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Bottom Door Edge Issue??

BruceF

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November 29, 2011
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City, State
NJ
Year, Model & Trim Level
2012 Explorer Base
I just noticed that the paint on the inside bottom edge of my doors are wearing off. Seems the seal on the kick panel comes in contact with the doors. I guess the durometer of the rubber is to hard.

I only own the car 2 months.

Is this happening to you?
 



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I just noticed that the paint on the inside bottom edge of my doors are wearing off. Seems the seal on the kick panel comes in contact with the doors. I guess the durometer of the rubber is to hard.

I only own the car 2 months.

Is this happening to you?
Bruce, the bottom edge does not seal the door nor does it apparently come in contact with anything. The door seal is just a bit below the arm rest. Have a look and you will see the thick rubber seal. The door actually seals just below the door sill. I discovered this some time ago when I noticed that the body just below the door sill was wet after driving in the rain, even though it was covered by the lower part of the door. You may have a paint problem. Have your dealer take a look at it. I have had mine almost 11 months and no probelms with the bottom edges of the doors.

Peter
 






Water after rain yes, no problem or concern with the paint
 






I've had mine ten months & 13,000 miles. No obvious paint problem.
 






Peter

The rocker panel molding has a strip of rubber. This rubber is in contact with the inner lower edge of my doors, when the doors are closed. This is causing the paint to wear. I do not have a paint issue.

This rubber seal is probably used as a dust shield. The problem is that this rubber is probably much to hard.

Think about it, why would Ford put a seal inplace if not needed.
 






Peter

The rocker panel molding has a strip of rubber. This rubber is in contact with the inner lower edge of my doors, when the doors are closed. This is causing the paint to wear. I do not have a paint issue.

This rubber seal is probably used as a dust shield. The problem is that this rubber is probably much to hard.

Think about it, why would Ford put a seal inplace if not needed.

Could be a door misalignment instead? Maybe check with your dealer about this. Also, check if your door panel is aligned with the dash.
 












Yes, please post a pic as I am curious as to the type of damage and its exact location.
 






The seal could be there to quite road noise
 






Peter

The rocker panel molding has a strip of rubber. This rubber is in contact with the inner lower edge of my doors, when the doors are closed. This is causing the paint to wear. I do not have a paint issue.

This rubber seal is probably used as a dust shield. The problem is that this rubber is probably much to hard.

Think about it, why would Ford put a seal inplace if not needed.
You are absolutely correct BruceF. Because it blended in with the rocker panel's black plastic, I did not notice it. It shows as a light coloured strip in photo #2. The bottom of the door seems to close against the curved edge of this strip. However it does not seem to provide the same seal as the actual door seal in the first picture. I have seen the rocker panel above this strip getting wet when driving on rainy days as spitfisher has also noticed.
The problem as 1995E pointed out, may be due to alignment and the result of too tight of a fit thereby causing rubbing of the paint. It is a very hard rubber compound. I would still recommend taking it to the dealer and have them check it out. Do any of the other doors exhibit the same problem?

Peter
 

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When I first looked at the new 2011 explorer I checked if they had improved the seal on the bottom of the doors to prevent all the road dirt from covering the inside of the door jams, I had a 2002 explorer and it always bothered me how dirty they were. I thought that this problem was addressed on the new model with the hard rubber strip on the bottom edge of the door sill. I bought and installed ford mud flaps to see if this helped. It did a little but not much. I then put on a thin rubber strip over the hard rubber strip where the bottom edge of the door slightly touches to make a better seal. This worked, as I now can drive down dusty roads, wet, slushy salted covered roads and the inside of my door jams stay clean. However I may have not needed to do that. My question is do my doors need to be adjusted? Are the bottom of the doors suppose to be touching the bottom plastic seal? Before I put the gasket on mine there was about 1/16 gap.
 






