Loose windscreen rubber

[searcher]

Loose windscreen rubber
The top and left-hand side (passenger-side) of my windscreen rubber became loose and started flapping while I was travelling recently on the motorway, at about 65 mph --- quite frightening, really. I stopped on the hard shoulder and managed to push it back in. Water is not leaking in around the rubber, but, obviously, I must repair it. Has this happened to anyone else? Can somebody please suggest a suitable glue? (My Berlingo is a 2003 Multi-space Forte.)

[Drew]

I had a similar thing happen on a transit van years ago, I stuck it back using black mastic, it stuck the rubber in fine and if you put plenty on it will fill any gaps when you push the rubber back in, any excess can be wiped off with a cloth before it goes off. It made a perfect repair and you wouldn't even know it had been done..

[searcher]

I had a similar thing happen on a transit van years ago, I stuck it back using black mastic, it stuck the rubber in fine and if you put plenty on it will fill any gaps when you push the rubber back in, any excess can be wiped off with a cloth before it goes off. It made a perfect repair and you wouldn't even know it had been done..

---

I had thanked you immediately, Drew, for your answer --- and it put me directly on the right track. I based my action on what you'd done. Instead of using black mastic, I used what must be clear mastic (I'm no chemist!), silicone glue from Halfords (Granville, around £5 for a small tube). This remains malleable for around 15 minutes, and so I was easily able to pull out the rubber beading on the passenger side of the windscreen, squeeze on a fine line/drops of glue, and then push back the rubber beading into the right position. When everything was correctly in place, I was able to wipe off any smears with a dry cloth.
I'm almost sure this will have settled the problem, but won't know until I get out of the town onto the open road.
Thanks again

[hachiroku]

I'' tell you my story...

few years ago I had the windscreen on a previous car replaced by Autoglass (through my insurance company/glass excess), they came out, fitted the new windscreen, no problem.

A few weeks later I noticed a loud whistling noise and then later could actually see the top corner of the rubber seal lifting away at high speed!
Keen to fix the pesky rubber seal down I used some silicone sealant on it and it stuck it down rather well.

Meantime I had contacted Autoglass and told them of my problem, they asked me to come into their premises in Leeds and they would take a look.

they agreed it was an installation error and offered to replace it free of charge the same day.

When I mentioned I'd used silicone sealant to stick the rubber back down I was told that it was a very bad idea as the chemicals in the silicone sealant can attack the glues that they bond the windscreen in with, so in effect it would probably make things worse instead of better over a period of time

At the time I asked about on several other car forums and also got the same message from other sources.... if the rubber seal comes away then don't use silicone, get it looked at professionally.

That's all I know on the subject

[searcher]

I'' tell you my story...

few years ago I had the windscreen on a previous car replaced by Autoglass (through my insurance company/glass excess), they came out, fitted the new windscreen, no problem.

A few weeks later I noticed a loud whistling noise and then later could actually see the top corner of the rubber seal lifting away at high speed!
Keen to fix the pesky rubber seal down I used some silicone sealant on it and it stuck it down rather well.

Meantime I had contacted Autoglass and told them of my problem, they asked me to come into their premises in Leeds and they would take a look.

they agreed it was an installation error and offered to replace it free of charge the same day.

When I mentioned I'd used silicone sealant to stick the rubber back down I was told that it was a very bad idea as the chemicals in the silicone sealant can attack the glues that they bond the windscreen in with, so in effect it would probably make things worse instead of better over a period of time

At the time I asked about on several other car forums and also got the same message from other sources.... if the rubber seal comes away then don't use silicone, get it looked at professionally.

That's all I know on the subject

---

I'' tell you my story...

few years ago I had the windscreen on a previous car replaced by Autoglass (through my insurance company/glass excess), they came out, fitted the new windscreen, no problem.

A few weeks later I noticed a loud whistling noise and then later could actually see the top corner of the rubber seal lifting away at high speed!
Keen to fix the pesky rubber seal down I used some silicone sealant on it and it stuck it down rather well.

Meantime I had contacted Autoglass and told them of my problem, they asked me to come into their premises in Leeds and they would take a look.

they agreed it was an installation error and offered to replace it free of charge the same day.

When I mentioned I'd used silicone sealant to stick the rubber back down I was told that it was a very bad idea as the chemicals in the silicone sealant can attack the glues that they bond the windscreen in with, so in effect it would probably make things worse instead of better over a period of time

At the time I asked about on several other car forums and also got the same message from other sources.... if the rubber seal comes away then don't use silicone, get it looked at professionally.

That's all I know on the subject

Reply from "Searcher": Thanks "Hachiroku" for your prompt comment on my entry this afternoon.
I hope that my using silicone will not damage the seal in any way because I was at pains to stick rubber only to rubber, slotting the rubber "flange" into a rubber groove/channel and did not attempt in any way to touch the sealant holding the windscreen glass to the metal. To the best of my knowledge, any excess went only onto the visible windscreen, and I was able to wipe that away within fifteen minutes, without leaving any marks.
Let's hope it's OK, and that it will not affect the windscreen seal itself.
Thanks again for your advice.

[Drew]

Hadn't thought about silicon effecting the rubber seal but seeing as it has got solvent in then it's obvious really, on the other hand I used genuine Mastic which is a plant resin and hasn't got solvent in it. By the way I didn't have to pay for the Mastic, which was lucky because the genuine stuff is very expensive.

[ffrenchie]

It happened on my mate's Transit and we glued it back down with Tiger Seal, it's like cheap Sikaflex and it's never moved since. PU adhesive will do the job and is similar to the glue they use to fit screens nowadays.