Crispin

Thanks TexasAMU225 for the rear glass repair ideas. I did some things differently so decided to start a fresh post. Working on the in-law's 2001 TT roadster where the rear glass fell out completely. In searching, I saw two things I liked. One was using a ball to hold the glass up and the other was using 3M 5200 for the adhesive. I had used 5200 building boats and knew it was some seriously tough stuff.
I didn't have an exercise ball and ended up using two, $2.00 bouncy ***** from Wallmart. Get the ones that can be deflated/inflated with a typical football or basketball needle. I bought two, 3 oz. tubes of 3M 5200 in black.

I deflated the ***** which were quite stretchy and shrunk to about half their size. I put two empty, matching cardboard boxes in the well to support the *****. I put the ***** on the boxes.

I put the glass in place dry and got it in the proper position.

I cut four strips of dense foam; two short and two longer. I temporarily hot-glued these to the outside of the glass to locate and help handle the glass later. This worked great!

On our top, the fabric was still attached to the glass, it was the fabric-to-fabric bond that failed. I cleaned the fabric "flange" on the glass and the top itself with acetone.

I put one fat bead of 3M all around the window flange where the glass met the fabric.

With my able bodied assistant/car owner, we angled the glass through the window hole from the outside holding it with the foam blocks. Once in place, he held the glass while I went inside and blew up the *****. I stuck the needle in the ***** and used a rubber tipped blow gun to quickly fill the *****. The top was unlatched and slightly open.

Bingo! Well, almost, there was one problem. Even with the blocks centering the window, the glass was slowly sliding down. I cut a piece of wood and placed it between the 3rd brake light and the lower foam block that was hot-glued to the glass. Between the ***** and now the stick, the glass was perfectly supported.

For the next 48 hours, I periodically rolled the seam with a plastic roller, inside and out. I cleaned up all the smeared 5200 with a razor and put one more bead around from the outside. I cut the second tip sharp for this small bead that I put in place right in the crevice where the glass meets the top opening and I did not touch it (ie no smearing with your finger).

This process took 3 days because 5200 does not cure quickly. Deflated the *****, cut the boxes down, removed the foam blocks and voila...

dealmake5

Great , set up !

kclee1st

Nice *****.

JosephBranion

I have a 2003 Audi Cabriolet with a convertible rear window delaminating from the top itself. My Car has been garaged it's whole life. It only has 24,000 miles. The top is in great condition other than the rear window.
I see there are others with the same problem.
I could use some direction to take for this problem as a new top is $5-6,000.
Thanks,, Joe

Crispin

I'm in here with another problem on this car but thought I would update. Rear window fix with 3M 5200 is still holding after 5 years and many top up-and-downs. C.