Reuse weather stripping?

[Christien]

Is it possible to reuse weather stripping, or is that just begging for water leaks? The car's in the paint shop right now, and apparently they pulled all the weather seals out - some even got primed for some reason. In any other case I'd say they screwed up and insist they replace them, but the entire paint job is being done pro bono so I can't really complain. It's got to be $500 to replace all the stripping, though, so I'd rather not if it's not necessary,

Thanks!
Chris

[Razorback1980]

Christien,

Sure it's possible but it all depends on the condition. If it's been in a garage it's entire life and hasn't had access to the sun much, then it probably would be okay to clean it with paint thinner, recondition it and put it back in. If it's been outside the entire time, then it's probably best to examine each one and look for cracking or check to see if it's hard or brittle in any way. If so and you put it back in, it's probably going to leak. Bottom line is there is no way to tell without looking at it and use your own good judgement to tell what condition it's in. If you put it back in, there are several threads here that talk about which products people use to condition the seals.