I pulled all of the chrome molding off of my 84 and had no leaks,
except the windshield seal. Not sure whether it was due to removing
the strips, but there was a lag between removal and leak, so I suspect
it was not caused by removal. Hard to say...

On Sat, May 17, 2008 at 9:31 AM, Michael Diehr <md03@xochi.com> wrote:
> Thanks john,
>
> On a different topic:  I notice that this page says, regarding the
> chrome strips inside the side & front window seals: "Don't pull them
> out, your windows will be loose and the seals will leak as they keep
> tension on the seals to keep them snug. "
>
> I thought I had read elsewhere that you could pull out the chrome
> plastic strips without worry.   Anyone care to comment?
>
> On May 16, 2008, at 1:21 PM, John Goubeaux wrote:
>>
>> You can find good info on the topic here:
>>
>> http://www.van-cafe.com/vanagonparts.jsp?pa=ip&ip=947385587
>>
>>
>> -john
>>
>>
>> Michael Diehr wrote:
>>>
>>> I accidentally purchased top/rear felt channel strip 281-837-709 when
>>> it looks like I should have purchased 255-837-709 instead, as the
>>> latter has a channel for the chrome strip.
>>>
>>> I've already pulled out some other chrome strips (winshield) so I
>>> might as well as go for the all black look on the doors too. Since
>>> the 281- brand was 1/2 the price, and I've already purchased it, is
>>> it
>>> possible to just remove the chrome strip and use the non-chrome strip
>>> instead? 85 Westy.
>