Which glue for rear window seperating?

[BeetleMyHeart]

Hey everyone. My rear window has come unglued along the top and right side, right at half of the circumfrance. I have sourced an OEM top for $1,500 for the parts and I would do the install if I can get the right info and procedures.

I really don't have the money for a new top just yet and want to reglue the top to the window for now. I have read alot of good things about Rhino glue from Corvette owners and such. They have had it hold up for over a year and counting. Rhino glue is a form of cyanoacrylate glue which is what the Super Glue brand glue is. It dries fairly clear, fast, and very hard. It's pretty brittle actually. I also thought about Gorilla glue, which is a polyurethane glue that foams and expands as it cures. That stuff is a little messy and harder to work with but also dries very hard. It dries yellow so you have to be very clean and careful.

Has anyone had much success with regluing around the rear window for any length of time? When it comes time to replacing the top the car will definetly be getting a car cover to cover the entire car when parked in the sun. This replacing tops every 5 years is going to get very very old. The car has only 63k miles...

I plan to stuff alot of pillows or something under the rear window and partially raise the top. I'll then try and come up with a way to set a bit of weight precisely on the seams as they dry. I may glue the top first, then the sides rather than trying to do it all at once. I'm starting to think that replacing the top is in the very near future but I REALLY need to get this looking good and glued back up for the time being. Any advice and input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Mister]

If I were you I would not go with thre glu. I had the same problem and the dealer changed the brakets holding the back glass. Do a research for some previous posts on the same subject. But don't go for the glu...

[boogety boogety]

But if you do go for the glue, good ol' Home Depot clear silicone sealer is what I used on my '03, and it held just fine for years... Just feed a good bead around where you want it, have a friend press from the outside/inside while you do the opposite, hold it in place with masking tape overnight, and you're good to go...

[Darkmann]

If you're talking about the rear glass/headliner interface, there's a TSB on that. Take it to the dealer and inquire first. They may honor the TSB or tell you it's too late, I don't know. And, I believe there are clips that hold that interface together, not glue.

[BeetleMyHeart]

I think you guy's are confused as to what is wrong with the back window. Pictures are worth a thousand words, so I am going to provide a couple. The OUTSIDE of the top (the canvas) is pulling away from the glass on the outside of the car. The top now has some wrinkles in the top as the peeling away of the canvas has relieved alot of the tension that holds the top tight and smooth across the top. I'm worried that no matter how I reglue the top to the glass that it will only be slightly postponing the inevitable (replacing the top.)

What does everyone think? I'd love to also hear some someone who has had this issue and attempted a repair or had a shop do a certain repair. The headliner had fallen down on the inside back when the car was under warranty and they did replace the old clips with the new updated clips and it's been okay for the most part.

[Darkmann]

Wow, never knew that could even happen. Sorry, I do not have any suggestions that would be helpful.

[BeetleMyHeart]

Today I ordered a bottle of Rhino Glue. I was a bit torn between Rhino (Cyanoacrylate) and Gorilla (Polyurethane) glues for this job. I think the Gorilla glue may hold up better but it would be much harder to work with. It expands as it cures and fills in any little nook and cranny for a strong bond. The problem is that it needs alot of clamping pressure between the two materials being bonded. At the same time the excess foaming glue needs to be cut off before it glues to keep the job clean. It would be VERY hard to do this at the same time. The glue dries yellow and could look pretty terrible if done incorrectly. The perfect amount of glue would have to be applied in order to keep the foaming out of the seam to a minimum.

I decided to go with Rhino glue due to it drying clear and the lack of the need for heavy clamping forces during curing. The company that makes Rhino glue claims to have modified the typical Cyanoacrylate formula to make it moisture proof and resistant to heat. I plan to retract the top half way and first reglue the portion around the top of the window that is pealing in the bottom pictures. Then, with the tension removed with the top unlatched, I'll reglue the side in either one or more sections at a time. You have to be careful not to end up with a wrinkle. In other words, I'll reglue in the reverse order that the top is pealing away from the glass. There has been success with this repair with this glue from several corvette owners. They have had it hold up for quite a while and havn't reported failures yet. The key will be to clean up alot of the old adhesive from the glass and score the glass up a bit to give the glue something to bond to. I'm planning to do this next Mon or Tues. We'll see how it goes. I have good feelings about this glue holding up this problem for a while. I'd like to replace the original tires before the original top if you know what I mean!

[Photobug]

Hi

I have used black silicon glue with success. Takes 12 hours to set bu it's worth it.

ML

[02newmag]

you can buy the glue at the dealer, i can get you a part number if you wish.

[BeetleMyHeart]

Well, the repair is done. I used a clamp used for welding that is esentially a pair of vise grips with 2 plates between the jaws that can clamp 3-4" at a time to glue the top of the fabric along the window you see in the first picture. I can post a picture of how I did it if anyone is interested. I knew the biggest issue I would have is working around the corners and down the side. You have to pull the side tight as you glue it or you'll end up with loose spots and/or wrinkles in that area when the top is closed tight. I glued half way down the side first planning to work towards the corners last. The bottom corner went around fairly nice but I ended up with some extra fabric around the top corner that I would have to try and compress the wrinkle out as that cures. I did end up with a small wrinkle at the top corner at the end of it which is really the only imperfection that I ended up with at the end. With the price of a new top looming in my head I think it's an okay sacrifice, even being as particular as I am.

The Rhino glue is the only glue I would try this repair with again. using a polyurethane glue like Gorilla glue would never work right for this repair I think, I wouldn't even attempt it. The Rhino glue is a cyanoacrylate based glue that is easy to clean up if you make a mistake, on glass that is. Don't get messy with it on the fabric of you'll have to get a debonder for cyanoacrylate glue to clean it up. If you have excess on the glass just wait for it to dry and scrape it right off with a razor blade. It's nice and clean.

When I finished and latched the top I had a big area around the top corner that was loose fabric and wrinkles. I was disappointed but figured it was okay until we decided if the top is worth replacing from a cosmetic standpoint in the near future. I am very confident that it is sealed from water and should hold up to heat in FL just fine. I hope that holds true! I sat disappointed yet somewhat sucessful with the repair in that it had a pretty nasty looking spot around the top corner but it was now safe to drive in rain and such. Later the next day I walk outside to confirm why I am still upset with the repair to find that the spot around the corner has no shrunk to a very very small area around the corner. I guess the fabric stretched or shrunk and settled in around it's new position and the problem mostly worked itself out. I wish I would have taken before and after shots but the before shot would have been to tough to take because of how disappointed I was. Maybe I'll take a finished picture when I get back home along with one I took with the clamp in place if anyone is interested. Let me know.

[elancee]

Pics of what you did would be great! Sounds like you did a nice job on it.

[58and03beetles]

Originally Posted by 02newmag

you can buy the glue at the dealer, i can get you a part number if you wish.

i would love a part number for this special glue!!