Rear window rubber seal

[Fraze]

Is there any other manufacturer of rear window seals for FE FC special sedan, other than Rare Spares? The rear seal in my FC was very "cacky" so I bought a Rare Spares seal and had a windscreen specialist (try) to do the changeover - disaster!!! The deco trim will not stay in place - it is not hooking into its groove in the rubber properly and keeps popping out all over the place. The deco trim is not damaged, it is the seal at fault. The fitter I had try to do the job has 20+ years experience and has done early Holdens before, he did a new seal for my front screen no problem. Or maybe there is a special technique? Thanks, Fraze

[mcl1959]

Have you raised the issue with Rares?
I've done plenty of these with no problems at all. Maybe your rubber is faulty. If it is faulty then it will be replaced.
On one car I did I found the screen was faulty. It was too short top to bottom which caused the rubber to not sit properly up to the body.
I got another screen and the rubber then fitted perfectly.

Ken

[Fraze]

This all only happened yesterday, but I will take the seal back to Rares in the morning. The rear glass and the deco moulds are the originals off the car. I decided that I would change the seal because the original was old, weathered and cracked. The new seal from Rares must be incorrect dimensionaly. I can fit the deco onto the loose  seal rubber ok but as soon as the seal is fitted to the glass it must stretch a little because the "hook" on the deco doesn't reach the groove in the seal. If I apply a great deal of compression i can get the hook to engage but as soon as the compression is released the deco just pops right out. What I am scared about now is that other seals in stock at Rares will be the same and I will be left with no seal/no rear window AND a hefty bill as I have to pay the windscreen fitter, and he has already spent 5 hours on it!!! Not feeling good about this at all, Fraze

[mcl1959]

That definitely sounds wrong. Let us know how you get on talking to Rares.

Ken

[fcwrangler]

Fraze, I fit Autoglass for a living, and fitted a front and rear screen for a customer last week. The main things that need to be done are, make sure the moulds are clean from all dirt and old sealer, you then need to spray the moulds and rubber with WD40 or similar so the moulds will slip into the groove and under the screen. There is still a problem with the rubber staying on the screen you need an extra pair of hands to hold everything in place until the moulds are in place.
Hope this will help.
Regards,
Jim

[fcwrangler]

I just reread your post, you need to fit the rubber to the screen first then fit the moulds into the rubber.
Jim

[Fraze]

Thanks for your comments Jim. The deco moulds are in excellent condition and clean, and I am aware that the seal needs to be on the glass prior to fitting the deco mould. I tried the deco on the seal when the seal was not on the glass when trying to understand what was going on. Keeping the seal on the glass whilst fitting the deco moulds is tricky but I used lots of masking tape to hold it all in place and that worked.
And Ken, I will advise how I get on with Rares and a replacement seal on Monday. Fraze

[Fraze]

Well, I went to Rare Spares this morning and explained the problem. They looked up their records and said that they had sold 12 of these seals since December with no returns. However they took back my seal without quibble and gave me another one. The really are a good company to deal with. The new seal has the same batch number as the first one. I have just struggled for 2 hours and this seal is much better, and I have it about 85% right, The ends stay in ok but the top- and bottom runs don't want to stay in. The problem now seems to be that the seal wants to curl inwards and disengages the hook in the deco mould. The only way I can see around that is to fit the whole thing to the body so that the seal adopts its correct shape and to allow me push the deco mould in the final millimeter. Here's hoping!!!!
Before I try to fit the screen I am going to leave it sit for a few days hoping that it will settle. Wait for the next installment! Cheers, Fraze.

[mcl1959]

Fraze, there's a benefit to be gained by letting the seal sit stretched on the glass for some time to help it retain the shape. Sitting outside in the hot sun for a few days is very good.

Ken

[ekute]

Fraze,
I had a rares seal which I set up on the screen for weeks before installing with the trim in place. I used rubber magic liberally and taped the rubber in place with blue masking tape. I think I might've put the joiners in place also. Although the screen didn't go in easily it did fit well enough.


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[Fraze]

OK, next installment! After leaving the screen sit for a few days with the deco mould fitted and taped into place (50mm masking tape) this morning was D day - time for fitting to the car. I enlisted the help of a friend. When the masking tape was removed we were disappointed to see that the deco came out of its groove again on the upper and lower runs but the two ends and the corners stayed in place. We decided to go ahead and fit the screen to the car anyway. That was the easy bit. We pushed and shoved on the parts of the deco mould that had come out but after seeming to go in they gradually "oozed" out again. We then realised that the rubber is so soft that pushing on the deco mould was causing the rubber to deflect and the hook on the deco mould still wasn't engaging properly. With one person inside the car using a piece of wood to hold the rubber whilst the other person pushing on the deco mould on the outside it finally hooked in and so far has held in place. We only did the bottom run, preferring to let the whole thing stabilise, and will do the top run (only about 1/3 of the deco mould, in the centre, has come out) in another few days using the same technique as we did for the bottom run.
Conclusions:
1. The first rubber seal I had was probably cut a bit short and required quite a stretch to get onto the glass. That stretch was causing the seal to deform. The second seal slipped onto the glass more easily.
2. We think that the seal rubber is too soft. My friend and I have quite a bit of of experience fitting front and rear glass to another make of car which has a similar set up to the Holden and we noticed that the seal for that car is much harder (maybe 30 to 40% at a guess) which makes it much less liable to deform  and holds the deco mould more firmly.
Thats my two bobs worth! Cheers, Fraze