Glass rubber cover, windshield & rear window (E39)

98 528i front and rear moldings/covers what ever you want to call them FUBARed!!
Expected better from BMW.

97, 540A. Cracked front windshield moulding, back is fine! Garage kept, however southern car.

99' 540iA, A L S O... cracked front windshield molding, pretty bad. Rear window molding fine. Car has been garaged. Pics and VIN ready to copy and paste.

I have looked at 6 540i's in the past few weeks and 5 of them had this same problem, cracking across the top and down the sides if the windshield.

My front windshield cover/molding dried up and cracked too. Is this a factory defect? Will my BMW dealer replace it?

All,

Not sure if this will help or not (as mine is long gone), but there is a product called "Back to Black" and it is "possible" that it might help preserve those owners who don't have the problem.

"Back to Black" is a preservative/protectant for the plastic trim that's runs horizontally around the doors and bumpers. It makes them turn Black again especially after a wax-job that has been smeared with white, etc.

Don't know if this can be helpful or not, but I'm brainstorming....

Mine also bad on both front and back. Socal car and it is kept in the garage.

I just gotta jump back in this one. FIRST: YES I ABSOLUTELY AGREE THAT A $50K PLUS BMW SHOULD NOT HAVE THIS SHODDY CRAP ASSOCIATED WITH IT!

That being said: Folks, the darned thing is less than $30 plus shipping from Crevier BMW, a plastic putty knife is less than a dollar, and at most it will take an hour to swap out.

Honestly, UNLESS the windshield has been replaced and the installer got seriously heavy with the adhesive, the trim/cover CAN be worked off the edge of the glass and the new one worked back on. Honest!

I KNEW I should have taken pictures!!! :-(

Originally Posted by McCandless

Honestly, UNLESS the windshield has been replaced and the installer got seriously heavy with the adhesive, the trim/cover CAN be worked off the edge of the glass and the new one worked back on. Honest!

I KNEW I should have taken pictures!!! :-(

And you won't find out until your car's windshield starts leaking . . .

Which it won't. At least not as a result of me replacing the cover.
There is a reason BMW calls it a "cover" and not a seal. It seals nothing! The seal between the glass and the body is made via the ADHESIVE used to BOND the windshield into the body opening. A good read of the windshield installation procedures in BMW's own service documentation (TIS) shows that this bonding process even contributes to the structural rigidity of the car and can take anywhere from 4 to 20 HOURS to achieve maximum bond.
Like BMW's "lifetime" transmission and differential lubricants, the insistence of the BMW service personnel that the windshield and rear window must be removed and replaced to change the cover(s) SHOULD be taken with a great big grain of salt and not blindly followed just because "they say so".

McCandless,

Clearly we aren't following you so ANYTHING of visual content you can post or links to such TIS instructions would help us all out a lot. Is there anyone who has read this thread that is near you with an E39 who has need of replacing this cover? Perhaps you can avail your services for the good of Bimmerfest and take pictures of the replacement procedures!

However, one thing I'd like to point out is that this does not at all pertain to the REAR WINDOW rubber molding. My two upper corners of this rubber gasket/molding are simply gone, dried up, etc.

Thanks....

I'd be more than willing to show/help someone replace their windshield cover. All they have to do is say so here and we could get the process started. I did notice the other day that my rear one is starting to go away also so it will be next. AND THIS TIME I WILL TAKE PICTURES! :-) But it won't be for a little while yet.

Has anyone achieved any results with this topic? maybe the possibility of sharing the cost of the repair. It's not the $ its the point. Am I being a stickler?

Huh?

i have the same prob in front and rear on my 92 325i i want to get it changed but dont no what to do

So, now what do we do? Start a petition against BMWNA and demand either reimbursement of repair?????

I'd certainly like to have mine fixed.

Hate to be the bearer of bad news...BUT, my 97 528i has the "covers" in EXCELLENT condition (no cracking, etc.). That being said...I do not know if they were previously replaced. I still have the BMW warning sticker on the inside, SO, the glass has not been replaced. I believe you all are correct when you say there seems to be NO correlation between climate/locale. Mine was originally in NC, then MO, and now KY. Whew...I feel lucky...best to you all...

