Great video. Worked well on 2002 E46. don’t be fooled into getting windshield replaced. This took 15 minutes with plastic trim tools, needle nose pliers and a bottle of windex. might as well replace that cracked plastic windshield cowl while you’re at it. feed the trim into the glass side first and use a trim tool to pop it into place around the back edge. plenty of glass cleaner for lubricant. once you get the corner seated, the rest is pretty easy.
Great video! I replaced these on my 2003 e46 M3. Only issue I had (and it took a significant amount more of time) was the windshield was replaced about 4 years ago and some of the sealant seeped out and bonded to my trim. The result; a real pain to get the portion underneath the windshield to come out in many places. I utilized a heat gun, extensively to soften and loosen the sealant from the trim and it worked well, but took A LOT of patience. Otherwise the process described here worked great; and reinstalling the trim was a piece of cake relatively speaking. Definitely want the above trim removal kit, or something similar, as it allowed me to keep from scratching the paint!
Couple of additional points after reviewing the BMW repair manual.... The sealant used to bond the windscreen down can bond to the gasket. The gasket has a special tear-off strip that will tear away as it is removed in cases where the sealant has bonded to it. When replacing just the gasket, the instructions call for the tear-off strip on the new gasket to be removed prior to installation. When the glass is also being replaced at the same time, the tear-off strip should not be removed. (With that, if the just the gasket is replaced and then the glass is replaced later on, a brand new gasket should be used otherwise it will be impossible to remove the gasket again as it won't have the tear-off strip and will be bonded to the sealant). When I removed mine, the tear-off strip was pretty much intact, suggesting the sealant was recessed a little further in, so I didn't bother to remove it from the new gasket. The instructions do not call for any additional sealant to be used. The new gasket already has a bead of butylene sealant in the C-channel (this is the tacky substance seen on removal) Where excessive sealant was used for glass installation and is now visible in the channel, the bottom rubber edge should be pared away to allow proper seating of the gasket. (presuming you can't remove it from the channel). I had one small section where excessive sealant was used and had bonded to the main gasket beyond the tear-off strip. It was a pain but I did manage to remove it using a needle nose pliers and a twisting motion I also managed to chip the edge of the glass - luckily it did not crack. I suspect the excessive use of sealant is the main cause of windscreens breaking on gasket removal as the sealant breeches the tear-off strip and bonds to the gasket, and more force is then required to remove it (application of heat may help here). Once out, I cleaned up the channel and area around the windscreen. I scraped away the bit of excess sealant that was in the channel but in hindsight this was a bad idea. The excess was up near the corner and in scraping it away, I scraped the paint as well. The corners are the one place where water is likely to pool under the seal as it rolls off the roof. I dabbed a bit of paint on the scratch to prevent rusting. Installation was very straightforward after that. In my excitement of pulling the old gasket off, I neglected to pay proper attention to the way it meets the front cowl. While sightly counter intuitive, the gasket runs under the cowl. By the way if the gasket has deteriorated and requires replacing, it is very likely that the rubber part of the cowl has deteriorated too. Mine started to crumble as soon as I touched it. Replacement cowl has been added to my to-do list. All in all its an easy diy as long as you're not unlucky with excess bonding sealant. Hope this helps.
So, to sum it up, all you need to buy is the new gasket? There is no need to add sealant yourself, since it will be part of the new gasket? Just put the gasket in the gap between the window and bodywork and everything will seal itself?
That is correct. No additional sealant required. One word of caution, the glass, especially in the bottom corners would appear to be quite fragile. A couple of months after replacing the seal I noticed a small crack across the outer pane at the bottom corner. It's all within the black border so it not readily visible unless you look for it. I don't know if it happened at the time of installation and I didn't notice, or if it developed afterwards. Just be careful, don't apply too much pressure, and don't scratch the glass edge with the steel within the sealing strip.