When I first looked at the new 2011 explorer I checked if they had improved the seal on the bottom of the doors to prevent all the road dirt from covering the inside of the door jams, I had a 2002 explorer and it always bothered me how dirty they were. I thought that this problem was addressed on the new model with the hard rubber strip on the bottom edge of the door sill. I bought and installed ford mud flaps to see if this helped. It did a little but not much. I then put on a thin rubber strip over the hard rubber strip where the bottom edge of the door slightly touches to make a better seal. This worked, as I now can drive down dusty roads, wet, slushy salted covered roads and the inside of my door jams stay clean. However I may have not needed to do that. My question is do my doors need to be adjusted? Are the bottom of the doors suppose to be touching the bottom plastic seal? Before I put the gasket on mine there was about 1/16 gap.
I'm not sure if this bottom closure is supposed to be a real seal or not. I placed an 8.5 x 11 inch sheet of paper on that part of the rocker panel and closed the door. The paper was wedge in but I was able to pull it out without much force. I don't believe it is designed to be an air tight seal like the larger rubber seal higher up on the door as shown on my first picture above. I notice that the inside bottom areas of the doors, below that large rubber seal to have a light amount of dust/dirt on them. The back doors more so than the front. I think if I really wanted to seal that off, I'd use that 1/2" wide foam weatherstripping with the self adhesive backing and apply it to the bottom edge of the door.

Peter
 






This one might be a deal killer for me.

Yesterday, I opened my door after dropping my daughter off. I got a text so I sat in the driver's seat and read/replied. I happened to look at something that MUST have been there and getting worse since day one. At the very bottom of my door, the paint is being scratched off. It looks like it rubs on the frame (not sure if that is the right word) each time it opens and closes. Maybe during driving as it flexes too, who knows. There is quite a bit of paint scratched off after a year. Since I would ask...I tried getting out a number of ways...there is no way I did it with my foot. I'd need to be wearing cleats and rub a different spot each time.

I live in Minnesota. I will have rust holes before the Ex is paid off (Explorer...ex wife will take longer to pay off ;) ). Anyone else noticed this? Go look when you have a chance. I might not be alone.
 






mine is developing the same issue, more pronounced on the corners of the doors.
I will bring it up during my next dealer visit.
Could have been easily avoidable if they had a plastic sheet there instead of the steel sheet metal rubbing against the bottom sides.
I'm not being pessimistic, but I am sure they are going to try to blame it on "road debris" or "ingress/egress normal wear"
 






mine is developing the same issue, more pronounced on the corners of the doors.
I will bring it up during my next dealer visit.
Could have been easily avoidable if they had a plastic sheet there instead of the steel sheet metal rubbing against the bottom sides.
I'm not being pessimistic, but I am sure they are going to try to blame it on "road debris" or "ingress/egress normal wear"
A picture would be very helpful.
If you are referring to the very bottom edge of the door, it doesn't touch any metal. The curved bottom edge of the door when closed, sits in a channel with a rubber gasket that runs the length of the door. Everything else appears to be plastic. Another member brought this up some time ago as well.
No problems with mine at all.

Peter
 

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A picture would be very helpful.
If you are referring to the very bottom edge of the door, it doesn't touch any metal. The curved bottom edge of the door when closed, sits in a channel with a rubber gasket that runs the length of the door. Everything else appears to be plastic. Another member brought this up some time ago as well.
No problems with mine at all.

Peter

Peter, yes and yes. It is the very bottom edge and it's rubbing against the rubber mating part. Paint wear is pronounced on the outside edge closer to the "B" pillar.
They should have had 3M clear tape over the painted sheet metal, or better yet, have that whole bottom portion shielded by a plastic cladding, like on the outside lower surface of the door.
 






Peter, yes and yes. It is the very bottom edge and it's rubbing against the rubber mating part. Paint wear is pronounced on the outside edge closer to the "B" pillar.
They should have had 3M clear tape over the painted sheet metal, or better yet, have that whole bottom portion shielded by a plastic cladding, like on the outside lower surface of the door.
This doesn't seem to be a common problem but should be realtively easy to fix. If I had that problem I'd probably try running a narrow strip of duct tape or something similar along the bottom where the paint is being affected. I realize it shouldn't be necessary to do this with a relatively new vehicle but other than trying to realign the door, it could be a solution. I think the last thing you want down there is bare metal.

Peter
 






A couple pictures:
daccd13b.jpg

Yes, you can see the rust...I wiped the door with a wet rag prior to the picture. I was hoping it was dirt.
8f7bac45.jpg
 






I remeber reading on the Explorer's facebook page someone having the same issue. The dealer repainted it for her.
 



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I remeber reading on the Explorer's facebook page someone having the same issue. The dealer repainted it for her.

Nice of them. How many times will they repaint it? The root cause needs to be fixed.
 






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