Fitting a windscreen

[paulbell6]

Hi all, does anyone have any advice on fitting the front windscreen please? I have trial fitted the new rubber but it seems to be too short, it looks like it could do with being a few inches longer - where have you heard that before? I currently have it in the garage dangling from the roof with a large weight on it to see if it will stretch. I assume that the rubber is fitted onto the metalwork before trying to fit the glass.
Any help would be appreciated.

Many thanks

Paul

[martin]

Hiya Paul, there seem to be two different windscreen rubbers in circulation, you seem to have the bad one, it's very unlikely you'll be able to stretch it. I had a broken screen fitted by Autoglass and they fitted the small one, I had to pay a proper fitter £50 to remove it and replace with the correct seal, which I bought from E J Ward. The trim goes onto the seal first, then the seal goes onto the glass, that's the way the pros do it. Personally, I'd rather pay a pukkha fitter to do it, it can become a nightmare. Martin.

[pilkie]

Hi Paul.

Whenever I have fitted a screen to a car,I have fitted the rubber to the screen,then with the aid of a length of strong string or similar inserted into the outer rubber channel fitted the assembly to the car.
Use a little lubricant on the seal to help it slip onto the screen surround lip,also if you have a mate pushing from the outside while you gently pull the string from the inside that helps.
You could always find a local fitter to pop it in for you for a bit of a drink!

Good luck.

[SGN]

Hi Paul

It's fitted to the screen first, mine seemed short. it will go around the screen but it's not fun to fit, I used duck tape to hold it in place, even when it's on the screen it tries to take the shortest distance across the curve at the top of the screen.
When you fit it to the car it's top first, not bottom as you would expect.
As Martin said, £50 to have it fitted is worth every penny.

Good luck

Steve

[grahamm]

Hi Paul,

Never done a Stag screen but did do an early Golf some years ago. I am sure other readers of this forum can add to my slender experience and comment further.

OK - seriously - rubber on glass first and then use pleanty of lubricant and string - bring on the jokes.

Details - fit rubber to screen. Ensure frame surround is sound and clean of rust etc. Offer screen with rubber up to window frame from the engine bonnet side and have some stout string/cord already in the grove of the rubber all the way around. Work rubber into lower surround with lubricant (I used washing up liquid but others recommend car wash detergent as it does not have salt in). Now use the string to 'pull in' the internal rubber to the inside of the car. This is tough going and will usually take at least two people - one outside and one inside. The air goes blue with swearing! Good to do on a warmer day so that rubber is softer.

If I can do it then anyone can - I am not usually so hands on!

Size - cannot help on that.
Graham

[new to this]

Hi Paul,

Never done a Stag screen but did do an early Golf some years ago. I am sure other readers of this forum can add to my slender experience and comment further.

OK - seriously - rubber on glass first and then use pleanty of lubricant and string - bring on the jokes.

Details - fit rubber to screen. Ensure frame surround is sound and clean of rust etc. Offer screen with rubber up to window frame from the engine bonnet side and have some stout string/cord already in the grove of the rubber all the way around. Work rubber into lower surround with lubricant (I used washing up liquid but others recommend car wash detergent as it does not have salt in). Now use the string to 'pull in' the internal rubber to the inside of the car. This is tough going and will usually take at least two people - one outside and one inside. The air goes blue with swearing! Good to do on a warmer day so that rubber is softer.

If I can do it then anyone can - I am not usually so hands on!

Size - cannot help on that.
Graham

when i fitted my screen i did it the same way

dave

[71Stag]

Hi Paul
speaking from painful experience pay a professional and I'm not talking the idiots at a certain national franchise they made quite a mess of my car, speak to the specialists and get a recommendation someone who knows about classics the stag screen is tricky
Bruce

[Guest]

Now I'm worried. I bought a new rubber last year from Rimmers and have yet to fit it. I now wonder whether it is the long or short one!

[paulbell6]

Hi Don, don't like to be the voice of doom but I got mine from Rimmer bros quite some years ago, so can't send it back, if I were you I would try and get your money back and get one from Wards as mentioned by Martin.
Thanks for all the advice guys, a new seal looks to be on the cards and some paid help from a windscreen fitter.
Paul

[StephenP]

Just had my screen fitted by two very experienced guys, boy did they curse trying to get screen in without the trim filcking out.I was going to do it myself but now realise it's NOT that simple. Not too bad a job it you are using the old rubber with trim already in place.
Steve

[Duncan Skye]

Hi Paul,

When fitting my screen, it was clear that the seal I had bought was too short. The natural 'lie' of the rubber seal indicated which way it went on, and no amount of stretching would help.

In desperation I thought of fitting the old seal again, and noticed the grooves that could take the glass were different depths. The natural lie of the rubber had misled both of us into thinking it went on the wrong way. So I turned it 'inside out' and it fitted perfectly. If I remember right, the wrong groove for the glass is shallower, possibly wider and might have a small lip inside it, the correct groove is the deeper of the two.

Perhaps worth checking you're not falling into the same trap as I did?

I hope that's of some help.

With best wishes,
Duncan, Skye.

[StagnJag]

I have no personal experience here, but isn't the general wisdom to use sealant in the grooves of the rubber as well as the screens otherwise have a tendancy to leak? I am sure I have heard that on here before.

Rgds

Dave

[martin]

I have no personal experience here, but isn't the general wisdom to use sealant in the grooves of the rubber as well as the screens otherwise have a tendancy to leak? I am sure I have heard that on here before.

Rgds

Dave

Absolutely Dave, sealant in the inner and outer channels in the rubber are essential ! messy, but it soon cleans up. Autoglass originally fitted mine with none, then ran some mastic round the outside edge of the rubber, within days my immobiliser had gone for a burton, half full of water. Martin.

[jleyton]

When I fitted my hardtop rear screen (somewhat easier than the windscreen, I know) I used Swarfega as a lubricant and it worked really well. However I didn't use any sealant, as sensibly suggested by Martin, and I suspect that, had I done so, it would all have got very messy

Cheers

Julian

[Dave M]

When I had my screen fitted 3 years ago I used a Paddocks screen rubber and it fitted perfectly. A year ago following a re paint I ordered another rubber from Paddocks, it fitted but was very tight and left big gaps in the corners so I cut it out and bought a rubber from Rimmers, again it was too tight so I took it back. I asked them to swop it for the longest one they had, the new one was at least a centimetre longer which made all the difference as the actress said to the bishop. The guy who fitted mine took over an hour just fitting the rubber and chrome strip to the screen, fitting the screen to the car was the easy bit. I have since been told that all the rubbers come from the same place, the Rimmers and Paddocks ones certainly do as they came in the same packaging, maybe the quality control needs improving at the manufacturers.