter stuff to WiCruiser and did warn him about the possibility of kinks at the corners.

I have heard about pulling a rope thru the center of the bulb section that would help it follow the curve at the corners better. Maybe that would be worth a try with what you have.

[On edit] Here's a couple more pics of the windlace samples I have. The center one is from Jim Carter and the two outside are from Restoration Specialties. Notice that the bulb on the Jim Carter is already further from the face of the door, as well as being farther from the track. (I don't know why that one sample looks so reddish - the background is a blue shop towel.)

I am going to live with the Jim Carter material I received from Kevin even though it is kinked in the corners. I can see where the profile from Restoration Specialists would be better on both the bulb side (contact with the door) and the opposite side as the longer profile on the Jim Carter version results in more overlap with the headliner, etc.

All I can remember when I did my windlace project was to use a small piece of windlace and chase the channels with it, looking for tight and crimped areas, opening them up afterwards. I also remember installing the windlace starting up at the upper rear corner, feeding the lace forward along the upper horizontal channel and then down the front vertical channel. Adjusted as needed and then fed the other end down the rear vertical channel.