Washer Door Bellow

I read through the reviews, and unlike a few other reviews, the part I received was (a) in a reasonably-sized box so it wasn't "creased" (b) had all the appropriate drain holes punched, and (c) was EXACTLY the same thickness, color and pliability of the original part INCLUDING (d) the same Whirlpool part number (with a different revision) and color name molded into it. (see photo) SO if this is a third-party product, someone has gone to a lot of trouble to make it exactly like the original part. In fact, because of what I'm sure are individual variations, I'm more satisfied with the fit of the replacement than the original (now 8-year-old) part. It does have a funny "sweet" odor (smells like raw rubber plus antifreeze), but I presume the odor will dissipate after a few wash loads. (Yes eight years was a long time for this seal to last on a washer used, on average, once a day. We've probably had holes in our boot for years now, but we didn't notice leaks except on the cleaning cycle and the small load cycle. I assumed hair or something had gotten stuck on the glass, so we would wipe the door and go on to the next load. I never "connected the dots" realizing the seal was bad until the leaks became extreme.) I will confirm, as most note, the most difficult step was installing the outer spring-loaded clamp. But I found squeezing the boot into the "track" along the edge of the drum for the inside part of the seal wasn't so easy, either, until I learned to ignore some parts of the advice online as to how to press it into place. Maybe my particular model (a smaller Whirlpool Duet WFW9150WW01) has some differences from other models. I noted that when watching YouTube videos of "duet boot seal replacement" the location of the panel screws and snaps was different on my model. However one other very helpful tip I found in one video was to unscrew the door latch and switch rather than attempting to unplug it. On my model the latch assembly hangs on a little carrier that makes it super simple to re-hang and align to the holes when reassembling the door panel. (Reattach the latch screws after hanging the front door panel but BEFORE you install the outer boot seal clamp.) To manage the outer clamp, I saw the suggestion to insert small zip ties on either side of the spring. This made it extremely simple to REMOVE the clamp with my fingers, but I STILL had MUCH trouble getting the clamp back on after replacing the boot. After many minutes of tugging and pulling and re-seating the seal and tugging and pulling and re-seating the seal, I came up with the idea of attaching the zip ties to a small wood clamp, reversed, to stretch out the spring. (see photos) It wasn't perfect, but it was the "third and fourth hand" I needed to get the clamp seated around the seal without pulling the opposing side out. (I destroyed several small zip ties getting the orientation right.) In the photo you'll also see a much larger white zip tie, which I used like a bicycle tire bead tool to pull the wire into the channel while slipping the tie around the circumference of the washer opening. Once the wire clamp was finally in place, I cut the three zip ties and pulled them out. Overall this was quite a good experience and gives me confidence I can replace the seal again when necessary.