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A year or so ago, we bought a Cat D repaired 2014 VW Polo (although make and model unimportant in this case). All seemed good, until we had some serious rain and we went out one morning to find the drivers side footwell completely sodden.
Leaky Polos, it turns out, are not an uncommon thing so I investigated all the usual culprits - no sunroof to worry about, scuttle panel removed and checked drains for blockage, etc. ...
Only after all of this did I notice that the gaps around the drivers side door were not uniform, and the door seemed to by hanging wrong. Turns out the A-pillar is bent, and water is getting in as the gap is not sealed properly by the door seals. We sent the car off to our local bodywork guy who cut and re-welded the door mount to get the door sitting straighter, but he said that was all that could be done without ridiculous expense. Unsurprisingly, it still leaks.
Our solution last winter was to buy a cover for the car. While this works, it doesn't stop the car getting soaked if it's parked somewhere other than on our driveway, and it's also a massive faff. Trying to get a cover onto the car in the wind and rain is a right pain.
My thinking is that there must be something that I can simply glue around the door frame to act as a secondary door seal, but so far my Goolgle-Fu has failed me. It doesn't have to be pretty and I don't mind if it requires a bit of extra force to shut the door. Anyone got any suggestions?
It all sounds a bit of a pain.
If it were me I'd be selling it on and get something which doesn't leak. If that isn't an option then a very quick Google found this.
extra door seal was my first thought. Or one of those wind deflector jobs to make a little umbrella for the top of the door.
Or treat the symptom, not the cause - remove the mat and carpet from that side and drill a hole in the floorpan.
How about siliconing on a shower door seal?
that 3m foam tape comes in several different thicknesses. Ebay is your friend here.
Also check the backing of the door cards - there's often a plastic weather seal that sits between the door and the trim that gets missed on repairs.
A year or so ago, we bought a Cat D repaired 2014 VW Polo
I can't help with your issue but at the risk of sounding cheeky, why? There must be hundreds of Polos for sale at anyone time, why take the gamble with a newish car.
Drill a hole to let the water drain. If you're posh add a tube hanging down to make it one way.
I had a Golf that leaked from, I think, a poorly fitted replacement windscreen and because I didn't use the car regularly, and it was parked on a slope, sometimes I have a nice little swimming pool in the footwell behind the drivers seat.... one time I even had some kind of plant growing in there.
This isn't going to solve your problem, but I ended up drilling through the floor panel so that water would drain out and not sit in there making everything damp and mouldy... it sort of worked but all in all that leak ruined the car.
Sorry
Good Luck
Pull the door seal off and pack the inside of it with something of appropriate thickness to raise the height of the seal (paracord, rubber rope, etc) and then replace.
I can’t help with your issue but at the risk of sounding cheeky, why? There must be hundreds of Polos for sale at anyone time, why take the gamble with a newish car.
Because you can't get a non-cat-D 3-year old Polo with 20k on the clock for £4k. Of course you get what you pay for, but mechanically the car is sound. I have no doubt that it will serve as our run around for many years to come.
Drilling a hole would stop the water collecting, but wouldn't stop the carpet getting wet / musty / covered in lovely furry mould as the water would have to soak through it first. That 3M tape looks like it's worth a go. Will also check behind the door cards. Cheers.
Keep a pair of Passenger Galoshes in the door pocket?
Weld the door shut. Fit a do-hickey that'll open the windows when you unlock the car & climb in Dukes of Hazzard style..
This isn't a good sales pitch for Cat D cars...!
Meh, Cat D cars are Cat D for a reason. They’re cheap and therefore sometimes worth a punt. We previously had a Cat D BMW 320d that was trouble-free until the turbo went bang at 170K miles (completely unrelated to Cat D status). If you want a perfect car then best to avoid them,but you can get a very good car for the money sometimes.
Does a bent A pillar not affect the structural integrity of the shell...especially if it's bent to the point the door won't seal?
Presumably not, otherwise it would be a Cat C or a complete write off I’d have thought. Windscreen fits fine and you really have to stare hard to see that it’s bent.
Yeah, I have to say a bent A pillar sounds quite worrying to me, and not at all like a "Cat D" car.
I wouldn't be driving it at all.
Presumably not, otherwise it would be a Cat C or a complete write off I’d have thought. Windscreen fits fine and you really have to stare hard to see that it’s bent.
I think by pointing out that its difficult to see you're sort of reinforcing the point that it could have been mis-catagorised. Do you have any documentation to support what basis was used in assessing it Cat D?
Nope, and not worried about it to be honest.
My son's Honda Civic used to leak and fill the footwell on the near side, never quite worked out how it was getting in but some of those Heko wind deflector jobbies mentioned above certainly made it less bad by diverting some of the water away from the window. It also meant you could always leave the window slightly open to help air circulation etc.
I’ve got a roadster and the seal between the drivers door is a bit worn, not quite the same issue as yours but kind of..
So I got hold of a screwdriver and pealed back the seal and then packed the inside of the seal with a small length of 2mm rope (Kevlar) then pushed the seal back on. I also altered the door latch mechanism a few mm to get the door to close “closer” to the seal.
Took about 30mins, some cleaning fluid and WD40.
And now no squeaking 👍
Squeaking = Sealing ?
Not sure even I'd touch that!
Could you not insert washer tube into the door seal to Puff it out a bit