My rear screen was leaking between seal and body, both lower corners. New seal, cleaning up of body incl. a wee bit of welding then painting. Laid a thin layer of butyl on the body edge and let it skin/semi harden overnight. Put glass and seal back, and ....... still leaking. Although I couldn't get the screen to seat fully home along the top the seal seated fully all around. (Used rubber mallet, block of wood etc etc but no go. I think PO may have welded a bit before me and made lower corners a bit shallow by the look of it.) I have come to the point where I as a stop gap solution have applied butyl along the seal both toward body and toward glass all around, hoping that this winter will be dry (on the inside)
Any good tips on replacing (again) come spring? As an aside, it is obvious that the glass (original by all accounts) and body do not match too well. Body is a bit too wide compared to glass and lower curve flatter compared to glass.

 

The rear screen, IMO, is just about impossible to seal unless you do the following:

Get black bitumastic sealing stuff and an applicator gun and go right round the outside of the screen including along the bottom, and put a thick layer of sealer between the bodywork and the chrome surround. Effectively putting this layer on top of whatever ruuber is there. Push it into place with a finger running round the bead. The get a rag with white spirit on it and wipe it round the chrome and the paintwork to clear up the mess on the chrome and bodywork so it looks OK.

That way no water can even get near the rubber seal which will and has always leaked! Repeat every few years if the bitumastic sealer starts to look a bit tired.

 

Thanks Greg, didn't know it was recognised as a universal weak point. So my stop gap solution will be the permanent one then.

All this reminds me of a definition we used for "water proof instrument boxes": Water would get in but not out again.


A friend of mine had a TVR in the 80'ies which leaked badly at the rear glass hatch. Being glass fible the boot held the water securely, and looking down into the boot ..........
..... we concluded he was driving the worlds fastest aquarium!

 

Did the same on mine. But, painstakingly taped off both the chrome and the body, applied the black silicone caulk, rubbed with my finger and removed the tape (carefully) and boom, done. Also sunk the window into CLEAR silicone that I put into the rubber seal and wiped thoroughly. Bud

 

Mine was sealed with PU silicone, the stuff used to seal bonded windscreens. Not a drop of water was found anywhere in the rear of the car.

It did make removing the rear screen a PITA I had to cut the seal out. I will installing the all windows this way when they go back in after paint.