sconnor

Had an idea that I thought I'd pass along... The rubber pieces at the end of my windshield cowl rotted and broke off, just like everyone else's. They were doing their best to hold on but removing the cowl to paint it finished the rubber off. I made new rubber pieces using black, vinyl baseboard. It's the kind you see in a commercial setting that is typically found with linoleum flooring. I bought at 6' section at Lowes for $2.50. It took a lot of trial and error and it's not going to fool anyone as a stock piece but it looks way better than a hole and costs significantly less than Ford's $160 replacement. Cut to fit, gorilla glue to the cowl, reinstall the whole piece. Hope this helps someone.

ford4wd08

^^ got any pics, that would prob help alot of people

cblues06lariat

post pics!

sconnor

It'll be a day or two before I can post any pictures, but I will do it. I'm not sure if you're not understanding the part I'm talking about, the material used or just curious how it came out... The defective part is black rubber, about one inch wide and is located at each end of the windshield cowl. The material is used commercially instead of wood baseboards. You see it in every school or government building that has linoleum floors. I found it in the flooring department at Lowes. The end result is better than not having anything there but not as good as stock. I figure this is a small piece that's more or less hidden by the hood anyway and that no one will ever notice that it isn't perfect.

By the way, I fully anticipate someone coming up with a better material or method than what I have done. I spent over an hour walking every aisle at Lowes and this was the best I could find. Initially I was going to use a garage door seal but it was ribbed on one side and I figured after a little while in the sun, the ribs would start to show through. Hopefully someone will expand on this idea, tweak it and come up with an even better solution.

Anyway, I'll post some pictures soon.

Mod (Ret.)

I know what your talking about....I paid $125.00 for the left right pieces to replace both the rotting rubber ends, plus the fact the pieces faided real bad.

I then descovered Krylon Fusion paint for plastics. If I had tried that sooner, I may have looked to a fix like yours.

Thanks for the tip; I too think a pic would be good to post when you have the time.

sconnor

As requested, here are some pictures. A little more time spent on these would make them better, I just lacked the patience.

jhelrey

Now that I think of it, I don't think my truck even have those.

Woody3141

Thank you so much for this thread!! Iam new to this site and this is the coolest thing ive found yet lol. I have the exact same problem and cant wait to try your idea to fix it. I own a construction company and know exactly what product you are talking about, great idea. Also i thought that in the pics posted the piece looked great, (its hard to see the corner rubber piece anyway.) I also detail vehicles on the side and in turn like to keep mine looking sharp, so having this problem has been bothering me and as stated replacement ones are ridiculously priced! thanks again!

SFCHondo

What year truck do you have? I have an 04 and just looked at mine and they still look new. Do alot of people have problems with thiers dry rotting? If so, I must be lucky or something.

Squirtbottle09

Mine where fine until I took my cowels off to paint them. They look great now, but the little rubber pieces crumbled in my hands. So I said F it and just left them missing, lol.