The stainless steel trim that holds the roof rail weather strip, when I removed the stainless trim from my car, on the back of the stainless trim was taped a foam strip the full length of the trim. See the photos. My question, should the foam be there or is it something some previous owner has added for some strange reason?
People think that we have always had plastics. But we haven't. It, like transistors, are a recent invention.
Just remember the single word mentioned to Dustin Hoffman in the movie "The Graduate".
They first appeared as Bakelite; a hard, yet resilient plastic in our rotary dial phones from the mid fifties (remember them?). Then as the fiber size became smaller and stronger nylon appears in fabrics as reinforcement for tires, in seat belts, and spread from there. PCV replaced cloth as insulation in wiring in the late fifties (why your wiring is so brittle today) and fiberglass was used first in the automotive industry in the early fifties. But it took until the late sixties to see ABS plastics in your interior.
Finally 3M foam trim tape didn't appear until the early eighties. So unless you are talking about a mid eighties full size car it was put on by a body shop or end user after that time.
The foam material you described/showed is original to the car. I've taken many apart and have seen it on every original car built in the mid to late 60's.
It's intended to seal out water leaks and wind noise. It was very effective at doing so. I've not found a modern replacement for it. I've had good success using a thin rolled strip of butyl tape in it's place. 3M Strip Caulk would also be a suitable replacement.
Sorry that I did not see this sooner. FYI, Inline Tube has rolls of the OE style sealing tape. It was used on almost every GM car. Part number: INL11128 and it comes in a 14' roll. I polish a lot of stainless moldings and buy these by the dozens.
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