Author Topic: Windshield Seal - will it fit?  (Read 2816 times)

jedwards

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Windshield Seal - will it fit?
« on: July 23, 2013, 21:04:29 »
Gentlemen,
I recently purchased a number of seals, including a new windshield seal, for my early 250SL from Gold Classics in the Netherlands. I got good service and good postage  costs so I was happy. However on reading up on windshield seals in this forum, there seemed to be a lot of problems reported with after-market seals not fitting.
Gold Classic's seal was just listed by Part number (http://www.goldclassics.nl/Mercedes-Benz/W113/Seals/Windshield-Seal-120/)  so I am unsure what brand I actuall got. Am I going to have trouble fitting this when the time comes, or are the current batch of Aftermarket seals OK these days?

If the advice of the forum is to throw out the seal and purchase a factory  seal, where is the best place to order it from? We cannot buy anything through the Merc dealer network here in Western Australia as their prices are three, four of even ten times US or European prices.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Jeff

66andBlue

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Re: Windshield Seal - will it fit?
« Reply #1 on: July 23, 2013, 22:34:58 »
Jeff,
the OEM seal has four preformed corners whereas the aftermarket seals that I have seen are just a circle with ends glued together.  Judging from the picture on the Goldclassics web site yours may be of the latter variety.
With the help of a friend who did this for a  living I have used an aftermarket "circle" seal once and it did not create real problems but required a lot more work to make it fit. You need to insert the two  aluminum frame pieces into the seal first to create the corners in the circle. The rubber will tend to twist and you may have to tape it down temporarily. Then insert the glass and start "massaging" the frame together with the rubber until there is no gap between the rubber and the glass. See red arrow in photo.
However, after you have installed the glass you may have a gap again and depending on how wide it is it can turn into a nice whistle had higher speeds if you leave it that way.
Get a little bit of self-curing black polyurethane paste from a professional installer and fill in the gap. Once the PU has set a bit but it still pliable/soft, take a plastic cap from a spray paint can, squeeze it until it makes a nice spout and then scrape off the excess cement with your "scoop". Once it dries it will look like rubber and you can whistle your own tunes.  ;)
Alfred
1964 230SL manual 4-speed 568H signal red
1966 230SL automatic 334G light blue (sold)
1968 280SL automatic (now 904G midnight blue)