Remove and refit new rear screen

[WGB]

My rear screen has suffered from the usual 116 laminated screen delamination since I purchased it and it was one of those "must do sometime" jobs.



So courtesy of Tom Hansen at the Classic Centre a brand new screen (correct part number) duly arrived as previously posted - the hardest part was transporting it from my Surgery to home where it has sat in my study for several weeks attracting scorn and derision from "She who must be obeyed".



The rear reclining seat in my car is not easy to remove for one person so when my brother-in-law arrived for the New Year weekend he was press-ganged into assisting.

The chrome trim was removed - starting with the horizontal bottom piece and then followed by the two upper halfs - the lower trailing edge piece pulls directly backwards and the side pieces at right angles to the opening

The rear seat, upper rear headliner trim (sfter removing rear light) and both rear side C pillars panels were removed by puling directly forwards.

The interior trim at the base of the rear window is removed by releasing the blue plastic nuts in the boot under the parcel shelf - my 450 had four nuts but this car has a nut at either end and two bent metal clips in the central positions.

The rear Hand grips were removed, reading lights removed and then using a small hook the clip can be disengaged through the reading light aperture on each side and the side panels left loose around the rear window rubber.

The wiring on each side needs to be inbolted on the RH side (earthing point) and unplugged on the LH side (power supply)

Using a trim wedge we released the rubber lip on the top LH corner and putting constant force by the one on the inside and holding from outside the window comes out quite easily so long as the correct non-setting sealant has been used.

This leaves the lip covered in the old goo



and if you are lucky and have a relatively rust free car once the old goo is cleaned off with Kerosene you have a nice clean lip to apply the new window



You can also clearly see the trim clips that hold the chrome trim in place and the angle they face to allow removal with plastic wedge.



The clean opening is then attacked with fresh non-setting sealant



While at the same time the rubber is fitted to the glass with the channel prefilled with a lavish supply of non-setting sealant.

Holes need to be cut if a new rubber is fitted to allow the wires to pass through the rubber and the plastic insulation piece will need to be transferred over to the power wire which only comes supplied with the metal electrode .



After the seal is fitted a piece of nylon rope is fitted into the fitting lip - I used 3.5mm x 10m nylon rope which was lubricated with a wax candle.



The rope is wrapped completely around the channel and the ends overlapped in the centre of the bottom edge.



The window is then lifted and placed in the opening with as much of the bottom edge already fed into the aperture as possible - I have a pair of vacuum glass lifts but they are not really necessary if two people are doing the job.



With one persion pushing from the ouside and the other pulling on the string inside (being careful not to tear the soft rubber) the window magically seats itself relatively easily.



And another view with most of the excess gunk removed with kerosene and before the chrome is returned



It still needs to go off for it's tint film to be applied but here is a final pic so that TJ450 believes it really is a genuine M-B Sigla screen



Bill

[calvin streeting]

nice job.. also good to know rear trim can be removed without upseting rubber, as might pull mine of to see if any rust as getting wet rear boot wells...

many thanks

[Squiggle Dog]

Wow, you made it look easy. I didn't know that kerosene worked so well for cleaning off old sealant. What brand of seal did you use?

I recently attempted the job in a 1965 220S. The factory used a putty that had dried like concrete and it took a long time to remove. After that, I tried fitting a URO seal and I nearly broke the glass trying to get it to seat. Next I tried a Febi with similar results. Finally, we ordered one from Mercedes-Benz and wow, what a difference! The URO and Febi brand were much too fat and hard of rubber. The MB brand was thin and soft; much more flexible.

[koan]

Superb post Bill, great pictures and comments as usual.

Your old screen seems to have about  the same amount of damage as mine.

koan

[TJ 450]

I absolutely concur... It's a job done to the highest standard!

I bet it looks very sharp indeed.

Tim

[jbrasile]

Bill,

Nice work!!!

I have always been under the impression that these windows were installed "dry" without any sealant, was your rear window ever removed and re-installed in the past? I ask because when we did my 450SEL the installer used the non hardening putty both on the rear window and windshield. My thought has been that doing it like this would prevent the glass / seal assembly to sit properly on the body opening therefore causing leaks. I do have a tiny water ingress on the lower RH corner of the rear window and suspect a small leak at the lower LH corner of the windshield.

Agan congratulations on a job well done!

Tks,

Joe

[WGB]

Hi Joe,

The manual is very non-specific but it does say to use sealant between glass and rubber and rubber and spot welded opening but does not say how to use it.

My car was repainted about 4+ years ago and a new rubber was used at the time. The rubber was in perfect condition and the sealant was still reasonably fresh so I cleaned and used the old rubber even though I have a new one in my possession.

The new non-setting sealant was quite inexpensive and the thickness of it is quite light (really the same consistency as toothpaste) so it flows very well and definitely would not impede a tight fit but would be squeezed out of any tight spots.

Bill

[KenM]

Thanks for posting WGB, very informative and excellent work as usual. Looks fantastic and gives me inspiration to pull the finger out and do mine.
Cheers,

[bronzy935]

nice job.. also good to know rear trim can be removed without upsetting rubber, as might pull mine of to see if any rust as getting wet rear boot wells...

many thanks

After changing my screen rubbers it took me a while to correct this on my right boot well: turned out to be the grommet around the fuel filler pipe.

[oscar]

Great post WGB, very informative.  I had no idea chord is wrapped around the seal like that.  I used to think the rope was used in a sawing motion between inside and outside the car, sliding along as to fit the seal a bit at a time, but I thought one would risk damageing the seal that way.  But your method there of beding the rope right round makes so much more sense.  I'm assuming the same would go for the front screen too?  You've made it look easy and it does look fanatstic.

[hans]

Any recommendations on brand of non-setting sealant?  Applying it between glass and rubber makes sense since that's where I had water wicking through to the lower rear parcel shelf.

[WGB]

I used a Selley's product specifically made for rubber framed car windows.

The auto store had two varieties -
1) Setting - as is used for glued in modern windows and is an acrylic product
2) Non-setting - which is like a soft putty and is kerosene soluble.

The manual has a specific recommendation but definitely use teh non-setting type.
I'm sure 3M would have an equivalent as well but not as easy to find in Oz as Selleys.

Bill