This is my 1st post and I am new to the forum. Just bought a 2000 528i and I have the same problem. Front winshield moulding is cracked to the point where you can see the edge of the windshield near the top. The rear is fine and the car with 59k miles is immaculate otherwise.
Thanks for any help with this.

Originally Posted by Ågent99

I've notice on my 2001 530i that the rubber gasket/seal around the windshield is drying out and has cracks perpendicular to the windshield. Near as I can tell, it does not leak.

Also, the rubber gasket/seal around the rear window is looking about the same. In fact, the two upper corners have pretty much dried out and cracked off.

Yeah, I know pics would help but I'll get those up later.

How is everyone elses holding up? Any cracking at all? Hmm, I wonder if I have any recourse with BMWNA...most likely not but there is no way these should be failing on a 5-year old car with under 70k on it, IMO.

what tools, material, and instructions can you give to a novice here.

I have the same problem in the front and cringe everytime I walk by the cracking and chipping of my mistress.

Do you need an adhesive to seal it? Does the windshield have to come out or is that a myth? I just need some clarification on this.

Or....if anyone is in So Cal and would like to give this novice a hand solving this problem, I would appreciate it too.

Thanks,

Koogs

Suggest you guys with the "how to and what tools questions" take a look at ALL my previous postings here on Bimmerfest AND this posting http://bimmer.roadfly.com/bmw/forums/e39/7301670-1.html
AND the follow on postings over on Roadfly.
It IS easy and NOT someting to fret about. I replaced the REAR window cover yesterday. It was JUST as easy. Again, the hardest part was getting the new one centered left to right and the second hardest was digging the end of the old one out of the groove enough to get ahold of it with my hands. As promised in a previous post, I did take a some pictures this time. When I get time, I'll write it up and fire it off to "tips and tricks" for POSSIBLE inclusion.

Took McCandless' advice and did it this morning. Picked up the rubber molding (cover) at the stealership ($45). The parts guy warned me that it should be professionally replaced and that the windshield should be removed to be done properly(of course, at that dealership). He's probably right but I did it anyway. I hate giving away $100 bills.

Anyway, my molding was really bad and it took about an hour to remove all of it. Cleaned the track and surrounding area thoroughly. The new molding was very easy to put in, finished that in 3 minutes.

All in all a VERY easy fix and pretty cheap too. Yes, BMW should do something about such a blatant flaw but that time may never come.

Make sure you look at how the old one comes out, it makes putting the new in that much easier.

$26 + shipping from Crevier BMW in Santa Ana. May be a wash with the local dealer but they stopped giving ANY discount for BMW CCA members so &*&^% them. Besides it's a 140 mile round trip and at the price of gas... And delivered to my door??? Perhaps it's NOT a wash.

So, I have taken a proactive approach to getting mine done....

Safelite Autoglass wants $125 to install it with a possiblilty that the glass might chip and therefore replace the glass. They said they use METAL tools to get the job done it is almost a guarantee that they will break the glass.

Some independent site quoted me at $85 and same possibility that the glass could break.

Tried it myself and I wasn't sure I was doing it right myself so I am sort of stuck right now......

SOME ONE HELP ME!!!!

P.S. I have the replacement part.

koogie21, don't know how bad your rubber is, but mine was totally shot(as you can see). I used plastic putty knives as advised but ultimately I had to use needle nose pliers to get it started peeling out of the track since everything I pulled on crumbled away. There is a metal strip within the rubber molding and if you can get ahold of it you are set. Once you have even an inch of rubber out you should have no problem pulling the rest out.
I used the pliers like I was performing surgery so as not to make contact with the glass.
It worked.
Just make sure to completely clean out the area where the new molding will go.
Good Luck!

See attached thumbnails. These are of the rear window cover removal I did a couple of days ago but the front is the same process. Dig out an end making sure to NOT touch the glass with any metal object and you are home free as "pilotroger" said.

Oh yeah, before I forget. I switched from using a lacquer thinner dampened rag to mineral spirits. It's a considerably gentler on the hands (and the paint) and cuts the **** almost as well.