Leaky saloons - rear window trim clips. How to remove trim?

[Rp61973]

Originally Posted by marinabrian

Yes, it's fairly poor design indeed Simon, I can't for the life of me understand why they didn't simply carry on the same method of attaching the clips as they did for the side and top

Still you can see why people struggle to seal those clips........you can just see the design brief now, the same person seems to have been involved elsewhere too

Would this have been to ensure the glass was supported whilst tjhe bonding compound was going off, i.e. the weight of the screen wasn't relying on clips that were bonded on themselves?

[marinabrian]

Originally Posted by Rp61973

Would this have been to ensure the glass was supported whilst tjhe bonding compound was going off, i.e. the weight of the screen wasn't relying on clips that were bonded on themselves?

Not really, although the screen is supported by the lower clips during fitting, if you look at the way the clips are attached to the side and top, there would have been no problem in employing clips of that type, even if it meant there were two pins in the body to each clip to prevent them from rotating around a single pin.

It's a great money saving idea, and a fabulous design brief......not,

In with the service history of my own car are no fewer than five separate invoices from four different garages over a period of three years, beginning when the car was two years old, where an unsuccessful attempt on each occasion to cure boot leaks were made.

This isn't a fault with the garages involved, but the design, how many times have we seen countless threads on here regarding leaks? and the assortment of different approaches made in an attempt to repair them?

Rubbish bit of design.

Brian

[Rp61973]

Originally Posted by marinabrian

Not really, although the screen is supported by the lower clips during fitting, if you look at the way the clips are attached to the side and top, there would have been no problem in employing clips of that type, even if it meant there were two pins in the body to each clip to prevent them from rotating around a single pin.

It's a great money saving idea, and a fabulous design brief......not,

In with the service history of my own car are no fewer than five separate invoices from four different garages over a period of three years, beginning when the car was two years old, where an unsuccessful attempt on each occasion to cure boot leaks were made.

This isn't a fault with the garages involved, but the design, how many times have we seen countless threads on here regarding leaks? and the assortment of different approaches made in an attempt to repair them?

Rubbish bit of design.

Brian

I confess I haven't checked mine for watertightness. Truth be told they are probably letting by. I will need to change the rear screen trim at some point as it is lifting at the bottom, with 2" of curling rubber at the bottom, either side of the joint. Looks hideous.

A job for "another day".

[Blink]

Originally Posted by marinabrian

... I can't for the life of me understand why they didn't simply carry on the same method of attaching the clips as they did for the side and top

Neither can I.

A. The sensible method:



B. The downright stupid method:



Hmm, which to choose. MGR went for option B because they had a specialist department whose sole task was to build in the maximum amount of trouble for owners. (Swear filter, swear filter, swear filter. )

Originally Posted by Rp61973

I confess I haven't checked mine for watertightness. Truth be told they are probably letting by. I will need to change the rear screen trim at some point as it is lifting at the bottom, with 2" of curling rubber at the bottom, either side of the joint. Looks hideous.

If you drill out the plastic pins watch out with the 2nd & 7th from the left (the two clips with white rubbers) - the glass sticks out further in both places and there's a higher risk of clouting it with the spinning drill chuck.

This is the LH side of mine - you can see two distinct bulges.



I had a close shave with the bulges but managed to get all eight clips out without damaging the screen. Phew!



I bought the aluminium tape yesterday but forgot to order the paint stuff (primer, touch-up and artist's brush). Not much chance of getting hold of them this week now. Drat.

[Blink]

PS. The eight square holes are approx 7.3mm across (apart from the one I enlarged slightly with the drill ).

[Blink]

Originally Posted by marinabrian

.... ensuring the tape is longer than the length of the clip.

Brian - how much aluminium tape did you leave either side of the clip? The clips are 50mm long so I was thinking having another 15mm of tape on each side.

Btw, I bought the 12mm 3M tape on fleabay. There's a 19mm version too (and others**) - specs are on RS website:

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/products/1757791/
https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/products/1757785/

** NB. Steer clear of this one .

[Blink]

The 12mm tape is now on. I've used double strips because some of the first strips are perilously close to the holes. In hindsight I think 19mm tape would have been a lot easier to position.



I still don't like the look of this factory mistake - I can't tell if the screen is sealed properly here or not. Maybe I should run a bead of sealant all the way along the bottom edge of the glass?

[marinabrian]

Originally Posted by Blink

The 12mm tape is now on. I've used double strips because some of the first strips are perilously close to the holes. In hindsight I think 19mm tape would have been a lot easier to position.



I still don't like the look of this factory mistake - I can't tell if the screen is sealed properly here or not. Maybe I should run a bead of sealant all the way along the bottom edge of the glass?

Sorry I didn't spot this earlier Simon, I wouldn't worry about the squidged out adhesive, when you run a bead of this goo using a powered mastic gun, it's common to overshoot at the join

You are in an ideal position to test the water tightness at this point, prior to installing the trim, so time to get the hosepipe out

Brian

[Blink]

Originally Posted by marinabrian

Sorry I didn't spot this earlier Simon, I wouldn't worry about the squidged out adhesive, when you run a bead of this goo using a powered mastic gun, it's common to overshoot at the join

You are in an ideal position to test the water tightness at this point, prior to installing the trim, so time to get the hosepipe out

Brian

I've investigated the squidged out seal area with a powerful narrow beam torch and I can't see an air gap. I also tried probing along the edges of it with a piece of binding cover (0.17mm thick clear plastic sheet) and couldn't detect any space between the black stuff and the glass. I'll do a water test on the taped holes when the paint has had time to dry properly.

Meanwhile, I'm wondering whether the two 'spacer' clips on DCD107701PMA are the cause of boot lids hitting the rubber as they're opened/closed. All clips are secured to the body except these two.

Here's the RH spacer on a new DCD107701PMA.



And here's the RH corner of my boot lid where it's been colliding with the rubber. The paint has worn off over time (the black stuff is rust killer).






So the question is: if the spacer was glued to the body where arrowed, would it solve the problem with the boot lid rubbing?

[Blink]

PS. Interesting post #1 here.