Best Way to Fit Windscreen? Techniques Wanted!!!
Turbo Mini Forums

As the title, i need to take teh screen out to sort some rust on the scuttle (again) and last time I put the screen back in it was a right ballache and took me and my mate ages to do!!

The method we used was to get the rubber soft, then put soapy water around the metal lip, then push the rubber onto the lip all the way round. We put a bit of string inside the rubber seal and put half the screen in one end, then gradually tried working round pulling the two ends of string to pull the rubber round the lip. Only thig was we got about 1/10th the way round and the string snapped. So used a small end of a toothbrush the rest of the way.

Anyone else got a better technique of doing this? Im not looking forward to arseing about with it for ages again!!

Also, ive got some rubber fillet strip, any ideas how to do that aswell??

Cheers guys

Happy Noo Year!

Rich

Just get a local auto screen fitter in, only costs about £15 - £20 for the a full car.. Job done, no grief.

i put the rubber on the screen then inserted the string in the groove and pressed the screen against the opening. then you just pull on the string gently from the inside while a mate presses against the screen real hard from the outside.
heat the rubber up in a bucket of boiling water beforehand though to make soft and more pliable. had no probs at all doing it that way

but the fillet strip was a nightmare and a half without the proper tool
ended up using this massive screwdriver to spread the rubber and put the strip in

Edited by El Potter on 31st Dec, 2007.

Warning:Stig in Training

Fitting the screen to the car is easy, it is the fillet strip that is the tricky bit, to be honest either buy the proper tool (its not that dear) or get a mobile screen fitter in to do it. Nothing worse than it taking you forever arsing about with a screwdriver, especially if you slip and gouge the paintwork.

Must admit, I've used same method as El Potter. Strong string or wire in the groove. As you pull the string/wire and get a mate to press firmly from the outside. Abit of sillicone sealant helps too prior to fitting.

Edited by Jason G on 31st Dec, 2007.

put the rubber in place first, then put the window in, to the bottom first, work up the sides with a screwdriver, then across the top.
can help with some washing up liquid.
basically your trying to tease the rubber over the edge of the window.
once in either buy the tool for the fillet, or bend a bit of coat hand into a v then work round the gap.
quite easy after a few times.

the way to do it is.. fit rubber in first then lube rubber with washing liquid, then fit screen in btm and tease screen in with screwdriver doing 2" at a time each side .... plenty of lube needed

Edited by Turbo Tel on 31st Dec, 2007.

website:- http://www.terryhunt.co.uk

Frost or similar will sell the proper tool for the chrome strip. And it will be worth every penny !

9.85 @ 145mph
202mph standing mile
speed didn't kill me, but taxation probably will

Hmm thanks alot guys! I will try and use the fit rubber to panel, put screen in bottom method and if not get some decent string or something of the sort and try the other way!!

I didnt go for the chrome strip which is quite hard, i got the black rubber type which i think looks better, sposed to be able to fit easier too but will see how it goes!

All else fails i ll get a screen fitter round!!

Rich

the string method rich will not work buddy

trust me

Been thinking HARD about this as I need to do it again..

Cord worked fine for me.. I did both front and rear windows the same way. But now I think of it I worked it from the outside of the car not the inside as I stated in the last post. It was the side windows that went in easier if you worked from the inside and they went in with the rubber on the glass and lipping to the frame.

Rubber in the frame, cord in the rubber slot where the windscreen fits with ends at bottom, use more than enough to go right round the screen. soap it all up then drop the glass in the seal on top of the cord at the bottom .
The cord will not stay in the lip all the way round the screen, no way, you just have to keep feeding it in just above where you are working and keep hold of it there, you cant just yank on both ends.
Very hard to describe but lets say working the bottom left corner I would hold the cord at the top left corner and pull the cord out from the bottom of the screen up around the corner, then stop just around the corner before I pull it all out and re-insert the cord ready for the top left corner. I would then go do the bottom right corner.

