Wiping front to Back: Here's Why.

[Steverino]

To keep your door valves from being damaged, wipe the door from front to back when drying with a cloth.

The other day I noticed a small rubber flap fall to the pavement while I was dying the door after a wash. I was wiping back to front when this happened and I must have snagged it, pulling it out.

Peering under the door, there are two rectangular rubber valves, one toward the front and the other toward the rear of the door. The piece I knocked off was a flapper "door" for one of these seals as they are called. I pushed it back in place, then went around all 4 doors finding that each door was missing one of the two flaps, some the front, some the back.

These flaps apparently act as one-way water weep holes (when they are not missing). Perhaps they place a subtle role in acoustics are airflow as well? The pictures show these valves with the flap and sans flap. The molded arrow points to the front of the car. I ordered 4 replacement seals which arrived a few days later.

So kids, wipe from the front to the rear (along the bottom edge of your doors),

DSC05176.jpgDSC05177.jpg

[KyleH]

Thanks for the pictures!

I found one of the rubber pieces in my driveway just 1 week that I had my new Volt at home. I figured I would find where it goes, but I did not see anything like that until today.

From my experience, it was like less than 1 week when I found it just sitting in the driveway, so I am assuming these things fall off pretty easy.

-KyleH

[ghostgs1]

I didn't even know they existed, never looked at the door bottoms. Thanks for the tip.

[BAZINGA]

Interesting info, and like most every other Volt owner I was blissfully unaware these even existed.

Thanks for the info and photos.

[Steverino]

From my experience, it was like less than 1 week when I found it just sitting in the driveway, so I am assuming these things fall off pretty easy.

-KyleH

The rubber flaps attach to the main rubber seal with a plug/nipple, and you can pop them back in if you find them. But they can just as easily be pulled out by wiping the door bottom the wrong way in my experience. The replacements are $3 each. Must be very special rubber, haha.

[Fulgerite]

Great Post! Thank You!

[DonC]

This is the type of thing I don't want to read about this but thanks for posting! Great info. LOL

[Cord]

There seems to be a third weep hole as you move up closer to the door hinge. This third hole (no rubber cover) is where I see most of the water draining after washing or a rain. I generally have to open the door to see it in action.

Thanks for the tip-