Door-top window seals - where to get?
Discussion
My door top window seals are looking a bit past their best. There's obviously a metallic component to them, and it's rusting away, causing the appearance of blisters on the upward facing visible surface. Anybody know where I can get some more (presumably it's bought by the metre and then just cut to suit) ?
Have similar problem with window seals on my S1. Have got a price of about £55 each! for the Lotus part from main dealers and found some explaination in the full manual including removing inside of door and windows. Anyone got any tips on doing the job or cheaper sources (nothing available from Elise Parts).
Oops, I left a few details out there. Mine's an S1 also, and I too tried Elise Parts as my first port of call.
This place looks like they might be worth further investigation.
Or maybe here
£5 per metre sound a whole lot more reasonable to me. £55 is pie-in-the-sky.
This place looks like they might be worth further investigation.
Or maybe here
£5 per metre sound a whole lot more reasonable to me. £55 is pie-in-the-sky.
Edited by azure-blue on Sunday 4th May 18:04
My window seals were looking very out of shape and so I bought new ones from Bell and Colvill. They were expensive but it had to be done. I tried to fit them this afternoon and found that I needed to remove the window to get the clips on from the inside of the door. Without really trying, the window glass just lifted out and I have no idea how to glue it back in. Help!
The S1 glass is held on to the lift mechanism by 3 10mm nylock nuts.There is 3 plastic clips that are bonded on to the glass, as per the picture below.
To change the trim strip,the manual says to remove the glass as follows :
1, Remove the door release handle cover 2 screws and remove cover.
2, Remove the 3 screws holding the door release mechanism from the door
3, Unclip to door release rod from the doorand from the door relase mechanism
4, Remove window winder.
5, Remove inner door trim panel 7 plastic screws ( Halfords sell the exact same parts if needed ).
6, You can now gain access to the 3 10mm nylock nuts. Remove these and lower the glass down into the door - don't let it drop as you remove the 3 nuts !
7, Remove inner seal first which is simply a push fit seal.
8, You can now reach the 10 'U' clips holding the outer waist seal,remove these and you can then remove the seal.The outer edge is bonded to the door,so may need cutting.
One of the 3 bonded on brackets
What was left of the passenger side seal with a couple of the 'U' trim clips still in place.
To change the trim strip,the manual says to remove the glass as follows :
1, Remove the door release handle cover 2 screws and remove cover.
2, Remove the 3 screws holding the door release mechanism from the door
3, Unclip to door release rod from the doorand from the door relase mechanism
4, Remove window winder.
5, Remove inner door trim panel 7 plastic screws ( Halfords sell the exact same parts if needed ).
6, You can now gain access to the 3 10mm nylock nuts. Remove these and lower the glass down into the door - don't let it drop as you remove the 3 nuts !
7, Remove inner seal first which is simply a push fit seal.
8, You can now reach the 10 'U' clips holding the outer waist seal,remove these and you can then remove the seal.The outer edge is bonded to the door,so may need cutting.
One of the 3 bonded on brackets
What was left of the passenger side seal with a couple of the 'U' trim clips still in place.
Edited by Mr_B on Monday 5th May 00:58
The 3 bonded window brackets ( stud carriers as Lotus calls them ) were perfect on the passenger side, ( just about to go out and do the drivers side ) so I didn't need to do anything.
The factory manual says to clean the glass surface with Betaclean 3900 (part# A100B6008 )and then use Permabond Initiator INI5 ( A000Z0043F ) and Permabond Flexon F246 ( B089B6125V ). Make sure the stud carriers align with the lift bracket and leave to cure overnight be re-assembling.
The 10 'U' clips will hold the outer strip in place without a problem. My view is the bonding is more for water proofing the door than holding the seal in position.It would be possible to add some sealent at a later date by lifting the seal,but this wouldn't be as perfect a job as doing when attaching the seal.
The factory manual says to clean the glass surface with Betaclean 3900 (part# A100B6008 )and then use Permabond Initiator INI5 ( A000Z0043F ) and Permabond Flexon F246 ( B089B6125V ). Make sure the stud carriers align with the lift bracket and leave to cure overnight be re-assembling.
The 10 'U' clips will hold the outer strip in place without a problem. My view is the bonding is more for water proofing the door than holding the seal in position.It would be possible to add some sealent at a later date by lifting the seal,but this wouldn't be as perfect a job as doing when attaching the seal.
Mr_B said:
The 3 bonded window brackets ( stud carriers as Lotus calls them ) were perfect on the passenger side, ( just about to go out and do the drivers side ) so I didn't need to do anything.
The factory manual says to clean the glass surface with Betaclean 3900 (part# A100B6008 )and then use Permabond Initiator INI5 ( A000Z0043F ) and Permabond Flexon F246 ( B089B6125V ). Make sure the stud carriers align with the lift bracket and leave to cure overnight be re-assembling.
The 10 'U' clips will hold the outer strip in place without a problem. My view is the bonding is more for water proofing the door than holding the seal in position.It would be possible to add some sealent at a later date by lifting the seal,but this wouldn't be as perfect a job as doing when attaching the seal.
Re: Stud carriers.The factory manual says to clean the glass surface with Betaclean 3900 (part# A100B6008 )and then use Permabond Initiator INI5 ( A000Z0043F ) and Permabond Flexon F246 ( B089B6125V ). Make sure the stud carriers align with the lift bracket and leave to cure overnight be re-assembling.
The 10 'U' clips will hold the outer strip in place without a problem. My view is the bonding is more for water proofing the door than holding the seal in position.It would be possible to add some sealent at a later date by lifting the seal,but this wouldn't be as perfect a job as doing when attaching the seal.
This happens a lot on Rover and Nissan cars. I find that drilling a hole through the plastic and countersinking it slightly will give the glue (I use polyurenthane) somewhere to ooze out from as the clamp in pushed over the glass. Once it oozes out, smooth over with a spatula and you have a carrier that will never come off the glass again.
Glassman said:
Any chance of a picture guys? I'll see what I can find.
This is the best view I can get without taking it off, and I don't really want to do that until I've got something to replace it with.
What's not very clear from that pic is that there's also a section that extends down inside the door (close to vertical in the pic), it's just that the end is trimmed to fit around the door.
Mr_B said:
Glassman - can you recommend a bonding agent that I can get from B&Q that will hold one stud carrier, please ? One of the three has broken away from the glass.
There are various two-part bonding agents available, but TBH, the one thing that has never failed me:Polyurethane.
Sika is what I use. The glass (and carrier) will need to be cleaned and cleaned again. Once more to make sure (do this correctly and it will be the only time). As I've mentioned earlier, I like to drill a hole all the way through - and countersink both sides for good measure. The glass and carrier will need to be treated with an adhesion promoter (either primer or activator for the primerless) and the rest is pretty much geting a good purchase between the glass/carrier/urethane sandwich... and obvioulsy.. the right position.
My advice would be to get everything ready and tap one of your local windscreen replacement companies. Alternatively, there are bonding kits available on ebay, but they're too expensive for what they are. I'd send you a tube but the problem is, we use a foil-packed sausage form which requires an adapted dispenser.
I imagine this is just something you're best of paying a specialist to sort out properly. Having re-glued an S1 window back in place once, I don't think I'd bother doing it again as I don't have the room to do it properly and leave the window out while it all dries etc.
It's a royal PITA to do.
It's a royal PITA to do.
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