Door window replacement?

[zypher10]

Recently got my car broken into, they smashed my passenger door window.
I'm getting a replacement from wreckers.
Is there any guides on how to replace it?

[humfrz]

Well, that sucks .....

What did you have inside the car they wanted .... ??

You might search through the DIY section for some insight on replacing the door glass.

@Tcoat has a list of references ......


humfrz

[Tcoat]

Sorry I can't help this time. If anybody successfully replaced their own glass they never wrote about it. I personally will do any other work on a car but would not touch glass repairs if my life depended on it! The closest I can come to a recommendation is @Ultramaroon who at least adjusted his and may have some insight.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Sorry I can't help this time. If anybody successfully replaced their own glass they never wrote about it. I personally will do any other work on a car but would not touch glass repairs if my life depended on it! The closest I can come to a recommendation is @Ultramaroon who at least adjusted his and may have some insight.

Augh! I thought I was safe when humfrz didn't mention me.

OP, it's a bitch. Attempt only if you are exceedingly patient. Each adjustment affects all the others. The happy medium will be in there somewhere, I can promise that.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Augh! I thought I was safe when humfrz didn't mention me.

[finch1750]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Augh! I thought I was safe when humfrz didn't mention me.

OP, it's a bitch. Attempt only if you are exceedingly patient. Each adjustment affects all the others. The happy medium will be in there somewhere, I can promise that.

Shit. Maybe this explaines why I can't get my passenger door window to reset correctly. I replaced the driver side myself and had no issues. Takes some time but fairly straight forward. Must have just got lucky

To the OP buy it direct from Subaru or Toyota and it's probably fine (comes with the whole arm assbly and everything and adjusted correctly is my guess). That's what I did for my driver window. Passenger side is 3rd party and dont know if the arm got replaced too and if so how the QC is to keep it aligned correctly.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Augh! I thought I was safe when humfrz didn't mention me.

OP, it's a bitch. Attempt only if you are exceedingly patient. Each adjustment affects all the others. The happy medium will be in there somewhere, I can promise that.

I was just giving you a break.......

@zypher10 - don't miss the reference @Ultramaroon posted. After looking at that, you may decide to have a glass shop do the work.


humfrz

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by finch1750

Shit. Maybe this explaines why I can't get my passenger door window to reset correctly. I replaced the driver side myself and had no issues. Takes some time but fairly straight forward. Must have just got lucky

To the OP buy it direct from Subaru or Toyota and it's probably fine (comes with the whole arm assbly and everything and adjusted correctly is my guess). That's what I did for my driver window. Passenger side is 3rd party and dont know if the arm got replaced too and if so how the QC is to keep it aligned correctly.

I adjusted mine during the summer and drove for several days with the door cards removed so I could see just how each tweak settled in over time.

[aegisdrgn]

I had to fix the mess the body shop made, and it took me over 6 hours to do so with tips from Ultramaroon.

I'm still not totally happy with how it closes / opens, and I know exactly which bolts I need to adjust, but too lazy to cut the butyl seal open again and not make a mess.

Here are my tips:
- Have an exacto knife, or just a any thin, sharp knife. Use this to cut the butyl tape hoping the vapor barrier to the door, almost like cutting an Oreo cookie in the middle of the cream. Don’t pull the cover off, or you’ll make a mess of the tape and/or rip the vapor barrier (plastic sheeting) like the body shop did to my car.

- Make note of which door cable is up + down (green + white). I forgot to make note (and still don’t remember) and couldn’t open my door from the inside after buttoning up everything. lol

- Unscrew the window switch control panel from the door card and plug it into the naked door - you’ll want to be able to roll the window up and down with the door card removed as you do the adjustments.

- Window "depth" (imagine the window moving closer to/further away from you as you're sitting in car) should be done carefully - make sure you have a consistent gap between the window glass and the top trim (I stick my pinky in the gap to gauge how much space there is, the spec in millimeters is in the PDF Ultramaroon posted). Too less, and you'll hear an unpleasant "clank" when the window strikes the trim as you open the door, too much and the window will flex quite a bit when you close the door. There are two parts to this adjustment - there's the actual depth adjustment, and there's the "tilt" - how much the top of the window tilts inwards towards the driver. I just made sure the window is centered in between the felt pads in the base of the window, and adjusted the tilt to gain the appropriate gap.

