Rear window exterior bottom seal

Digitalchaos

Registered User
How is the aluminum strip at the bottom exterior of the rear window properly removed? The black coating on mine has peeled, and a white undercoating is showing through..
 
Darn window trim pieces

my front top one is starting to show the aluminum underneath it. I think the only way to replace the top and bottom front and back windshield trim pieces is by taking the glass out. I'll hopefully be able to replace my front one when i get a new windshield in the front because the previous owner allowed the windshield wiper to come off the blade and it etched pretty designs into the glass, pretty deep too.

But as for replacing them, i believe you have to take the glass out to get to them. If we are on the same part :) I figured that out when i wanted to get my UGLY looking ones off my 92 LX. If I am wrong though, someone let me know :rolleyes:


Nick
 
That would certainly be beyond what I would want to do to simply rubbercoat the rear window strip, lol.

If that proves to be true, I will have to figure out a way to paint the strip on the car w/o contaminating surrounding surfaces.
 
Well, I had this problem too. There is a thick rubber like coating on them. I tried different kinds of stripper and nothing worked. So, I taped the area around them and carefully scraped all of the coating off with a new razor blade. Its quite a PITA but well worth it. The trim is very soft metal and you will nick it up a bit. After I removed as much as I could, I sanded with 400 grit sandpaper. Then I sprayed a coat of etching primer, Then two light coats of sandable primer, sanded smooth with 600 grit. Then two light coats of semi gloss black paint. I finished of with light sanding with 2000 Grit to get the dust out and take the shine down some. Applied some trim dressing, Much better now.
 
Kevin (and others)...

The front windshield top strip snaps in place - to remove it, pry upward.

The rear window bottom strip is held in place with all those little black buttons. To remove them, rotate each one until the little slot faces rearward, then push them forward to remove. Be careful; they tend to break easily. You can still buy those fasteners from Ford BTW.

The strips themselves are soft aluminum coated in rubber. That white you see underneath is actually the metal.
 
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