I have no connection or stake in this, but thought I'd pass it along. Was looking on Steele Rubber Products site and saw that they offered a catalog made specifically for your car. It's really simple; go to their website, do a coupla clicks to get the "Custom Catalog" and fill in the blanks. I got mine about a week later. It's specific for the 40 Chrysler. or click on this link, http://www.steelerubber.com/catalogs I would imagine that a person would be hard-pressed to find the rubber items needed elsewhere for getting your hot-rod in shape. The pricing reflects the market. Rubber molds are not cheap to make. Ryan, maybe you could bug Steele to become a vendor on the HAMB for a little break in the prices. gatz
After reading countless threads about how good Steele products are, I bit the bullet and ordered a new windshield gasket for my 46 chevy pickup. Big mistake! The outer most flange is no where near big enough to fill the chanel in betwen the frame and body. In my opinion they are just another company selling aftermarket junk. Upper is the new Steele gasket, lower is the one that came off the truck [/URL] heres a pic looking straight down, Old on top, Steele on the bottom [/URL] This is how their shit looks on the truck. $85 bucks down the toilet [/URL]
I've used there rubber for years. Most of the time I was satisfied with it. I was in the glass business. I didn't use them for fords but all other brands they seemed to have the best.
I am a bit confused here-there has to be more to this story. Did you compare new to old and contact Steele with no recourse other than to just use it as is? Or, did you just start to install it without inspecting it first? Did you contacts Steele about the misfit? If not,why not and if you did talk to them, what was the outcome? It doesn't surprise me that a repro product doesn't quite fit a 69 year old vehicle, but it does surprise me that a company with a pretty god rep would just leave you out in the cold.
I have purchased various rubber bits from Steele over the past 25yrs however a couple of yrs ago I purchased cowl vent seal for my Oz 1940 Dodge. I also had a 1941 Plymouth coupe, a factory RHD car built in Sth Africa from USA sourced parts......I compared the cowl vent on both cars and was pleased the see they were exactly the same in shape, size and profile........so I ordered a vent seal from Steele Rubber..........what I got was the right shape BUT the completely wrong profile that would NOT work , after a couple of phone calls with Steele telling me I had no idea what I was talking about I vowed never to deal with this company again and I will tell all and sundry of my treatment.........I had also deal with Andy Bernbaums in the past and always received the right service, parts and courteous treatment...........so I would suggest you also try them......... Andy Douglas
All the rubber on my convertible writable is from Steele and am totally satisfied with their products. Granted I had no other vendor to use, but everything fits right, I am not afraid to recommend them.
When I went into business for myself (OT, not car related), my dad told me to make sure I took care of EVERY customer, the 99 satisfied people may never mention my name, but that one dissatisfied customer will tell everyone they know and make sure it gets around. Steele cheesed me off years ago too. They should really pay more attention when they F-up, because they sell good products. (Same with classic tube).
A catalog for my 47 Lincoln would be a postcard. They only list one item, fender skirt gaskets. Guess I'll be looking elsewhere....
I've been looking for some window felts that will work with my fiberglass garnish moldings. Just got their catalogue, looks like an expansive inventory! Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I have been disappointed by a vendor on their rubber parts for my '53 Dodge truck. Seems like no one has all of the products and most don't fit like original. Best vendor I have found is Clester's. They make their own stuff, here in the USA. http://www.clestersauto.com/Pages/default.aspx
I bought windshield moldings for my 34 Chevy form Steele and they fit excellent. Can't say about other brands of cars.
Steele is about the only (comprehensive) game in town that I know of. Have used their stuff for a couple decades and always has been pretty good. The only other fairly large supplier I know of is Metro Rubber but they don't have near the selection that Steele does. http://metrommp.com/
My experience is Soft Seal prices are cheaper and their products seem to stay soft longer. At the NSRA Nats I needed door weather stripping for my 56 Belair tudor post car. Steele wanted $93. Bought them from Soft seal for $46. Gary
Steele, bad name for a rubber company. Can't close the doors on my 56 truck without slamming it, rubber profile too thick and rubber compound too hard.
'47 Lincoln, '53 Dodge truck-doesn't it just seem amazing that there are parts for these at all? Figure maybe 20K Lincolns-probably similar trucks and yet 60 plus years later and somebody is making esoteric parts for them when there can only be minimal demand.
Hi ... Have brought all seals for both a 1949 and 1941 Cadillac convert ...not cheap but all seals fit perfect..I think they are really GM specialists ...Metro has a good selection.....
I'm not gonna complain! When you have out of the mainstream vehicles, you expect parts to be harder to find. It is amazing that somebody would take the time and dollars to design and make parts that the market would be so small on. But you gotta figure that some parts were only slightly different on various vehicles, so they would reproduce a compromise product that might not be an exact copy, but a blend of a few different designs so it would fit many models instead of one. I'm happy to be able to find anything reproduced for my car. I'm not into paint marked 100% restorations, so if something works and fits reasonably well, I'll take it!
Bought seals from Steele for my 49 ford windshield [mine had stainless molding] and back glass seal for my 50 chevy delivery. Both fit great but instructions said to install the ford stainless molding BEFORE installing seal in the car....was impossible so I installed the stainless after installing the seal/glass in the hole...big pain but never leaked.