- Window height adjustment (how hard it presses against the rubber trim at the top of the door frame) Too high, and the rubber trim will be seriously pinched, or the window motor will be forcing the arm up against the door frame and bending the arm over time, or and the "window indexing" feature (automatic scroll down when you open the door) will not be fast enough to roll the window out of the way, and you'll hear a "clank" as it strikes the window trim. Too low, and you don't have enough pressure against the rubber trim, leading to wind whistling through, or water intrusion. There are two parts to this procedure - you want to make sure the window height is appropriate when the door is open, and also when it closes. With the door open, gently push your door against the car, but don’t close it, and try to make the open gap between the top edge of the window and the rubber trim consistent. With the door closed, the two window “sash stoppers” prevent the window from scrolling so far up that it crushes the rubber trim. You want to adjust the bolts such that the window stops moving up at the same time (in other words, the window hits both the front and back sash stoppers at the same time). Window height adjustment was the trickiest thing for me to do, and I’m still not happy with it.

- Window forward/backward position (imagine the window slide towards the front or backward of the car as you sit in it). Too far forward, and the window will push against / stretch the rubber trim on the triangle glass as the window rolls up. Too far back, and you'll have a gap in the front / top.

- Patience. As Ultramaroon mentioned, each adjustment affects the window position in obvious and subtle ways, keep a sharpie on hand to mark your old positions and adjust incrementally.

I attached a PDF of my write up that I started, but never really finished. Hope it helps.

Here's a picture of all the bolts you'll be adjusting

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by aegisdrgn

I'm still not totally happy with how it closes / opens, and I know exactly which bolts I need to adjust, but too lazy to cut the butyl seal open again and not make a mess.

so much this ^^^ I still get urges to tweak both of mine just a little... bit... more.

- Make note of which door cable is up + down (green + white). I forgot to make note (and still don’t remember) and couldn’t open my door from the inside after buttoning up everything. lol

I don't remember if we discussed this but I didn't separate the cables from the levers. I figure we can shoot the shit and OP will make sense of it if he works on his.

One of the things I discovered was the importance of making sure the window contacts both bump stops at the same time when it's closing. This is what keeps the regulator from jamming when it closes the window. I originally adjusted my driver's side because, after sitting for hours, the window would make a loud pop like when a stone hits the windshield.

Here are the before and after clips of my driver's side.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1daWc_5z7k"]before - YouTube[/ame]



[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVahTymv2T4"]after - YouTube[/ame]

[aegisdrgn]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Here are the before and after clips of my driver's side.

Hey, wow, using tape to measure the window movement is a fantastic idea! I'm definitely going to do that next time I futz with my window.


I agree, getting the window to hit both bump stops / sash stops at the same time is important. Something I didn't mention in my notes and is shown in your "before" video is that if the bump stops aren't hit at the same time, the window doesn't roll up in a linear motion. You can see in the video that the window rolls "up", then "back" because it's hitting the back-bump stop after it hits the front (imagine the window pivoting like a clock hand counterclockwise around the front bump stop)

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by aegisdrgn

Something I didn't mention in my notes and is shown in your "before" video is that if the bump stops aren't hit at the same time, the window doesn't roll up in a linear motion. You can see in the video that the window rolls "up", then "back" because it's hitting the back-bump stop after it hits the front (imagine the window pivoting like a clock hand counterclockwise around the front bump stop)

Exactly. If while playing those video clips one focuses on the audio, two clicks can be heard on the 'before' clip where almost only one is heard after adjustment. Very close.

Let's mentally segue over to window adjustment and the fact that those stops are used for window alignment, or are they?

They are, so that means the window regulator must be adjusted to maintain that orientation on the way up. It's important for regulator and that follower to be adjusted so the window doesn't bind in that mode.

The other important adjustment to watch is the force in which the glass scrubs against those felt-lined supports. That's a challenge and notably not covered in the instructions. I suggest that it may have been left up to the voodoo adjustment experts at the plant and is why many of the earlier first model year ended up with scored glass. It may even have been a single new guy on a particular shift that didn't get the memo.