Came out of work last night at midnight, the car park is open to the elements and it was about -2c out. Tried to get in the driver door and it was frozen tight - fortunately the passengers side opened okay so I pushed it open from the inside.

 

I regularly gumipflege the door seals anyway, but applied another coat before coming to work this afternoon. Not long been out to the car and although not as bad as last night it was still stiff opening the driver's door as there seems to be a thin layer of ice forming between the bottom of the door and the sill.

 

Just wondering if anyone had any experience with this and can suggest a fix? I have noticed that the doors seem to 'spit' water out when you open them after a wash or heavy rain.

 

What with my leaky panoramic roof earlier in the year im thinking newer Skodas may have an issue with water retention! (Tbf my MKI VRS used to mist up badly due to compost behind the wheel arch liners too)

 

Edited 24 January, 20215 yr by ords
Addition

@BigJakk You don't say what year your car is, is it an earlier year? The old door seals used to hold water really bad, if you look in the middle of seal on the bottom there may be two holes, if not then you have the old type and the best idea would be to get them replaced with the new ones. If you have the holes then maybe there's a blockage that's holding the water?

 

I clicked the topic expecting to say 'use gumtree plfedge' so was surprised to see you have already tried it. If the seals are still freezing ot suggests there's a fair bit of water sitting about still.

 

Best of luck

I've a MY16 and mines done it

It was bad with the early mark 3 cars, certainly with the one that I had anyway. Not so much of an issue with my current car but one of the rear doors was frozen closed the other day.

I find its where the top seal that meets the roof that freezes ,silicone spray or vasaline helps.

Just treated all of mine and my wife’s car with silicon spray wiped over the rubbers, both on the door and the body if you have both. No more sticking/freezing seals.

For the treatment to be effective, first go to some garage to melt and dry the car properly, then apply silicone or some other fluid. Years ago I had some little bottle with a sponge ontop, like a fat permanent marker, so you just draw on all rubbers so they repel water. Used on previous cars, a single treatment fixed the problem permanently. 

 

If the car is not prepped for winter, maybe not yours etc, then pre-icer works good sprayed on the door seals, as pretty messy on the glass.  Or night before de-icer.  Or normal de-icer sprayed on the seals before the freeze when parking up.  Or the silicone spray or whatever.   If you need to use hot water to get doors open remember to dry off the seals before they get frozen up again. Or the locks do. 

Like some of the other posts here, silicon spray all the door rubbers. Never had a problem with my doors when I spray the rubber door seals at least once a month.   

Dropped  mine off at dealership for a bit of work and the courtesy car (octavia mk3 fl) doors were frozen shut. I think its one of those physics things that you have to accept

You only have to accept it if the cars was not prepped for winter as many are not. 

Lots of manufacturers vehicles can be issue free, with Skoda it can be a common issue.

 

So many just run the car in winter as they do anytime,

Tyre pressures never checked, washer fluid not topped up with strong enough winter screen wash, the coolant / Anti freeze / corrosion inhibitors strength unknown etc.

I've used gummipflege on all the seals since my issue with the leaky panoramic roof (although to be fair that turned out to be the roof not being bonded to the frame properly). I work in crash investigation so tend to be a quite fastidious about keeping the car right all year around. To be fair, I've only noticed it the last couple of days when it's been really cold.

 

I did notice last night when compressing the seals by hand, that whilst the outside if the seals was fine, they felt quite rigid as if frosted up on the inside.

 

It's a 2014 car so relatively early production. I've been and had a look at the seals on the driver's door today and there is only one hole at the bottom of the seal towards the front of the door (parallel to the speaker grille). Just wondering ndering if some modifications to the seal - i.e. more holes might help?

 

there is obviously water trapping there as there was a thin sheet of ice around the sill last night at the area pictured (excuse photo editing on phone)

 

Cheers

 

1 hour ago, BigJakk said:

It's a 2014 car so relatively early production.

 

2014 is before the revised door seals were introduced so that may be a primary factor:

 

I found using silicon grease a bit more resilient, but a bit more messy. Easy to get on your clothes if not careful.

 

Gaz