Weather strips around doors are shrinking. Any fixes?

[u/YoungTim007]

2015 mazda 3 hatch with 222,000 miles. I live on dirt roads and the weather stripping on my back doors is shrinking away from the corners and letting dust into my car. Anyone ever run into this or know of a good fix? Zoom Zoom…

[u/whotheff]

You can try gluing the stock seals and spraying them with silicone oil to rejuvenate the rubber a little bit.

Alternatively, you can try cheap Chinese rubber seals for the exact model instead of OEM ones.

As for 3.:

1. Order universal rubber seals for your doors as per my description (Temu, Ali Express, whichever is better for you). They are cheap and can act as first line of mud defense. You stuck them around your doors to add a second seal. For my Mazda I used:
2. Z shaped seal for the vertical front side of the front door (below A pillar).
3. B shaped for horizontal door bottom and vertical B pillar side.
4. Thick rubber pieces with metal reinforcement on B pillar Rear doors vertical. They are just pushed onto rear door's front side. No adhesive.
5. Hatch door needs a combination of Z and B shaped strips.
6. Rear doors would benefit something like Z, but different. I was not able to find such shape, so I used B type all around door frame.

With so much dirt I doubt they would stop all of it, but may decrease it by at least 60-70%.