Drivers window glass replacement query

[Reddy VR6 10]

Hi All,

My drivers window glass has a scrape down the middle of it and I am looking at removing it and getting a professional to polish it out as I want to keep the car as original as possible as it is very low mileage and only had one previous owner. There is a company locally that reckons they can do it which would save me trying to find an identical year / month manufactured glass to fit as a replacement. 

I am not a mechanic and I would usually get my Dad to help with this as he was a mechanic all his life but he is over 70 and currently in isolation. Is removing and replacing the glass a relatively straightforward job ?

From my experience it probably isn't as car manufacturers don't tend to design items like this to be easy to change !

Any tips would be much appreciated.

I have also attached a photo of the window code just in case someone happens to have an offside drivers door glass in decent condition for a 94 VR6 with glass manufacturer date  - **** 3 which I assume means manufactured in April 1993 ?

Thanks 

 

 

[seanl82 23]

Easy job. Remove the door card, drop the window down a bit to access the two clamps holding the glass to the mechanism, undo the two clamps bolts & lift the glass out! 

Door card removal will take the longest, but overall it shouldn't take longer than 15 minutes. To take the door car off, remove the visible screws front and rear, prise off the grab handle cover and remove the two large screws holding the grab handle. There is another small screw for the card behind it as well. Remove the door pin, door release surround by sliding it forward (or back, can't remember), and the top inner scraper trim. Carefully remove the door card lifting it over the pin at the back, and disconnect the window switch plug. Job done. 

[Reddy VR6 10]

That’s fantastic. All sounds straightforward enough. Thanks a lot for the helpful advice Sean. 
One quick question, are all the drivers window glasses the same dimensions regardless of year of manufacturer ? 

[easypops 8]

Remember there is a screw in the speaker recess, you’ll need to look up from the bottom to see it

[seanl82 23]

20 minutes ago, Reddy VR6 said:

That’s fantastic. All sounds straightforward enough. Thanks a lot for the helpful advice Sean. 
One quick question, are all the drivers window glasses the same dimensions regardless of year of manufacturer ? 

As above, sorry there's always one screw I forget!

Yes the glass is the same throughout years. Not 100% if manual window glass is the same (I imagine it is), but there are very few with manual windows anyway.

[fendervg 29]

All windows are the same, regardless of electric, manual or year.

On a window that has never been out there will also be a sliding bracket that is attached to the rear vertical rail inside the door - this is to act as a guide for the window as it is curved. This will be bonded on to the glass, and is often forgotten when a replacement window is fitted,, and will cause a nasty rattle when left loose at the bottom of the rail.

Not sure why you are so fixated on the getting the right year/month of manufacture for the glass - they would have been made in batches and the guys at the Karmann works would jsut have pulled what they needed from stock without matching up the numbers to the date of the car....

There will also be plenty of cars that will have had them replaced due to break-ins etc, so would not be considered a major con. Now, if the reg and VIN were also etched into them, that might be different. In any case it will probably be easy enough to tell that someone has been at the door card and window, so I wouldn't sweat too much about it.

[Reddy VR6 10]

13 hours ago, easypops said:

Remember there is a screw in the speaker recess, you’ll need to look up from the bottom to see it

Good tip. Cheers for that.

[Reddy VR6 10]

13 hours ago, fendervg said:

All windows are the same, regardless of electric, manual or year.

On a window that has never been out there will also be a sliding bracket that is attached to the rear vertical rail inside the door - this is to act as a guide for the window as it is curved. This will be bonded on to the glass, and is often forgotten when a replacement window is fitted,, and will cause a nasty rattle when left loose at the bottom of the rail.

Not sure why you are so fixated on the getting the right year/month of manufacture for the glass - they would have been made in batches and the guys at the Karmann works would jsut have pulled what they needed from stock without matching up the numbers to the date of the car....

There will also be plenty of cars that will have had them replaced due to break-ins etc, so would not be considered a major con. Now, if the reg and VIN were also etched into them, that might be different. In any case it will probably be easy enough to tell that someone has been at the door card and window, so I wouldn't sweat too much about it.

Thanks a lot. Great tip on the sliding bracket, It is things like this that I just wouldn't have know about. Good to know the glass hasn't changed over the years too.

I get where you're coming from on the glass and it isn't such a concern but I have seen cars in auctions and at specialist dealers where they have quoted all original glass in their descriptions and I am trying to keep this car as original as possible. Currently all the glass has the same month / year of manufacturer on it. Most people would probably never check it so it is not such a big deal.

[fla 9]

Got a slight issue on my drivers door glass with the yellow plastic cable tensioner pressing on the inside of the glass. Not sure how or why its happened. You can see that the LHS of the yellow moulding is tight up against the glass. Ive used another bolt at the top as the thread had stripped in the frame but this is also tight up against the door skin.  

 

Any suggestions on this?

 

Hasan

Edited September 23, 2020 by fla