Leaky bonded van windows. What would STW do?

Afternoon. I’ve got a leaky van window, so of course the first place I thought I’d ask for advice is this bike forum.

Erm… anyway… I had side windows (the bonded type) fitted to my van about 5 years ago and one of ’em has developed a leak where the glass has been bonded to the metal of the van. I know the general area where it’s leaking although it’s difficult to pinpoint the exact spot, so I guess there are two options.

I can either grab a couple of tubes of sikaflex and have a stab at resealing the leak and the surrounding area myself. It might be a tad tricky though, because the window sits in a bit of a recess making it hard to access the spot where the leak is. The alternative is to get the window cut out, have the glass and the side of the van stripped of old sika and cleaned up, and then have it rebonded to the van, which, I believe, is a ****t of a job. And potentially expensive.

It’s a 2008 Fiat Ducato, so not a particularly new van.

So, what would STW do?

I am in the camp of do it right first time, any good window fitter should be able get it out easily enough and refit it and do a good job.

On cost for the fitter would be adhesive and wear on tools.

Get it done by a decent window fitter. I bet he’d do a proper job in less than an hour, you’ll spend a couple of hours faffing, making a mess and still won’t know if you’ve fixed it.

The alternative is to get the window cut out, have the glass and the side of the van stripped of old sika and cleaned up, and then have it rebonded to the van, which, I believe, is a ****t of a job. And potentially expensive.

I once had a leaky bonded window and, like you, assumed it would be a expensive fix to have our cut out and replaced. So, I decided to try and seal it myself. It was a ballache, I pissed around with various different attempted solutions and nothing really worked. Eventually I gave in and rang a windscreen fitting fella. He did exactly what you talk about, it took him about fifteen minutes and he charged me £80. I could have cried.

Yeah, I’m more thinking about getting access to the internal bits of the van metal, if necessary, which are behind 25mm of insulation board, then a layer of reflective bubble wrap insulation, then a layer of 9mm ply, etc, etc – all closely fitted around the window aperture. And to take all that out would also mean taking the seats out. A real PITA.

@IHN – did your window fitter need access to the van’s internal metal to do what he did? Or did he just need the outside where the window is glued on?

Just an update here if anyone else with the same question stumbles across this post.

I’ve just had a windscreen company out to remove and refit the window – took them 30 minutes and cost £40+VAT.

Seeing as I was about to spend £20-£30 on sikaflex and a couple of hours randomly squirting it into various gaps around the window, I think that’s a bit of a bargain.

Job done.

result 🙂

Told ya 🙂

👍