I replaced all my door seals, but still need to change the ones on my front and rear windshield. Thats probobly a job that I would have a professional do, but everyone refuses! They say that the glass will break if they try to remove it! Whats a guy to do?

What they should say is the glass might break when they do the job. In that case, you bought new glass. My glass tech is never defeated until the glass breaks. I think they just don't want to do the job.

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95 SL500 Smoke Silver, Parchment 64K
07 E350 4matic Station Wagon White 34K
02 E320 4Matic Silver/grey 80K
05 F150 Silver 44K

If I were in the business of replacing glass, I wouldn't take the chance.

Have you tried a body shop?

Sixto
95 S420
87 300SDL

Make sure you have comprehensive coverage with your insurance company that covers glass. Lower your deductible to 100$ for comprehensive claims (unless your insurance company has no deductible for glass replacement, call them or review your policy to find out).

Then, park your car under some trees, and wait for a storm. When you get some stormy weather, if no branches fall out of the trees and break your windows, go out and break them yourself. Be careful!

Call the insurance company and file a claim, tell them that the storm shook branches out and broke your windows. They'll give you a claim number, which you take to the glass replacement company of your choice. They'll give you new glass, and install new gaskets (check with them to make sure they'll install new gaskets, but they usually do). If you can, pick a place with MB experience.

Then pay your 100$ deductible, and enjoy your new gaskets and windows.

Thats what happened to me, only the storm really did break the glass. But honestly, if I had broken it, no one would have been the wiser.

Peace,
Sam

__________________
"That f***in' biodiesel is makin' me hungry."

1982 300TD Astral Silver w/ 250k (BIO BNZ)
2001 Aprilia SR50 Corsa Red w/ 5.5k (>100 MPG)

Jason,
i talked to Dianna at glass planet 259 5450. they said they will check to see if they can get a gasket in the morning. if you call them after 9, they can check. they won't guarantee the glass won't break. i did the same thing with my old 57 when it was leaking years ago.
robert

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Current money-pits:
96 Passat TDI
78 300D 100k miles(60miles/day)FOR SALE
91 Jetta Diesel 250k miles (80miles/day)
82 Toyota Diesel pickup 150k miles; out of service for a little while with a valve problem.
All on BelenBioDiesel
Past diesels:
01 Golf TDI
81 Isuzu P/U
85 Jetta
89 KW 425 cat
85 Pete 400 cat (currently still running the west coast with over 1.5 million miles)
81 KW 400 Cummins
77 Freightliner CO ???? Cummins (Buttercup)
57 180D lots of miles(gone but not forgotten)

There are some really good threads in the archives about Forum Members doing this themselve... and I don't remember anyone saying they broke their glass.... maybe I did not see it...and I did not take mine out... I chickened out after looking at the metal trim around it.... so I used Black Silicone around the rear and it worked great... cost about $20 for two tubes of the caulk... and no worry about breaking the glass...

I hope they don't sell you an aftermarket seal. There IS a difference. I have one on my W115 and it doesn't fit at one upper corner. The rear was changed using a pro and I supplied him an OE seal (from the dealer). He refused to use an aftermarket seal because of such poor fit.
Note! There is no sealing compound necessary with these gaskets. Using any sealant is only recommended because some safety official somewhere (in the State of Calif perhaps?) decided that the front seal should be glued on with an acrylic cement to prevent the whole window from coming out in the event a passenger (or the driver) wasn't wearing seat belts and hit the window with their head in a crash. That was what a window glass place told me, it was their policy from which they could not deviate due to "legal requirements".
I asked an indy installer about that and he said sealant of any kind (RTV on the outside included) makes any future R&R much more difficult should another glass need to be installed someday. So I let him do his thing w/o any adhesive, he didn't have to follow some corporate orders anyhow. YMMV

What I know for certain is that if the installer is experienced he won't generally break a glass, maybe rarely if there is fatigue in an old window glass it can fail so they will remind you that they only warrant a new window glass installation, replacing seals is at the owners risk.

