cobalt

Unfortunately the 993’s have similar issues.

The big issue is the poor quality seals. If it wasn’t fit that i would pull the windshield. But It is far worse than the fan bearings and fuel pumps. I just measured my new rear seal against the old seal of 10 years ago. Again the seam was inferior and the overall length is 1” shy. So trying to get them to sit properly is a nightmare. On the rear glass they no longer cut in the holes for the wiring. Cutting them in is not an easy job.

The front seals are no better. I can’t get one that isn’t too short and fits properly.

LM964

Just so I'm clear, the 993 front screen is a like for like replacement for the 964? That is, it's dimensions, shape etc are 100% exactly the same? Worth noting if that is the case.

My insurance policy in the past allowed for screen replacement if the screen was so heavily marked, (gravel) pitted etc that it was considered no longer safe to use or could fail the car annual MOT test. Driving into direct sun caused so much glare and light scatter that it impeded normal vision and therefore considered 'unsafe'. I paid the claim excess plus was allowed to use a screen fitter of my choice.

cobalt

We are nowhere near as strict here. We can use anyone or replace it ourselves. Nobody checks. The 993 windshield is larger, glued in place using betaseal and has a rubber trim overlay. My friend has been doing more 993 rust spots on both front and rear windows than 964's lately. It could be because we seem to have more 993's out and about but they didn't resolve the issue by making the changes. The down side is there is a much higher chance of breaking the 993 windshield when removing it.. My friend has a string device that works nicely cutting through the betaseal but even that isn't fool proof. The upside is you don't have to deal with these bad rubber seals we are getting. I spent three hours just cutting in the holes and feeding the wires then stretching it over the glass yesterday. I used to be able to do it in under an hour. I already know I will have the same problems with this one. The corners are pulling in before I install it which never happened in the past.

I never recommended this in the past but you might try to save the old seal and reuse it. If I didn't cut the seal on the car i would have used the 10 year old one instead of the new one.

LM964

Interesting to hear 993's too are becoming victim to the same screen scuttle corrosion. Wonder, even as a bigger screen with both Betaseal and a rubber trim, it's still susceptible exactly to the same issue of water ingress. Seems strange, especially if the whole frame recess is gap-filled with a tube of Betaseal, topped off with a rubber trim. My previous 964 needed the corner cut out and one of those scuttle repair panels welded in. Worked a treat. Rear not so easy as no repair panel exists so it was all fabricated by hand. Only wish I had the same skills

cobalt

There seems to be no specific reason why one car has issues over another. I just repalced the seals on my 144k mile track car and I found the most minute rust spot after being abused and sitting outside for years. My 62k mile garage kept C2 had a similar spec of rust when I removed the windshield. My Blue Meanie car before I built it sat outside with water inside and out for 10 years and had 0 rust. Go figure. I have seen some cars with massive holes that needed nearly half the cowl repalced. More times than not I am starting to notice the rust is mostly on cars that do not wear their original glass. Although not always the case. I suspect that the badly rusted cars the installers expose the metal and don't address it before the new window is installed.

LM964

Maybe another factor, or variable, being the 964 was assembled by hand and some may have escaped QC and inspections, or were Friday afternoon rush jobs. Possibly the body dipping process only fully coated the shell 99.9% of the time leaving areas in that 0.1% of shells bare or not properly coated.

cobalt

I am not so sure. The factory did a decent job coating and painting. They also hand seam seal some of the areas. I think it is more an issue of the seals drying out and shrinking allowing water to enter the channel and sit eventually the dirt that gets in there abrades the finish exposing raw metal. Would be my guess. Even cars without rust I find dirt in the lower channel when removing the windshields.

Another update seal #3 also NG. I tried 3 times to install it and it is clearly about 3/4" too short in overall length and no way to stretch it to seal properly. We don't have the metal trim like the G body cars which made it easy to push the seal to where you want it. This is again the rear but the fronts are nearly as bad. I am going to by an aftermarket seal and compare them I suspect they are the same seal these days. Without the holes it makes for work and trying to get this to sit properly is a nightmare.

After three tries I gave up for now and will revisit. But I am not pleased and the price si ludicrous for what it is.

First try the upper right wouldn't sit flush. Even with trying to stretch it pushing all the seal towards the corners it still will not lay properly in one of the upper corners. The 10 year old seal I removed would have been better to use over if I didn't cut it removing the old window.


Very dissatisfied and I have done far too many of these to know that the factory seals are garbage these days.

spevie

I really don't understand why the windscreen rust problem occurs at all since the design of the 964 windscreen/gasket is the same as used on the Volkswagen Beetle as far back as the very earliest pre war versions?
I have never heard that early beetles have rust in this area, and they were never galvanized, and the paint was presumably of lesser quality than modern types?
Sure, a replacement gasket of poor quality, or poor placement of the glass and damage to the paint, but why on a well maintained factory installation...?

LM964

Possibly a simple case of garaged 964 vs a 964 kept outside most of its life

r-mm

I am closing in on addressing this on my car. I got with some 964 luminaries and we prayed on 964 vs 993 glazing. I won't say there is a clear choice but I am likely going with the latter. Here are the parts and prices as of August '24, all from Delaware Porsche for consistency. As you will see, there's not much daylight between the prices.

993 Screen<!--td {border: 1px solid #cccccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}-->993-541-111-05 $1142 <!--td {border: 1px solid #cccccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}-->https://www.delawareporscheparts.com...ExMS0wMA%3D%3D
993 Outer Seal<!--td {border: 1px solid #cccccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}-->993-541-925-00 $75<!--td {border: 1px solid #cccccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}-->https://www.delawareporscheparts.com...et-99354192500
993 Inner Seal<!--td {border: 1px solid #cccccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}-->993-541-435-01 $58<!--td {border: 1px solid #cccccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}-->https://www.delawareporscheparts.com...et-99354143501

964 Screen<!--td {border: 1px solid #cccccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}-->964-541-011-09 $1238 <!--td {border: 1px solid #cccccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}-->https://www.delawareporscheparts.com...AxMS0wMA%3D%3D
964 Seal<!--td {border: 1px solid #cccccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}-->964-541-225-00 $247 https://www.delawareporscheparts.com...al-96454122500

r-mm

Oh yikes some Excel seems to have spilled in there... oh well you see the idea.

Spyder_2011

I tried ordering my new windshield from Gaudin and Delaware Porsche but neither were keen on shipping glass unfortunately. I ended up using my bodyshop to buy the glass, they charged me retail for it and handed me the receipt. I also had to buy a new seal as my old one wasn’t reusable. It does appear that Porsche addressed the issue with the seal being too short in the corners or perhaps I got lucky as mine looks very good.

r-mm

Was retail the ~25% higher price you see in the links?

Spyder_2011

Retail was about $1650 in May 2024 for just the glass. . Since you aren’t too far from Delaware they may be willing to ship to you. I live in SoCal and Gaudin (Vegas) wasn’t willing to ship to me. Best Price I could find locally was Walter’s Porsche at $1450 but I would have had to pick it up and for $200 I wasn’t willing to take the risk.