TheSamba.com :: View topic - Windshield seal replacement

Mon Sep 24, 2012 10:13 pm

E&B, I had a set that I coated the bejeezus out of the back side with thick oil base paint, and coated the front side too, with latex. They still wrinkled up so I removed them. I wouldn't waste my time. Take them to a swap and get rid of them.

Tue Sep 25, 2012 6:16 am

Thanks for that info! Guess it is time to go with the plastic ones.

Tue Sep 25, 2012 6:50 am

Eric&Barb wrote: Have a 3M product that should be better for inside panels than waxol.

http://www.3m.com/product/information/Rust-Fighter-I.html

Are your door panels the older cardboard type or the new plastic ones?

Thought you knew there were more options, E&B
There is someone in your local area who makes a nice repro that does not have the warpage issues that the NLA WW ones have. :wink:
They are even tried and tested in the soggy PNW, fit properly, and don't rattle.
They are not plastic , nor card board, but hardboard, and available in the original grey.

I would not coat the underside of the front doors. I would not coat the inside either, except that it should have a coat of paint on there.

I do run a hose to spray down the holes in the doglegs every few years to rinse out the dirt. dust does work itsway in there from driving.

The insides of the doors don't get as dirty for some reason. Farther from the wheels. I would look in there and remove any detritus. If it looked dirty I'd hose out the inside of the door, and let it dry before installing the plastic water barrier and the door panels.
With a recently painted bus it is probably clean.

Wed Sep 26, 2012 2:36 pm

After buying the entire interior from Clara I found a box full of the original cab grey interior in pretty nice shape. I see another box in the rafters of the garage which I can't reach right now, wonder what is inside. Hopefully not something I already bought. I am sure many here have stuff they forgot or may have never opened from finds/sales long ago.

Eric&Barb wrote: Linda Grunthaner wrote: Older style but painted, from Clara.

Good, the cardboard ones WW sold were nice, but did not hold up to any moisture.

We have one set left and thinking of painting the inner sides to keep them from warping badly.

Wed Sep 26, 2012 8:25 pm

Thanks Clara. :wink:

Have thought about going with your door panels, but want the OG leather wrinkle pattern. Think will try gluing the WW panels to aluminum sheet to keep them from warping up, and see if that works. If it does not work, then we do know where to find you. :D

Problem with front doors is there are so many nooks and crannies in them from all the reinforcement metal pieces. Had a friend rebuild a bus years ago which had a little damage dead center in the door. 6 months after total body work the repair rusted back through on an otherwise really nice bus.
Have already had some rust in the bottom of the passenger door and dealt with as best as could with some welding. So will be using some type of rust preventative in them.

Fri Apr 18, 2014 10:29 am

Eric&Barb wrote: Hi MrBubblehead,
That is why we wrote the below in an earlier post above! :wink:
Eric&Barb

Eric&Barb wrote: If one is dealing with a seal that rides over upholstery inside the VW. One could apply the tar after installing the seal (1955-67 buses with the vent overhang this is not as posssible) with a condiment container (you buy from your local supermarket) and lifting the edge of the seal up on the outside. If then one really needs a lubricant using a light spray of WD-40 should work and the WD-40 soon evaporates. Letting the tar seal the area.
Eric&Barb

Also...can't imagine why you'd need to use the tar on the top edge anyway. If you notice, that section is always nice when you remove the windshield on a 50 year old bus!

Fri Apr 18, 2014 11:31 am

Now I have spent a really good chunk of time trying to read through this whole thread. Which really hasn't resulted in a clear winner of the argument of Tar, 3M sealant, clean and dry, or KY.

So I thought I would throw a new ball into the game.

When the windshield was replaced on my '58 SC, the glass shop firstly masked off the area where the seal sits (well enough to catch any mess). Then they masked the glass too, not to the edge but just enough to go under the seal, both sides of the glass. They squeezed a small amount of Marine grade silcone sealer (clear) into the window groove of the seal and and smoothed it in all the way around (basically they tried to nearly remove all of it, leaving on a thin layer) and then installed the seal onto the glass. Then they did the same for the outer seal groove, only leaving slightly more goop in the groove. Then they used the wire method of install.
Now here come the cool part. once the glass was in the bus and seated well, they cut on part of the masking tape to begin to remove it. By starting to pull the tape out from under the seal it doubled over itself and the tape removed much of the excess sealant, cleanly, and they followed where the tape was being pulled out with small roller pressing down on the seal.
Once the tape was removed there was no mess to clean up, just simply wiped away the adhesive left by the tape.

The marine Grade Silicone cures and is good for up to 60 deg C and well below freezing. It is also UV stable, not that that is an issue here.

I am not a pro at this and claim no years of experience with windshields to back me, but This was done easily, cleanly and with a product that is meant for sealing windshields in wet environments.

Gordo.

Fri Apr 18, 2014 3:27 pm

kenshapiro2002 wrote:
Also...can't imagine why you'd need to use the tar on the top edge anyway. If you notice, that section is always nice when you remove the windshield on a 50 year old bus!

Because it will just leak there otherwise. Think about it, if you leave a galvanized metal bucket upright outside, the bottom always rusts out first. While the upper rim is still is nice and rust free.

Same with laminated windshields, the lowest part of the glass sits in water longest so the plastic between the glass layers gets bubbled and/or whitish.