An installer that has to hit on the window to get the last corner inserted is the kind of person you don't want (I witnessed such an event once, not on my car thankfully!)
Modern windows where you squirt RTV around (new glass comes with it already in place) and press it down and the job is done is the norm. Almost anyone can do that. Roping an MB window seal is something that has to be learned thru experience.
Good luck, let us know what the NM glass place does.

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'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!

Anyone ever installed the front and rear windows in a old VW bug? Damn that can be tricky. For seating the rear window after putting it in, you smack it with the palm of your hand to "pop" it in the rest of the way.

The front window is very hit and miss too...tricky. I found that a piece of silicone sheathed wire around the rubber, then put the window in, then pull the wire (and the one side of the rubber) out and into place. Baby powder (talcalm powder) is magical for installing seals of this sort too...maybe a good trick on the MB seals as well?

I am considering doing my front windshield on the w126 as the seal leaks.
If I break the glass, all the better reason to replace my VERY high mileage windshield. It wouldn't suprise me if this thing was the origional or first replacement.

I have put several windshields in my Mercedes. I find the glass is more prone to cracking in trying to pop the old seal out with the glass in place. I just take a knife and cut around the seal so the windshield comes out without any effort. The trick in installing it is to put the chrome filler piece in the seal before installing the windshield. Then I just use the rope as stated in the manual to pull the windshield seal into the frame. OEM seals are the best but I was able to get away with an eBay aftermarket one on the 300TD.

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Bill Reimels
Now down to one:
1972 300SE 3.5 W109 (Euro delivery)

W126's don't have a windsheild "gasket", some sort of sealant is used to seal the windshield. It is black and dries like silicone but it isn't. If you have glass coverage and your windsheild is pitted, well thats why you have glass coverage problem solved. Bypass your agent go direct to the company.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Sam, I certainly hope you are kidding here. I'm surprised to hear you say this. Not to be a Pollyanna, but this is insurance fraud, plain and simple. Better to find an honest proprietor willing to do it right, or search/use this good forum and do it yourself, like rwthomas1 here. Once it's done, correctly and honestly, you can sleep better at night, especially knowing you haven't helped to increase rates for everyone else.

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'82 300SD - 361K mi - "Blue"

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

listen, look, .........and duck.

I had my rear winshield installed on my w126 and it took the guys (2) all of 45 minutes and it cost me $100 in labor. They would not even talk to me about replacing it UNLESS I used an OE gasket, which cost me another $100. All in all I ended up with a $200 bill but it sure stopped the leaks!

Hey rwthomas,

You must have trained the guys I used. That's exactly how they did it!

Kevin

Well, I was half joking, and half not. He was looking for solutions, and I posed one, the ethics of the matter are up to each individual.

I understand why fraud is not good for everyone in general, but I'm afraid that regardless of what happened I would be unable to lose sleep over what I did to an insurance company. I doubt they lost any sleep over what they've done to me.

If all insurance fraud stopped today, insurance prices wouldn't drop at all, they'd stay the same, and profits would go up. But if too much fraud happens, then the rates will indeed rise.

With insurance companies there is no ethics, just cause and effect, so everyone can make their own choice.

peace,
sam

__________________
"That f***in' biodiesel is makin' me hungry."

1982 300TD Astral Silver w/ 250k (BIO BNZ)
2001 Aprilia SR50 Corsa Red w/ 5.5k (>100 MPG)

I just did my rear window seal. Really not that bad of a job. More time consuming than difficult.

Rear Window Seal Project - Suggestions

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79 240D (no name yet) 203K Miles Maple Yellow
98 2500 4x4 HD Dodge 24 Valve Cummins TD
83 Chevy Van (Dead-Trans. shot)

I pay $2,400 a year to my stupid insurance company, every 4 years I want a new windsheild. It is so simple to do in this state, just call them up and say it is pitted real bad and hard to see out of.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200