Leaky Weatherstriping-Too Much HP?

From what I have been reading people are always complaining about the weatherstriping leaking? One dealer told me that if you put too much HP in the coupe it would eventually crack the rear window! If that were true , than the Z06 should have no problem with the weatherstripping as it is much stronger with the hardtop?? Does that sound true??

[danl72]

Welcome to CAC. That is news to me. I have never heard of that sinerio.

[c4c5specialist]

Hi there,
Well, if that was the case, the 7.0 Mallet supercar, with a supercharger, would be blowing the glass out at every drag strip run.
Sorry, dont believe the hype, ok????
Besttoall, c4c5

[danl72]

I agree with c4c5specialist. If that were the case than people racing their cars would be replacing window costantly.

[vettepilot]

That must have been a salesperson you were talking to about too much HP cracking windows. There's no such thing as too much horsepower... hey I think I feel a country song coming on!

[Colorado]

legend - Do you mind me asking about how the subject of HP relating to leaky weatherstripping came up in the first place?

- Colorado

I have read on some of the forums about vettes and the weatherstriping leaking( Tee Tops , Targa Tops , Verts). I was talking to a dealer who told me that a coupe with 600 HP whos frame is not as strong as a Z06 would twist slightly when under power. After time he said it would crack the rear window on the coupe! Thats when I thought that maybe there was too much power causing the leaking on the weatherstriping and not that the weatherstriping on vettes was bad?? I hope I explained it correctly.

[vettepilot]

If it's a C5, it has exactly the same frame. Nothing special in that area for the ZO6. The C5 frame is the strongest frame ever under a Corvette, If I recall correctly it is on the order of 14 times more rigid than the C4 frame.
vettepilot

[Colorado]

I have an awful picture in my head of my rear window cracking.... . Theoretically speaking, I guess anything is possible. I went out to the garage, pushed down on each rear corner of the hatch and the center of the hatch, and there is a fair amount of squish there (provided by the weatherstripping). I don't know that 600HP would be enough to twist it over enough to crack the rear window...600lb-ft of torque maybe. The hardtop coupe does provide a solid connection on the top from left to right which does good things for load transfers. Perhaps this calls for a letter to Dave Hill!

- Colorado