I could only wish to have the good fortune the majority of posters had here; mine was/is a nightmare and after three- and one-half hours (3 1/2 hours) a complete failure. 2007 BMW E86 Z4 3.0si coupe, probably original gasket/seal/trim installed at factory and after 15 years cracked to hell and flapping/whistling at highway speeds. Watched all the videos I could find, 'ole Otto" at Bavarian Autosport, a number of RU-vid experienced posters; watched them several times and wrote notes to take into the garage. The only conclusion I can reach is that the gasket/seal/trim was installed onto the windshield at the factory and then the windshield with gasket/trim/seal was installed into the car. The amount of clean-up time exceeded thirty minutes (30 minutes); was careful to only utilize non-marring plastic trim tools, "Goof-Off", "SprayAway" glass cleaner, and lots of paper towels. While removing the original, damaged gasket/seal/trim took notice that there is a metal "C" embedded in the gasket/seal/trim that has to form around the edge of the windshield glass; there is no way that I could discover to replicate this in my garage. I made numerous attempts over the course of over an hour to lubricate, use aforementioned trim tools, to work the trim around the windshield glass - - - you guessed it: NO WAY IN THIS REALITY. There is a word I am thinking of to describe the engineers that designed a piece of degradable rubber trim that cannot be replaced without removing a windshield glass and risking breaking or damaging that in the process, but I will keep that word to myself. I have to assume that most people are just jamming the gasket/seal/trim in crushing the "C" channel that is supposed to grip the inner and outer edges of the glass; maybe not realizing this action; and when a seemingly tight positioning is achieved saying: "JOB DONE, YAY ME"; well maybe I have an extra tight clearance between the windshield glass and the opening in the body, but there was no way I could achieve even this; bloody knuckle and sore hands to prove it. Lest anyone think I am some kind of "newbie" and ignorant I will state for the record that I am in my sixth (6th) decade on this planet and have been working on cars for fifty plus (50+) of those years. Good Luck to the rest of you, for me it's going to be a bead of black urethane and wait for the inevitable rock to be thrown back at me by a non-tire flapped vehicle causing a chip/crack and let the insurance deal with it. Man, this is really frustrating - - - Can you tell?!
Great video due to the information provided! I have a 97' E39 (528i) and was about to take it to a windshield store to remove the windshield just to replace the trim moulding. They told me the windshiled neec to be removed and possibly would crack. So I'm very happy that I found you guys and this video as it will save me a lot of money. Thanks for posting!
Great video. just a little word of caution. some windshields might not be perfectly lined up and will be a tight squeeze. when pulling out the old trim and installing the new one be very patient. it's a lot easier to break the windshield than you think.
Only recently found out you can change this part without windshield removal. My 2002 5 series has the original glass and this part is only just now starting to rot (in the corners as per usual). Well now I have this information, it's a given to replace it.
Amazing you didnt break the windshield. Best way was to use a utility knife cutting off the molding at the bottom. Go all the way around. Then use the fiber stick to remove the locking strip. Also instead of struggling pushing the molding in, Use HEAT on the rubber molding before install . It would go in much easier.
Working on my 2002 Volvo V70 presently, need to pick up some non-marring chisels. $400 to safelite, $300 to Volvo in parts! But I'm replacing ALL the surrounding trim, a cowl seal, various clips, and cleaning out the roof rails too, i.e. breaking a lot of 20-year-old plastic bits along the way. The upper and lower windshield trim were the most expensive at $80 each. I'm basically doing all the work for the safelite guy, he's just going to show up and swap the glass. After that he can bugger off, nobody touches my dad's last car!
What about the windshield lower seal/trim? Noticed water started leaking into passenger footwell when poured/rained behind Windshield Cowl. Does that seal wear off with time as well? It's been ok for years and started leaking really bad, seemingly out of nowhere. 2009 Bmw 328i
i install windshields for a living and this is actually quite a bad idea, for one the glue is applied like you would caulk a bathroom so it can and will go everywhere with a zealous installer, 2 those rubber trim moldings are subjected to wind every single day if you daily it and thus they have a tendency to fly off even if they are properly installed so generally i will put some glue on it to back it before i put the main bead down just to make sure it's glued down, and 3 older bmws (e46s for example) have moldings with steel reinforcing in them so keep them rigid and looking good and they have a tendency to crack glass upon removal all in all just take it to a glass shop and have them put a new windshield and molding in they're only like $250 out of pocket even less with insurance.
I wish my trim was this easy to install. I have 2000 Acura Integra. That windshield trim is a true pain in the ass to put on, especially the side trims.. ugh
@bavauto - Do you have a video for the F10? I'm trying to replace mine and having a very hard time getting to the metal stiffener portion of the seal. It seems to be tucked under the glass more so than E series windshields.
Does anyone know if this works on an e36? I’ve got a tiny bit of rust and wanted to remove it to assess the damage and fix if possible without the windscreen out
You can nit do a search for the items! There is no magnefying glass icon for searches! Links dont work, no searching ! You have to filter thru pages to finally get to thr item you show in the video? ,
Be prepared to buy a windshield. Some windshields don't fit right, are glued in crooked, or are over glued greatly increasing the risk of it cracking during this procedure. This is why shops may sell windshield removal!
These should cost no more than 20 bucks to buy given the terrible quality rubber BMW has used to make them. I've seen Japanese cars from the 70s that still have their seals intact.
