Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

I have been looking into this as I am not very happy about the rear hatch seal on my car. I think I am getting a minor exhaust fume blow back issue, in addition to a minor water ingress issue at the top corners and some hatch rattling (hatch pins already replaced and correctly adjusted - rear light clusters already removed and resealed).

Having read through a few posts on various 944 sites both UK and US it would appear that unlike some aftermarket seals the Porsche OEM seal doe not come as a joined loop but is supplied as a specific length of seal. In order to achieve a good seal you must not trim it to length and you must install it in the correct method to avoid stretching it as part of the process. If done correctly the seal is the correct length to meet in the center at the bottom of the tail gate and exerts sufficient pressure to keep the seal fully into the corners of the hatch, plus does not pull out of the corners as the seal shrinks over time.

Basically you start at the top in the middle and push the seal onto the rim firmly, working round until the two ends meet in the middle at the bottom. Extra care should be taken to push the seal into the corners fully.

Another top tip is to lay the seal out in the sun for a period before fitting so it is as flexible as possible.

I've not tried this but it seem to make sense and my 'joined' seal certainly appears too small and pulls out of the top corners of the hatch.

Just thought I'd post this info for people.

Correct way is to fit the corners first allowing seal to droop between each corner
Push seal into the corners so it is not stretched

Then fit the middle of each droop leaving smaller droops repeat fit the middle of each droop and so on

Warming the seal helps

The top corners are a BAD design the seal barely touches ?.....some designer at Porsche did not know how to cut compound radial sections ............( I was a Car body in white engineer in a previous life) spend many years designing glazing and body seals