When I took the glass out for paint, I knew I would not be reusing the front and rear windscreen seals. The old ones were throughly perished and the filler strip hard hardened into a brittle state. After reading the many reviews of Uro seals Vs BMW windscreen seals, I elected to go with BMW even though I went Uro with the door seals. My reasoning, apart from saving money was that the door is capable of adjustment but the windscreen is not.

I started with the rear screen first and tried to follow the Blue Book method of installing the filler strip into the rubber before pulling it into the frame. I was somewhat hampered by it being a relatively cold late winter night in Adelaide (about 12 degrees C, 53 degrees F) and the filler strip had just been taken from the packaging where it had been coiled up for who knows how long. Not only was it in a lazy spiral it had a twist along its length. Every time I tried to feed it into the rubber it would often turn over in the slot and all of the pushing and shoving was either pulling the rubber off the glass or risking sliding the whole lot off the boot lid onto the floor (I had a polar fleece blanket on the boot lid to protect the paint and the glass). I thought that by not being installed I would be able to install the filler without a special tool - so confident was I that I ignored an opportunity to buy a new tool.

After lots of swear words and failed attempts I decided to make my own tool by twisting up some brazing rod and trying it the 'old fashioned way' of installing the glass and rubber before the filler strip. I had made up the other recommended tool of a few metres of 3.5mm nylon ripcord and a piece of old radio aerial that the cord would fit through. After bell-mouthing one end so that the cord would run through easily this made the perfect applicator for the cord. The aerial piece is just inserted into the slot and run around the outside, installing the rope deep into the slot. After centering the screen on the opening, some careful slapping with my hand and pulling the rope, the seal and glass slid into the opening. A few areas where bits of seal needed pulling over the lip with a plastic trim tool but no dramas.

Once the seal was in place the filler was relatively straight forward to install with some dish detergent and water for lubricant and my homemade installation tool. So much for the Blue Book! I learnt my lesson for the front screen and took the filler strip out of its bag and left it hanging from a rough truss, weighed down by some bulldog clips with old head bolts.

When I first pulled my new Uro door seals from the bag, I was wary about their fit, mainly from what I had read but also because the lower door parts looked so alien. After stuffing the top section into the aluminium profile around the top of the door, the lower sections were glued into place using 3M weatherstrip adhesive. The surfaces to be glued were roughed up with sand paper and cleaned with wax& grease remover to remove any residue. A thin line of adhesive was run along the seal and spread thinly. A matching bead was run and spread on the door frame, both were then left to go tacky before being stuck together. After the adhesive, the pinch weld mouldings were replaced around the door and refitted 3/4 windows.

After adjustment of the vent window and door glass, I had a few exploratory slams. Definitely needs a good shove but not as bad as could be expected. The upper seal section could do with being reduced in thickness (or made of softer material like the rear vertical section). I am tempted to trim this area back by a few millimetres to allow the vent frame to sit better in the seal. Overall it's not too bad though so I am going to give it a chance to compress before I do anything drastic.

Homemade tools and the world's most useful tool.