Has anyone removed a rear window from a hardtop??

lightyear · Postby **lightyear** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:22 pm

I have to take out the glass window and it doesn't look like a fun job. Has anyone done it before???

Jeo · Postby **Jeo** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:21 pm

Took me and a mate all of about 10 minutes, but thaty have been because we didn't care about the seal.

All we did was unscrew the nuts holding it in place and go to town with a sharpe knife.

bruce · Postby **bruce** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:55 pm

Wonder if you could 'Peter Brock' it and kick it out?

lightyear · Postby **lightyear** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 7:22 am

Jeo wrote:Took me and a mate all of about 10 minutes, but thaty have been because we didn't care about the seal.

All we did was unscrew the nuts holding it in place and go to town with a sharpe knife.

That's what i was going to do. I thought there might be a more delicate way.

bruce · Postby **bruce** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 10:30 am

Would the glass guys use a bit of wire to cut their way around?
Is there an actual removable rubber seal, or just black silicone gunk?

pcmx5 · Postby **pcmx5** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 4:38 pm

When I got a hardtop resprayed the painter got a windscreen mob to do the job of refitting and they used a new seal, reckoned you couldn't depend on a reused one.

If that's the case using a knife and stuffing the seal to get the screen out isn't a problem but if the painter used someone with more expertise it may suggest that the refit is the hard part.

Peter

Jeo · Postby **Jeo** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 11:02 am

It's an actual seal, not just black gunk.

I paid $150ish for a whole complete set of four new seals from Mazda (hardtop to car, backa nd side windows)

TieNN89 · Postby **TieNN89** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 11:56 pm

bruce wrote:Would the glass guys use a bit of wire to cut their way around?

that bit of wire is piano wire so i'm told

lowmiata · Postby **lowmiata** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:57 pm

If your replacing the seal don't bother with the mazda one its to much $$ for what it is

a standard VN/VR/VS commodore moulding actually looks alot better and fits smoother with the window/hard top

and you woult roughly spend 45 bucks on the seal from mazda vs under 10 bucks from a window mob!

Same goes for the front winshield!
Much cheaper and nicer look going with universal mouldings

but alot of that has to do with mazda pricing! :evil:

lightyear · Postby **lightyear** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 5:40 pm

Thanks for the tip. I will need a new mould when i put the window back in.

Sean · Postby **Sean** » Sun Jul 01, 2012 12:32 am

Guys, after some advice on this.

Is there two seals or just one? i.e: I've been told there is an internal and external seal.

Just had my car repainted and have the external seal but there appears to be absolutely no way the seal will fit into the hardtop.

I'm guessing that it's just sikaflexed in and they've neglected to fit the rubber before refitting the window, or just cut the old rubber off and taped up the window?

So the questions after all of that...

Is there two rubbers/seals?

Can you fit the external window to hardtop rubber without removing the window?

Sean · Postby **Sean** » Sun Jul 01, 2012 2:56 am

So a 1:30am SMS confirms that it appears they've sliced or torn the old rubber off and taped the window up, which means the window has to come out properly, the remnants of the old rubber be removed and the window be re stuck with the new rubber.

Apparently not as simple of a job as some as the threads here suggest.