2007 legacy wagon rear quarter glass replacement

[MajorWood]

Disclaimer, I've done this once (and against advice). I am a reasonably competent person, but am not a mechanic, though I have wrenched on cars for 30 years. This is a one-off experience which I'm supplying in the absence of any other reports.

 

Background: A thief knocked out the glass to steal things. A friend saw a subie like mine with the glass intact at a junkyard which prompted me to finally fix it properly.

 

This is a 2 part operation, and one can save money by both removing the glass and installing the new piece, or by doing the removal and having a pro-shop do the installation, which was advice that I received here. But I always like a challenge. One could call a shop and ask what they charge for each part before jumping in.

 

The glass comes as a complete panel with attached moldings on top (under the long body molding piece), back, and bottom sides. I paid $50 at a junkyard, new cost at dealer was $250. Additional cost was urethane sealer at $20, a paint scraper tool for $3, and a pair of heavy rubber palmed gardening gloves for $4. I just realized images need a URL and I'm too much of a luddite to know how to do that. Email me at sluggrm@gmail.com for pics if they don't appear as an attachment. A PM might take longer as I'm not here that often.

 

I'll describe how to do it in the absence of said pictures. Imagine the panel with a smashed out center section. First remove all glass around the smashed area back to where the factory urethane seal connects it to the body (before pic). Lots of small sharp pieces here so go slow, rinse hands, and don't rub eyes. I put down a barrier to catch pieces inside the car and outside as well. It may be necessary break the glass between the urethane seal and the moldings in order to remove the molding from the bottom and rear edges. Start by grabbing the bottom rear corner of molding and putting it forward and away from car at the bottom, and then up the rear edge to where it meets the top. Fold that piece up and away over the previously opened lift-back door. The molding is best left as one three-sided piece. I bought a paint scraper tool like this for $3. Using it like a chisel, I started on the urethane at the bottom rear corner after splitting it, and worked the scraper back and forth sideways to slowly cut through the urethane next to the car body. An inch or two a minute is a good rate. It is not necessary or advised to get down to sheet metal. At the rear top one will encounter a plastic piece that holds the glass and alligns it. Stop there. The replacement glass comes with that plastic piece at the top corners, and also the plastic velcro piece at each bottom corner. Now start on the bottom urethane/glass and cut along it towards the front. I used a gloved hand to pull on the glass/urethane piece as I cut. I also put down a layer of masking tape to minimize scratching the paint. At the lower front corner I cut the urethane/glass piece in half, and then worked up the front edge to the top molding. The top glass molding is under a piece of molding attached to the body. The molding attached to the car can stay in place and the piece on the glass will just fall out once the urethane is cut away (cutting seal top front). Continue to cut the urethane seal from front to back along the top edge until you meet the rear upper corner where cutting was stopped earlier. being careful of sharp glass on the now loose piece of molding. I taped the top molding out of the way at some point.

 

The new glass may or may not have urethane on it depending on the source. I had to cut it off the junkyard piece, and used some sandpaper to put a better edge on the paint scraper. My advice is a tool that is sharp, but doesn't need to be razor blade sharp so as to maintain control and not have an accident which offsets the DIY savings. I made plunge cuts from the perimeter as 2 of 4 sides have a rubber-foam piece that runs along the edge of the urethane.

 

To replace, first dry fit the new piece to get a good idea where things need to be. Then, place a generous 3/8" bead of urethane along the track on the car where the old urethane seal had been removed. Coming from below, insert the top molding on the new glass into the channel in the body molding at about a 30 degree angle using the white pins on the glass and the holes in the body to align front-rear, as well as the corner molding at the back. Then rotate down so that the plastic velcro at the bottom mates and press into place. You are done. I gave it a good 24 hrs to cure by keeping the windows open when closing the doors.

 

Summary, took about 1-1/2 hrs to slowly remove glass remnants, and 1/2 hr to prep junkyard piece, pre-align, apply sealant, and install glass piece. I have no clue or what tools to use to remove an intact piece of glass for something like tinting or retrieving at a u-pull junkyard. I imagine a glass place might charge $50-75 to remove and have been told $50 to install. My cost here was just shy of $80 inclusive, whereas new glass at a shop might run $350-375. It pays to be cheap. Two weeks later after the rainiest October in Portland's history (10.32") and all is well.