The corners are worst, use the paint tin opener to help lip it (the hook end of a paint tin opener means you are pulling away from the bodywork, theres probably a proper tool!) and shove the glass into the car as you do it. The gap left by the missing locking strip gives some extra flex, thats the point of it. Once the two bottom corners are in, seat the windscreen down into the rubber as much as possible before attempting the top corners.

You will probably end up with a big loop at the top of the screen, it can always be pulled out as you lip the top.

Edited by Turbo Tel on 31st Dec, 2007.

website:- http://www.terryhunt.co.uk

I bought a fillet tool for the strip last time i put a screen in, with a nice plastic screwdriver to pick out stubborn pieces of rubber and liberal wd40 to lubricate helped for me.

don't forget to put some silicone around to seal it up

why wont it work BENROSS?

Warning:Stig in Training

Hi,
The string way is the way I was taught to do it. When I say string I don't mean the stuff you tie parcels with, the small blue nylon rope is the stuff
You put the rubber on the glass and the string round the outside.
Over lap the string by a foot at the bottom (middle) put the bottom edge of the rubber in the frame.
Now while pushing the assy in torwards the frame, pull the string.
The direction you pull the string is the critical bit. Pull the string not towards you but across the screen.
So across the bottom pull the string up, on the N/S pull the string to the right, etc.
If your rubber is old and rock hard nothing will get it in, other than 3 hours with a big screwdriver!
Cheers,
Gavin :)

Edited by Bat on 1st Jan, 2008.

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Because of the type of rubber that its set in it makes the string method pointlessly hard. if you have a shoe horn or something of the like, about 1" wide, quite flat but pretty strong then do it this way. its pretty easy.

1: get the rubber onto the metal lip.

2: slide the glass in so as that its goes into the bottom of the rubber seal but leave it just shy of one of the sides. i.e if your pushing it in for the passengers leave it so as that it comes to where it starts to push against the rubber in the bottom corner of the passenger side.

3: put the "shoe horn" type thingy that you have inbetween the glass and the rubber and as you work the rubber in the bottom corner of the drivers side to come up around the glass you need to push the glass over in that direction.

4: once that corner is in do the same on the other side and then do as steve says and go about 2" at a time on the rest of the screen.

make sure you use lots of lube but DO NOT USE WASHING UP LIQUID! as it eats the rubber! use glass cleaner and sprays a fair amount into the rubber as you do it.

when it comes to the insert, i would say buy the right tool because once you have that its easy. or what you could do is get an old plastic handled screwdriver and melt out the metal shaft and then get a metal coat hanger and bend that into the correct shape and then glue that into the plastic handle

again for the insert use lots of glass cleaner and hold the tool below 45 degrees (preferable with the handle touching the rubber after the "eye" has put the strip into place to make sure strip is properly seated in the rubber) and push forward. on the corners you will want to wiggle it a little bit side to side to make it easier.


hope that helps.

James, ( the garage i work at has a sister company that operates from the same place and its a glass fitting company )

Edited by James_H on 1st Jan, 2008.

the string way can work, but imo is the hard way.
i like to fit the rubber to the car, then fit the screen carefully flickng the the rubber over. then wd40 for fitting the fillet srip. defo buy the tool i struggled for years with out one and its not worth it. i think ive got a 7 quid one works perfectly.

one thing to be careful of is chips from glass. always wear goggles.

no longer a series, but still 1.3 turbo.

Back once again like a renegade master

i agree the string way does work, but it is no doubt about it the hard way round. because of the type of rubber its in its easier to do the hitchin??(something like that!) method. the string method is best suited to windows that dont have a filler strip in the rubber such as the windows in the side of the majority of minibuses.

I just used very heavy fishing line.

9.85 @ 145mph
202mph standing mile
speed didn't kill me, but taxation probably will

website:- http://www.terryhunt.co.uk

Washing up liquid has salt in it doesnt it?

I would never use it especially somewhere where it will get trapped and possibly rust away you're hard work.

I always got told not to use washing up liquid to wash cars because of its salt content, maybe it was washing up liquids of old though