Shower door drip rail replacement issues

[stickshift]

The vinyl bottom sweep on my shower door drip rail was falling apart. I couldn't find a bottom sweep that had the same profile (need same profile to slide into groove on drip rail). So I bought another drip rail that came with a bottom sweep: https://www.swisco.com/24-sweep-drip/pd/Lavatory-Replacement-Hardware/10-324

Problem is the door won't close all the way. As I start closing the door, the sweep goes up and over the lip at the bottom of the shower door frame (as it's supposed to), but around midway along the sweep, it stops going up and over the lip. And then the door cannot be closed.

If I remove the sweep, the shower door with new drip rail will close fine. It's the sweep not clearing the lip that is preventing the door from closing.

First 3 pics show (1) old drip rail attached to shower door, (2) old drip rail removed from shower door showing profile sweep needs to have, and (3) old vinyl bottom sweep.

Last 3 pics show (1) new drip rail and bottom sweep installed, (2) pic taken from inside the shower - you can see how midway along the sweep, it stops going up and over the lip, and (3) this the position the door is in when the sweep stops going up and over the lip.

I cut the sweep to reduce its height (sweep in pic is post-cut), thinking a vertically shorter sweep would make it over the lip easier. But that doesn't seem to help much.

Any ideas?

 

[JRichard]

Unfortunately your new drip rail probably doesn’t have the same dimensions as the old one i usually have to manually cut rubber fin to close the door but carefully so you don’t create leaks. Also check that your door is square sometimes they sag over time and need adjustments . Hopefully this helps

 

[Cardboard Man]

It sounds like the new vinyl sweep is stiffer because if hasn't worn in like the old one yet. I would suggest as stated above that you adjust the door slightly so as to raise the leading edge of the door, and also apply a thin coat of wd40 to the vinyl sweep to help it get over the curb when door closes.

 

[stickshift]

Looking at the bottom sweeps more closely, I think the problem might be the new sweep is considerably thicker. The sweep portion (that goes up and over the shower frame lip) of the new sweep is 1.5mm thick. The same area of the old sweep is ~0.9mm thick. So the new sweep may just not be flexible enough given the design/spacing of the door and frame to clear the lip all the way across the sweep.

I'll try contacting some sweep manufacturers who make sweeps with the same retention profile as the new sweep (because I couldn't find anyone making sweeps with the retention profile of the old sweep) and see if any of them have thinner sweeps.

 

[nadogail]

Being aware that I know a lot about many things, but not everything about everything; sometimes I have to swallow hard and call in a Pro for a lesson.

There are good folks who will allow you to watch and learn, if they don't they can count on not being called the next time I need some help.

 

[FMB4]

Remove the sweep and double check that the gap along the bottom of the door and the threshold is parallel.

 

[stickshift]

Remove the sweep and double check that the gap along the bottom of the door and the threshold is parallel.

Good call. The gap is not even all the way across, and this looks to be the culprit. So the part of the bottom sweep closer to the door's hinge is able to make it over the shower frame's lip because gap along bottom of door is larger here, but the part of the bottom sweep farther away from the door hinge cannot clear the smaller gap.

Here's a pic along the top (easier to see and get a good pic at the top of door). Also pic of the hinge and view of hinge from inside shower.

Any way to get the shower door level?

 

[TruckRed]

I had the same problem finding a replacement for our shower door, I just removed the sweep entirely. Left the drip rail on the inside of the shower door and have had no issues with leaks or water occurring outside the shower.