Cheap bastard that i am,

[Bill R.]

I'm getting the Poor Old 535 repainted soon and am removing all the trim in preparation.... The rubber edging on the front windshield trim has chipped and flaked away in numerous places.. Since the trim is quite pricey I thought i would take an xacto knife and trim the rubber away across the top of the molding where all the damage is and then after the car is painted fill the gap up with black rtv after using masking tape to make a trimline with it...
Has anybody done this ? The side pillar rubber pieces that act as a channel are all fine, the cracked and chipped area is only on the rubber on the roof part of the trim.

[bcohoon]

I did exactly as you're suggesting.... but didn't do the exacto part. I used permatex liquid rubber stuff in a tube.. don't know if that's just rtv. Anyway... I made a big mess. Never thought about trimming 1st to get a smooth edge... duh.... as I was trying to get a smooth line on chipped trim. Please let us know how it works out if you decide to do it... and how easy/hard the exacto cutting was... Bill

[Elekta]

Why are those pieces so expensive and what kind of money are we talking about. My windshield is so blasted, and I am going to ask Allstate to replace it, but my little plastic channel on the driver's side is cracked and broken in several places. Will I be replacing the whole plastic frame as it were, or are there three or more pieces.

[bcohoon]

The last time I checked aftermarket... around $100-120 for each side (left & right)

[Ross]

Good luck getting an insurance company to pay for the moldings on a windshield job. SOP for them is glue down the old ones to aftermarket glass.
I've dragged my insurer kicking and screaming to OE glass and the moldings, twice. I hope I never need a another WS as I don't think I have the energy to fight them again.

[Bill R.]

153 for each side and i don't remember how much for the little clip in the middle... this was from BMA... Its a metal trim on mine with the rubber and plastic channel attached to it. Not available separately. Since i already bought the side moldings and am just doing a fairly cheapo paint job i didn't want to spend 300 plus on the windshield molding.



Why are those pieces so expensive and what kind of money are we talking about. My windshield is so blasted, and I am going to ask Allstate to replace it, but my little plastic channel on the driver's side is cracked and broken in several places. Will I be replacing the whole plastic frame as it were, or are there three or more pieces.

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

Did this on a friend's E32.

The front trim flew off on the freeway, went back to picked it up after a few cars customized for me, and only could save the metal trim...plastic part was dust.

Took it home reshaped the metal and found another center clip, masked everything off with blue painter's tape and let the black RTV flow.

looks good, can't tell it's just glued on.

[nirvana19]

I always had problems with that trim, when I did the windshield I just had them put the usual 3M windshield surround stuff. It does look difference, but I hardly notice it. Since my car doesn't have full coverage insurance, I'm afraid OE glass and trim would have been too costly.

[Elekta]

I am on the fence about buying a parts tourer I have my eye on, but the roof rails are mint and the windshield trims are fine also..has heated seats but the guy smoke cigars in there for years. My plan is to make a trailer out of it. Cut the nose off and most of the forward door, take the whole sunroof cassette out and replace it with canvass, and make a lil caravan out of it. The roof rails and the windshield trims new would be the cost of the whole car ($500), but my issue is where to keep the dang thing b/c the whole enterprise is not marriage friendly.

My windshield deductible is $50 and I have a decent crack in it now, but I don't want to collect until I get the trims. Also, I was hoping to paint the car also, and it would be fine to repaint it sans glass.

anyhoo, happy new year everyone....

[bcohoon]

153 for each side and i don't remember how much for the little clip in the middle... this was from BMA... Its a metal trim on mine with the rubber and plastic channel attached to it. Not available separately. Since i already bought the side moldings and am just doing a fairly cheapo paint job i didn't want to spend 300 plus on the windshield molding.

for the cheap bastards out there :)

Autohaus Arizona has 'em for $126. and $11! for the stupid clip.

[Tiger]

Just ask for Sigla glass... I believe that is what BMW use. Another good glass is Securit which I think Mercedes use.

Of the cars I have... I have had three differnt types of glass... Pinkinton (I think for spelling), Safelite (current), one I don't know what make. In every case, it is different from factory glass... The current one I have is Safelite... when I first got it, from Pinkinton... it was like magnefier effect... very wierd. I am used to it now... but you know... it shouldn't be like that.

[bubba966]

BMW uses glass from a variety of manufacturers. Pilkington, PPG, and Sekurit are all commonly used by BMW. Haven't seen them use Safelite or Sigla personally, but that doesn't mean they haven't used them.

PO had a Pilkington installed on my car. It's a good piece of glass, I've no problem with it. But the rest of the glass in the car (the rest is all original) is Sekurit as I recall.

[Scott H]

Wouldn't expect anything less Bill! :p


I'm getting the Poor Old 535 repainted soon and am removing all the trim in preparation.... The rubber edging on the front windshield trim has chipped and flaked away in numerous places.. Since the trim is quite pricey I thought i would take an xacto knife and trim the rubber away across the top of the molding where all the damage is and then after the car is painted fill the gap up with black rtv after using masking tape to make a trimline with it...
Has anybody done this ? The side pillar rubber pieces that act as a channel are all fine, the cracked and chipped area is only on the rubber on the roof part of the trim.