I finally got around to removing the rear window. My only other experience installing a window was when my dad and I put a new windshield in my 911 using the string technique.
My dad is long gone so last Saturday my girlfriend and I tried to use the string technique to install back window. The inside rubber lip is just too beefy for the string to work from the inside. I’d read on this site about using the string but pulling the outside lip up. The outside lip is very flexible. Well that was a dead end. We just couldn’t hold the glass, thread in the defrost wires, line up the seal, etc. I need a new method so back to searching this site. I found a thread from 2006 where the poster put the window in by prying the inside lip in. He also mentioned not using any soap. I thought I give that a try but I came up with something that I think is very easy.
So here’s how I did it solo.
1 - Put the rubber seal on the glass
2 - Lay the glass with the seal on top of the window opening
3 - Spray plenty of soapy water on the rubber seal.
3 - Get inside the car and thread the defrost wires into their holes. You’ll need to wrangle with the glass a bit to do this but be gentle.
Remember - the rubber seal hates you and will do anything it can to jump off the glass.
4 - You need to get the bottom seal started first and it’s tricky. I found that the weight of glass kept pushing it into the car making it impossible to get the seal started. So here’s the trick I used. Someone posted something about using glass suction cup things to hold the trim in place so I ordered them months ago. I simply put two of those on the bottom edge of the glass and on the top edge to keep the glass from dropping down. Just stick them down and adjust the wing nut so the glass is laying where you need it.
5 - Unlike the original poster I mentioned, I worked from the outside of the car. I used a rubber mallet and plastic tool to firmly tap the inside edge down past the metal lip. Just slip the thin end past the outside lip so it’s touching the inside lip and give it a gentle whack. Every so often I’d duck into the car to make sure the lip had fully engaged. If it hadn’t, I used my pick tool to pop it into position.
- After the seal was in, I gently pushed down on the glass all the way around to make sure it was seated.
I guess it took about 45 minutes but at least 15 minutes of that were wasted when the glass kept sagging down. Once I put those suction cup things on, it went fairly quickly.
So what’s not done - I can’t get the locking strip in with the Lisle tool. There’s four choices for sliding it in and none of them seem to work. Is there a better tool? Or, am I just not doing it right?
Thanks.
Dave
