What the **** am I doing wrong?

[jscaptura1]

Truing to install the rear window seals.  4 hours and this is as far as I have gone.

 

The only thing I have really accomplished is to chew up the inside of the seal and rip out some of the glued corners of the headliner.  I am following the diy from the technical articles.  Obviously I am doing something wrong.  If anyone has any tricks, please let me know.  So far I have been using the plastic trim tools and silicone.  Hasn't really helped.  I am seriously considering the Clarkson approach.   🤬

[bergie33]

 

[jscaptura1]

Thanks, this is an actual BMW factory seal.  Have been using silicone up the wazoo, not doing anything but getting all over everything.  Finally got the passenger side in, but with a few wrinkles.  Am VERY hesitant to take it out and try again...

[jscaptura1]

What portion of the seal should I be trimming to help it fit?

[Lucky 7]

Mine went in pretty quick with one of these:

 

Use the elbow to push under the flange, then rotate the tool so the pick end flips the flange up into the channel. If the seal bunches up or wrinkles, stretch it out until it’s smooth. You should only trim the top and bottom corners at the B pillar. 

[Mark92131]

5 hours ago, jscaptura1 said:

What portion of the seal should I be trimming to help it fit?

 

A couple of observations.  It looks like the horizontal section of the seal is too close to the Hofmeister kink, (compare your picture to mine).  That is why it is buckling in those areas.  You really only need to trim the seal at the top and bottom of the "B" pillar at the end of the process, (about 1" on the bottom and 5" on the top).  I basically left the horizontal section out of the channel except for the very start of the Hofmeister kink.  With the URO seals, there is extra material where the horizontal section meets the vertical section which prevents it from laying flat as it makes the transition up the Hofmeister kink.  I removed this material with an razer blade on my seal, the OEM one might not need this trimming.  However, the vertical rubber portion of the URO seal the runs up the Hofmeister kink and fits in that channel is 21mm wide and my channel is between 18-19mm wide, so I had to remove a few mm's of rubber opposite the lip that holds the seal in the channel to get to fit without chewing up the lip.

 

After trimming and a whole bunch of wire pulling lube, I was able to get the seal in and stretched out to remove most of the wrinkles in the Hofmeister kink and the bend as it transitions to horizontal at the top of the "B" pillar.

 

Mark92131

[jscaptura1]

1 hour ago, Lucky 7 said:

Mine went in pretty quick with one of these:

 

Use the elbow to push under the flange, then rotate the tool so the pick end flips the flange up into the channel. If the seal bunches up or wrinkles, stretch it out until it’s smooth. You should only trim the top and bottom corners at the B pillar. 

Mark,  thanks so much for the heads up on that tool,  I will pick one up tomorrow.   I guess I wasn't really paying attention when the glass guy pit in the windshield because he used that tool quite a bit!

Cheers,

Joe

[jscaptura1]

Oops,sorry above post was thanking Lucky 7.  But thank you Mark as well,  that is excellent information to have,I greatly appreciate it and will start measuring the size of the channel and seal.  I did trim off a few mm around the kink but it didn't seem to make much difference.   Oh well, back at it tomorrow and thank you again for the info.  Again, this site is the BEST!

[NickVyse]

May be you're using a bit too much lubricant? Keep the back of the seal dry, locate that in the groove and then use a little bit of grease on the front side that you're prying into the front of the groove.

 

I thought this was a nightmare job, but half way through one side got into the zone and it wasn't too tricky. I used a flat bladed screwdriver. Didn't trim anything - Touring, new seals (URO or BMW - no idea? Whatever walloth was selling at the time)

[NYNick]

This is one, if not THE, toughest job I encountered while rebuilding my '02, right up there with freeing the adjusters on the rear brakes and getting the E-cable out of its tunnel. All 3 jobs were very difficult for me.

 

I finally got them in by getting a friend to help. He is a bit younger then me and perhaps had stronger fingers, but as he inserted the seal I followed ahead/behind holding the the next part to go in up level with the flange. We also used Dawn liquid, not silicone.

 

I hated that job. After I failed alone after several hours, it took us about a half hour for the first one and 10 minutes on the second. Just a bitch of a job.

[Highnote1]

3 hours ago, NYNick said:

This is one, if not THE, toughest job I encountered while rebuilding my '02, right up there with freeing the adjusters on the rear brakes and getting the E-cable out of its tunnel. All 3 jobs were very difficult for me.

 

I finally got them in by getting a friend to help. He is a bit younger then me and perhaps had stronger fingers, but as he inserted the seal I followed ahead/behind holding the the next part to go in up level with the flange. We also used Dawn liquid, not silicone.

 

I hated that job. After I failed alone after several hours, it took us about a half hour for the first one and 10 minutes on the second. Just a bitch of a job.

I was kinda crippled hand wise after the last time I did this….my fingers were not right for probably a week!

[jscaptura1]

6 hours ago, NYNick said:

This is one, if not THE, toughest job I encountered while rebuilding my '02, right up there with freeing the adjusters on the rear brakes and getting the E-cable out of its tunnel. All 3 jobs were very difficult for me.

 

I finally got them in by getting a friend to help. He is a bit younger then me and perhaps had stronger fingers, but as he inserted the seal I followed ahead/behind holding the the next part to go in up level with the flange. We also used Dawn liquid, not silicone.

 

I hated that job. After I failed alone after several hours, it took us about a half hour for the first one and 10 minutes on the second. Just a bitch of a job.

Thanks Nick,  I had been thinking that an extra set of hands might be needed.  I agree,  it is a bitch of a job!

[lunarkingdom]

I used URO ones and same experience as most on here, took 3 hours each and a ridiculous amount of pressure with one of those harbor freight spudgers you have in your pictures. I was using a large wedge placed under the outer lip that needs to pop into the body with the back lip already tucked into the channel. I took the wedge and used it to compress the outer lip starting at the whatever its called joint and could just barely force the following edge in if I compressed the lip and shoved with all my might on one side. It would then every third try go in about a quarter inch. Multiply that times the 4 feet of rubber and yeah my hands still hurt lol! The problem with someone younger they would bust it, it takes a creaky old guy to have the patience and ruin his body enough to install one correctly hahaha!

Edited August 18 by lunarkingdom