Here recently with the freezing temps we had here I went to roll down my iced up window and it tore away part of the outside window seal (picture included). I wanted to see if anyone knew what might be involved in replacing it before I tore into the door and wanted to see if I just needed clips of if this piece is riveted on or what. This is the rubber that presses against the driver side window glass, small piece that tore away but don't want it to let water in the door.

 

If this is the trim at the top of the door. I’m looking for the same thing on the driver door, good luck. Mines a 2003 and I have been told it’s a dealer part.

 

It is also a discontinued dealer part.

 

Hi Mike, I just had to replace both passenger and driver side ones on mine. I found the passenger side one here https://www.gmpartsdirect.com/oem-pa...lding-10321350 but the other part 10321351 is discontinued so I had to go to a junkyard and buy an entire door. At least I got some new power window motors mine were starting to fail. I'll keep an eye out for you, good luck in your hunt!

 

I purchased both sides from this dealer in July - passenger side shows as still available. Driver side (left) now shows discontinued. :-(

2000-2007 Chevrolet Monte Carlo Belt Weather-Strip 10317932 | Britain Chevrolet Parts (britainchevy.com)

 

That’s absolutely correct, discontinued. That’s not good for those of us who like to drive older vehicles. My neighbor tried to buy a new motor for the electric windows in his 1988 Suburban and he ran into the same problem.

My guess is that the vehicle companies are behind it trying to push us into new vehicles

 

I can tell you thats not the primary driver in stuff like this getting discontinued.

There's two main factors that I'm aware of from working in a parallel industry with similar limitations:

-Inventory storage costs. The space it would take to keep replacements of every part for every model and trim level (where different) is enormous and has a cost associated with it. Theres only so many years you can hold that much stuff. They're cautious on how much to order as no one wants to be stuck at the end of the road with leftover parts they can't sell. There are workarounds in terms of placing future orders to not have to hold inventory all at once, but eventually the suppliers update tooling and materials (to support your newer products) and have to do their final production runs for a product. Theyve got to draw the line somewhere as they can't be expected to hold inventory indefinitely and IMO I think most would agree it's unreasonable for them to still be doing so today for 80s vehicles.

-Price. Ideally you want to order everything up front while the cars are being made new to take advantage of economy of scale. If you exhaust inventory on one part sooner than the others for some unexpected reason, the cost to do a limited production run is FAR higher after the fact. Couple that with fewer cars left on the road that it supports and the extremely low value of those cars (which for most of these cars is deep into the 4 digits) and the business case just isn't there. Someone isn't going to pay $1000 for a component that was $100 back when the car was new to fix their $3000 car. Ideally that's where aftermarket companies come in to fill the niche, but for odd parts or older / less popular cars, it sometimes doesn't even make business sense for them to step in.


No doubt they want to sell new cars, but they can't cut support for existing cars drastically more than the rest of the industry or no one will buy the new cars in the first place.

 

That’s a long winded reply but thanks anyway. We still have two 2003 vehicles. I bought a used 2019 2500 a year ago. My wife won’t even drive the new truck she likes her 2003 2500 Hd gasser.

I guess what I’m saying is that a lot of people prefer to drive older vehicles. I drive my 2003 Monte Carlo 100 miles a day. It wouldn’t be very smart of me to drive a new vehicle that far every day. It would be worn out by the time I paid for it and that’s why some people prefer to drive older vehicles. I live in the woods and refuse to move to a city. If I can’t find parts for my car I’ll jury rig some how. It all will work out some how.

 

I recall hearing that there is a law that claims a vehicle manufacturer has to make replacement parts available for up to 10 years after the car was produced. I never looked it up, so no idea.

I totally understand that these cars are old, but still have life. But it is rare you will find a manufacturer willing to continue making replacement parts for any product after a certain point past end of life. And with cars, it stinks, but it is the reality of owning an old car. A few years ago, I bought enough badging to re-badge my blue Monte one full time if need be (as I was concerned with those being discontinued and if anything happened to them, like braking a script drying the car or something). They have to draw a line somewhere to make room for new products in general.

Now, if the car is popular enough, you will find aftermarket companies coming to the rescue to help restore them. One of the biggest complaints for 3rd gen F-bodies (82-92) is the dash pad. Last I knew, NO ONE makes a true replacement dash pad (I have seen a "cap"). So a used dash pad is $300-$500!! In the 00-07 Montes, I think in 05 the dash pad began having issues due to GM changing glue. I see a lot of mint 00-04 pads in the yards. If I knew it to be worth while, I would consider stock piling some. But odds of mine having a problem OR someone restoring these cars is a big slim....

 

Sorry for the long post, just trying to give some insight from the side of the manufacturer as I'm very familiar with the process in a parallel industry. They could care less about helping owners of 20+ year old cars keep them the road as thats not what their business is set up for.


I totally get it, my daily is an 05 and one of my main toys is a 96. Unfortunately this kind of thing is just part of choosing that path. You hope aftermarket companies jump in to fill the gaps, but it can be hit or miss on non-mainstream models like this.