So I finally got around to attempting to reglue the weatherstripping to the underside of my car a second time a couple weeks ago, I think. I wanted to wait because I wanted to get my car washed before trying again. It had been a month, maybe more, since I got my baby clean. I needed to get it washed a lot sooner, but this winter's been so ... wintry that I didn't think it was worth getting it clean if it was going to snow the next day. But the cleaning had been long overdue, and I couldn't let the weatherstripping keep slapping my door.
I was prepared, and I had my mind set this particular afternoon on making it that day's project. I loaded up on the adhesive and masking tape I would need to keep the stripping together as the adhesive dries. Unfortunately I forgot the cotton balls and acetone/nail polish they recommend using to make the stripping and the door ultra-clean. Whatever -- I had a mission and that wasn't going to stop me.
I went to the car wash. I hadn't gotten the car cleaned in so long, the mats remained wet. Luckily, they offered to clean all of them dry. Unluckily, for an extra $3.50. So I thought I might as well upgrade from the package I already get and throw in shiner for my rims.
So they prep the inside of the car with vacuuming before one of them takes my car around the bend and onto the conveyor belt. Meanwhile I go through a door to a hallway with windows to the conveyor belt so you can see your car getting washed.
The guy who takes my car around generally is the one who uses a hose and pre-washes the car before he sets it on the conveyor belt, just so the parts where the machine doesn't get wet that well will be wet, such as around the wheel wells and the very back. Just as he gets done, and just before my car gets on the belt to start its journey toward becoming its old, brand-new self, the guy reaches down to the driver's side door, where half of the weatherstripping is lying on the ground, and he rips the whole goddamn thing off! NO!!!!!!!!!!!
I felt really stupid to go back through the door and ask the guys to give me back a thin strip of rubber, but I laid out so many things and had so many plans that I wasn't going to let it all go to waste because of something that took a second to happen. But I did. The guy who took it off and brought it back to me seemed cool, but who knows, they all might have laughed behind my back.
I went to the bank to glue it back on because I needed to deposit some money there, and it had wide-open spaces and some privacy for me to do it. I wish it were warmer with no wind, but the car was clean enough, so I went to my trunk, took out my supplies, and started to work.
Immediately, the cold knocked me off stride; then, forgetting what I had done the first time made this a task only half-successful. The adhesive came out in chunks, not like a goo. And I put that adhesive alongside the top of the weatherstripping even though it actually attaches at the very edge of it. I realized that too late, so I figured that I'd have to bend out at my door, stick the adhesive where it was on the stripping to the adhesive I smeared onto the very bottom of the door, then somehow slide the stripping so it spreads over its edge -- kind of like a comb-over.
My hands were getting cold, so I don't think I did a good job at it, and I didn't care to see what I could have done better. My last step was to keep it secure with the masking tape. I bought the tape the same day I bought the adhesive, but when I tried to attach the weatherstripping the first time, for some damn reason I couldn't tear off a complete strip of masking tape. Whenever I would get the end of the tape off the roll, from end to end, it would tear and a part of it would stay stuck to the roll. Again and again and again and again it would do that so I couldn't get a full length of tape off. It got so fucking bad that I just didn't use it the first time.
It was a bitch of a time taking out the tape this time too. Not only wasn't it tearing evenly, but the couple times I was able to, it immediately rolled up on itself, turning an even strip of tape into a rolled-up bunch that I couldn't unwind. I had to throw a couple of those away. But somehow, I was able to get some strips off, like masking tape is supposed to do, and stick them on the inside and the outside of the stripping and door ... except that the tape won't stick on the outside. Oh, boy. So I just stick it on the inside ... except that it's kind of slushy outside and the bottom of the door is dripping wet. They say the area needs to be dry for the adhesive to work. Ah, whoops. The car will be as clean as it's going to get, so I tape it up anyway.
Depositing my money and throwing away the tape was the time they say I need to give the adhesive to get tacky and stick, so I drove off to the coffeeshop. When I get out, it was still sticking. Good! I don't mind keeping the masking tape on it forever.
But then we had a snowstorm on Monday. After getting back to my car after "work," I saw from the outside of my door that the front of the weatherstripping -- the front -- was peeling away towards the outside, dirty snow weighing the end down. Well, fuck. I wish that guy wouldn't've fucking torn it off, but maybe it wouldn't've mattered anyway. What can I do?
Noticed while I was out and about yesterday, I think, that the stripping is now gone. It's completely off.
Shit, I feel bad about this. But I don't know if this happened yesterday or last week. Oh, whatever, it's gone.
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