E85 Window moldings

[Mike W]

The rubber molding around the top and sides of the windshield is cracked. The what looks like plastic molding at the base of the windshield and covers the wiper motor is also cracked and pieces are broken off. Has anyone replaced these? I looks like a job to replace the lower piece as the wipers would have to be removed. Just as an aside, I've owned dozens of cars in my lifetime and never seen such cheap plastic/rubber parts.

[StickMon]

This.
It's a pretty easy job. The surround rubber takes about 15 minutes, plus the time it takes to clean up the bits of the old one.
The hard part about the plastic tray under the wipers is getting the wiper arms off.
Some come off easy. I had to use a small gear puller.

As for the rate of deterioration, I totally agree.
I just took a look at the plastic/rubber around the windshield on my Suburban, and it's almost mint.
The truck is 3 years older than the car and has probably spent 5 more years baking in the sun.
Hardly ever wash it. Never got near it with 303 or Gummi Pflege.

[donoman]

Yep, there's a reason the Germans lost WWII.

[StickMon]

[GriffBrew]

Originally Posted by StickMon

This.
It's a pretty easy job. The surround rubber takes about 15 minutes, plus the time it takes to clean up the bits of the old one.
The hard part about the plastic tray under the wipers is getting the wiper arms off.
Some come off easy. I had to use a small gear puller.

WHS. windshield glazing is easy, just take your time. After install, I found a whistling at speed withy the top down so I used a little silicone (for glazing) to keep it down.

The windshield cowling was tougher. It's pretty large. Definitely get new mounting hardware because they are plastic too and half of mine broke. The windshield wipers were the biggest pain and the gear pullers never worked for me. I ended up using penetrating oil and the wiggle method by hand. Spray with oil, wiggle wiper, wait, repeat. Once I started this it was only about 15 min per side. I spent hours with gear pullers and buying those things. Complete waste.