Windows - Changing the waste seal rubbers

Here we go then. I've decided its time to change my waist seal rubbers on the Elise. They have started bubbling with rust. As im a real GJOB at heart this annoyed me enough to buy 2 new ones. £56 each from your Lotus dealer wacko.gif This first pic might seem a bit daft and it probably is. Its the tools ive used so far. 1/4 drive rachet with a 10mm socket. For the middle and back nuts that retain the window brackets. A screwdriver for removing the waist seal retaining clips. A 10mm crows foot ring spanner. This is to get at the front nut which is the PITA one. This is by far the best tool to use ive found. With a normal spanner you will struggle.

First wind the window right down and pull off the inner door seal like this. Its only a push fit but might have a bit of glue in to hold it on.

Next remove the door card and carefully pull down the plastic sheet underneath. You have to replace this after. Mine was held in with what looks like a bit of Silicon. This should reveal the 3 nuts that hold the window in. This is the middle one. You may have to wind the window up or down so you can get at them.

Remove the 3 nuts. As i said the middle and rear are easy. The front one is not. The way i did it was to wind the window right up. You can then look down through the front of the window and guide the crow foot spanner on from inside the door. You will need some patience. Once you have done that, pull the 3 brackets and studs off the bottom supporting rail and lift the window out. Tilting it backwards i found is the easiest way.

If your really lucky wacko.gif you will find a couple of them have come unstuck so you can do a proper job of it biggrin.gif As in this pic.

More of that later. These are the clips that hold in the waist seal. I pushed them down with a screwdriver and caught them. This was surprisingly easy.

This is the old one off the car showing the rust inside. The new ones are aluminium inside so should be better.

Right now Liz has gone out ive retired to the kitchen table in the warm smile.gif You can also remove the Window support rail once the window is out as in this pic. It runs on a couple of nylon rollers on the winder mechanism.

All you have to do then is clean all the old glue off the window. I used a kitchen knife. I also used the holes in the rail to realign the brackets to glue them back on. If you have to glue all 3 back on you can mark the position of the brackets on the window using some tape. Here it is done waiting to dry. I used Evo stick seriously strong stuff glue. I used this on the passenger side a while ago and its still stuck so it seems ok.

After you have taken the seal off the door you are left with this mess. The seal was also stuck on with a bit of Silicon or something. I removed the mess with white spirit and elbow grease.

I also put a small bead of bathroom clear silicon on the new seal like so.

Now for the slightly tricky bit, the retaining clips. I found the best way was to open the clips slightly with a suitable sized screwdriver ( same one :-) ) You have to make sure the clips go over the door inner lip as well as the seal. When they are in position remove the screwdriver. You might be able to find a easier way but it worked for me. Dodgy pic but it gives you a idea.

A pic of the new seal in place. It looks a lot better.

Something I nearly forgot. Also make sure the front and rear glass guide channels still have the rubber / felt liners in place. These can get out of position and / or fall out. This causes the window to rattle as well. A dodgy pic of the rear channel but it gives you an idea.

A Final pic now its finished and all back together smile.gif Also a tip to get the front nut back on. I stuck it to the end of my finger using a blob of grease. It worked for me. Have fun tongue.gif