Life of S-series door seals?

Hi, marx404! FWIW, my '99 SL still has the original seals. As far as I can tell, I have no leakage whatever. A very pleasant surprise since I live in southeast Michigan, where the temperatures range from near 0 to near 100 and it is relatively low humidity but for a few days each year. :)

IMHE, All door seals shrink with age. I strip good ones when I am at a 'pick yourself ' parts yard. The used ones are so cheap they are almost free.

As the originals shrink just reinstall the originals without stretching them but rather jamb them tightly into the corners, work them around so that the resulting gap is at the bottom under the sill, then cut a short section from the used piece to fill what is likely to be a surprisingly large gap. Usually the sill cap will cover most of the misery, you could use a little rubber cement if you like but I just cut the added piece a little longer than required for a good tight fit. As well as keeping out water you may find that wind noise is also reduced.

Good luck, YMMV

Thanx, I plan to get the DS seal (a bigger job on that side IMHO) done soon too.