Fri Apr 18, 2014 3:32 pm

flemcadiddlehopper wrote:
The marine Grade Silicone cures and is good for up to 60 deg C and well below freezing. It is also UV stable, not that that is an issue here.

Thanks for the report! Please do update how it is working about a year from now.

Did not try Marine silicon, did normal household silicon without good results about six months later.

Fri Apr 18, 2014 3:33 pm

Exactly my point... The reason you don't need to use roofing tar up where it might get on the headliner. No water is getting in up there.

Fri Apr 18, 2014 3:34 pm

kenshapiro2002 wrote: Exactly my point... The reason you don't need to use roofing tar up where it might get on the headliner. No water is getting in up there.

Water still gets up there, works around the seal, rusts out your dash, package tray, and floor. BTDT!

Fri Apr 18, 2014 4:31 pm

Eric&Barb wrote: flemcadiddlehopper wrote:
The marine Grade Silicone cures and is good for up to 60 deg C and well below freezing. It is also UV stable, not that that is an issue here.

Thanks for the report! Please do update how it is working about a year from now.

Did not try Marine silicon, did normal household silicon without good results about six months later.

I owned that SC for three years after that repair with no issues (related to the windshield seals) . The only thing noticeable was where the silicone was on the seals they did not weather as much as the rest of the seal, it just stayed blacker.

Gordo.

Fri Apr 18, 2014 5:52 pm

Hmm, if you are in the location of Kelowna, BC, it lists only 11.73 inches, 298 mm of precipitation per year.
Is that were you had your SC?

When getting out of central Texas (annual rainfall just under 25 inches, 635 mm) in the late 1980s, had never a problem with the 1963 SC original Delog windshields and probably factory seals leaking. Even the 1963 KG just restored did not have any noticeable leaks. Probably because most of the rainfall came in just a few weeks in spring...

Once up in the Seattle area the leaks just started getting more and more worse in the Fall, Winter, Spring.

http://www.seattle.gov/html/weather_averages.htm

and

http://average-rainfall.findthebest.com/l/267/Seattle-Washington

Total annual rainfall is 36.15 inches, 918.21 mm...... Sure there are places in the USA and rest of the world that get more rainfall, but we get a constant day after day, week after week where there is a measureable small amount of precipitation daily.

Fri Apr 18, 2014 6:02 pm

Probably the humidity too...like here on the Chesapeake. It might only rain a little at a time, but it just never dries out. That's what feeds the rust. Plus around here it was the salt used on the roads for winter. When I had my '62 23 window in high school it was my daily driver. It was eight years from new and already developing cancer. My current deluxe will never see rain unless I get caught out in it, and never see salt again. Not super worried about sealing her up.

Sat Apr 19, 2014 8:24 am

Once you add silicone to anything you can pretty much kiss goodbye ever painting near that area forever.

Sat Apr 19, 2014 9:11 am

BarryL wrote: Once you add silicone to anything you can pretty much kiss goodbye ever painting near that area forever.

That is an idea that has stuck around since they used to call it silastic. Silicone is removeable. It is in knowing that it was there and that it needs to be removed properly to get proper paint adhesion.

I feel that the methods used in my experience of the windshield replacement, took enough care and preparation to avoid the over usage of silicone, yet enough to create a water tight seal.

more on silicone than anyone needs to know:
http://www.cemag.us/articles/2004/03/silicone-contamination-part-1
http://www.cemag.us/articles/2004/05/prevention-and-detection-silicone-contamination-part-2
http://www.cemag.us/articles/2004/06/silicone-contamination-part-3

The trichloro..... stuff, is brake cleens.

Not trying to argue, it was just a broad statement that, due to it's source, people will generally take as a valid truth.

Gordo.

Tue Apr 14, 2015 11:16 am

Has anyone installed these USA made seals?

http://www.cip1.ca/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=C16%2D211%2D121A

Are they junk or do they hold up? Thoughts on quality, installation?

Tue Apr 14, 2015 12:23 pm

"very good quality but do not have per-molded or formed corners, so the fit in the corners of the windows is not quite perfect" :wink:

Mon Jun 05, 2017 4:51 pm

I know this is an old thread, but I'm sure the challenge continues for many, so hopefully someone will have some advice . . .

I've read all kinds of stuff about putting the windshield (with the seal) into the bus . . . but nothing about just getting the seal ONTO the windshield. (Step 1)

I bought what was supposed to be a good quality "German Seal" from BD. I have found it very stiff and difficult to work with. Two of us fought and struggled with it for about an hour and a half, but could never get it stretched around the windshield! (And we ended up cracking the damn thing.)

I hired "Windshield Guru" to come out and install a new one right in my driveway for around $250 and figured my troubles were over, but they called back a few days later and said, "sorry we can't get it." Same story with Safelite, so now I'm back to trying to install a new one myself, and I'm dreading the wrestling match with that seal. I don't know if it's just the characteristics of that particular one - does anyone have any tips or tricks?

Mon Jun 05, 2017 5:38 pm

Sounds like you need to get a higher quality seal. Bay window right? Good rubber seals are easy to work with. (I put a new windshield in my bug last summer and was cursing the whole time, remembering how easy a pre-67 bus windshield is to do!) It helps if the seal is warm, let it sit in the sun for a bit, and on my bug windshield I used tape to hold it in places until it was sufficiently on all the way around.

Arthur