Easy windscreen removal

[colinthefox]

I have had a rust patch spreading out from under the windscreen rubber for a few years. Poked it in the eye today and it turned into a hole right down into the bowels of the footwell. Reluctantly, I had to remove the windscreen as there was no chance of repairing it with the screen in situ.

Not wanting to crack the screen, I found an easy and, I think foolproof method of removing it.

I cut loads of blocks of wood about 3 inches long out of 3/4 inch square section and placed them behind the inner lip of the rubber inside the van, all the way up the sides and along the top. I used shorter blocks to go round the corners:-



By the time all the blocks were in place the screen was already loose, and just needed a light push at the top to remove it. No force involved, so no danger of cracking the glass. Of course, if you do it this way, you'll miss the sight of your partner, legs akimbo, sat on the front seat with their feet on the screen. Your choice.

Here's what I found.



I guess I'm lucky to only have this much rust to repair. I'll weld in a patch, but I'm not sure how to prevent it happening again. I suppose once water has got behind the rubber lip it's a lost cause so I might as well seal it to the paintwork with silicone.

[milky]

did similar but ended up cutting the seal,doing the repair ,refitting the window with a new seal....but it still leaked water down into the footwells.so got some hermetite window seal put it all under the lip of the seal all round,...success

[dugcati]

thats nowt!.. here what I found on mine when the window came out






mucho rusto!


Glad you got the glass out without a fight! have you been able to put it back in yet?

[CovKid]

Fit a genuine VW seal and it goes in easy - JK and you'll need an elephant sat on it. Rob and I have both done ours. Not sure Rob was actually expecting to do it until I turned up with a length of blue nylon cord, but its done now. I think he'll back me on the JK seals - they're not easy to get in. Agree on the need for sealant. I found B&Q black roofing sealant (in a big tube and cheap) was perfect for the job. The reason that lip rots is due to the gap behind the seal that creates a perfect path for water to the bottom so despite other claims, sealant is a good idea, even with a new seal.

Fair bit of fabrication to do there my friend....

[Titus A Duxass]

For really easy screen removal just cut the seal with a knife.
Run the knife down between the glass and the screen, a bit water with fairly wiquid helps as a lube.

Then just refit with a new genuine seal.

[dugcati]

Agree on the need for sealant. I found B&Q black roofing sealant (in a big tube and cheap) was perfect for the job. The reason that lip rots is due to the gap behind the seal that creates a perfect path for water to the bottom so despite other claims, sealant is a good idea, even with a new seal.

Fair bit of fabrication to do there my friend....

Agreed fully on the roofing sealant - as it's a low modulus silicone it never really sets and also moves with any vehicle flex - I used the old seal and also lined the area the seal meets the van.....Once I had rebuilt the whole area!

On a side note whilst the dash is out and the window is out I went and lined the whole area out in thermowrap including above the roof lining....


Note the Rustoleum red paint job ^^

[dugcati]

forgot to mention that I found a tiny amount of car wax on the window frame helped the glass go back in really easily

[colinthefox]

Dugcati...............That's certainly a big job. I half expected a lot more rust than I found.

Titus.............The train of thought in coming up with this method was like this:- If I was going to buy a new seal I could cut out the old one easily enough. But as I figured I would be using sealant anyway, even with a new seal, then I might as well save myself the forty odd quid and reuse the old one. So it was worth a try.

[colinthefox]

More....

I put the screen back in today. I liked the idea of using electrical wire to cord it in, as in the wiki, and indeed it did a good easy job.

Once it was back in, I needed to get in behind the lip with the sealer, so I used the "blocks of wood" trick again to push the screen out about 8mm, where it stayed all by itself. Here's a picture. Sorry it's out of focus.




Then it was easy to squirt a bead of sealer all the way round without having to wrestle with prising up the lip. On pulling out the blocks, the screen went back in with a little push, and the sealant squidged out nice and even all round.

[jamesc76]

they shouldnt have any sealer round um! Gonna be a reeet bugger who ever has to take it out next time!

[colinthefox]

Special non-hardening windscreen sealer, specifically for screens with rubber gasket fitting. That's what it says on the tube.