Seamless

I am seriously looking at a car with the typical spot at the base of the A pillar. I know this has been covered a bunch of times (done a search).

Im thinking this could be a winter project but don't want to open a can of worms, especially as this is my first porsche and my dream car.

Otherwise the car seems to be perfect in every way. I am just waiting for the ppi results.

Thoughts?

Pic:

JPP

Have a bodyshop take a look under the entire length of seal where it meets the cowl. Mine was worse where you couldn't see it in the paint, had to cut away the trough and replace it in the passenger corner .. rust repairs, new windshield, seals, install .. paintwork .. it was a substantial bill.

Knight

Has the windshield been replaced before and is it installed correctly? Looking at your seal, it appears to be not sitting right, unless you have it pulled up a bit to show the rust.

If it's been incorrectly installed, depending on the length of time you can assume there is going to be other areas of rust as JPP stated. And some of it you won't be able to tell how severe until the windshield comes out. Same thing for the rear window too.

I've had major issues front/back of mine, Cdn car and during it's time improper installs or bad fix attempts. Your biggest issue about the repair, can the glass be removed without damage which is a 50/50 gamble.

I wouldn't turn down a good car for this, but factor these $ as upcoming future costs.

Good luck!

Mike J

Even with a proper installation, its a primary rust spot, the same for the lower corners of the rear window. The seals are not waterproof, they wil let water in and then it sits in the channel with no drain - stupid design.

As Knight says, it can be costly and it most likely needs the windshield to come out - which is difficult without ruining the windshield.

Cheers,

Mike

cab&coupe

Had this problem with my 993... fortunately the buyer was an informed and knowledgeable car guy. My selling price reflected the cost of repair.

JGB

Mine had the bubble/rust in 3 spots, at both wiper posts and further along.
I'm ashamed to say I missed them completely in my visual inspection (blinded by the shape ) and the PPI was only mechanical, my bad. Didn't notice them until I first washed the car.

The body shop did it right, grind out the rust, replace with new metal, filler only as a skim coat, new mouldings everywhere, etc I made life easier for them as I had the windshield replaced at the same time as the orginal was fairly pitted. All in it was ~$3500.

Here in BC we've got mandatory government insurance which along with other failings has damaged the auto body industry as far as quality goes. The shops are paid fixed fees and measured by ICBC on how cheap they can do things. Once I made it clear that I was doing the paying and as far as I was concerend this was a time and materials job everyone at the shop stepped up and did a great job.

Jim

Seamless

Thanks all. For those who had the repair done, how large of an area had to be painted? was it obvious afterwards (especially with silver cars)?

-Adam

JGB

I had them paint the entire cowl then blend up the A pillars. Can't see the blend at all. Polar Silver.

Jim

JPP

I think that's the typical method but the paint match has to be perfect. Also, I've been told that MOST rust is caused by improper windshield removal when somebody uses a blade to cut through the sealants and also cuts through the paint and primer coats .. then just puts the new windshield over the exposed metal ...

Stealth 993

I just had mine done, the spot was a little smaller then that, but I can bet there is more once you remove the glass.

I paid $400 to get it all sorted & fixed, it was mostly surface stuff. They just ground off the rust, then put in a rust primer & paint. Good as new, well & the $2000 for the new glass.

pirahna

For just the windshield?

Stealth 993

For the glass, the gaskets & install.

Michael Air

My windshield replacement was $1800 for good German glass, but it wasn't even the OEM glass which could be 2k+. This price was for a proper job with good prep, full primer and compatible (same brand) silicone, installed by an experienced tech who does a lot of Porsche's. You should find someone local who has done P-cars and knows what they're doing.

Neil Perry

Hi
I have just had my front and back windows refitted and it was a real drama.
1. You need the Porsche factory templates to fit the front and back windows correctly.
2. You need the small spacers at the bottom of the windows to set the correct height in the window aperture.
3. Windows that are being reused are damaged, when they are cut out, there is a small rubber ledge on the inside of windows under the internal rubber that gets damaged, that hides the window adhesive.
4. Remove all the excess adhesive off the window and window aperture with a stanley blade, if this is not all removed, it will add to the height of the window fitting in the aperture and the window will not sit correctly and probably look like the rubber does on your picture.
5.Repair and repaint any area in the aperture where the paint has been damaged when the windows are cut out, as these areas will only rust and you can start the whole process again
6. The height of the new adhesive has to be correct as per the manual.
7. Fill the gap with adhesive between the window and the aperture to stop rust and I think it could stop the dreaded 993 window squeak.
8. It is worth replacing the internal trim/rubbers, they are cheap, although the original are not usually damaged or distorted.

There are other issues, but the above are the most important.

Looking at the photo above of the corner, I would almost guarantee that window has been replaced before. The corner on factory original is almost flat and not rounding up. Also it looks like your windscreen could be set slightly to the right, only by a couple of millimeters.

I would check the gap on the inside across the bottom of the front windscreen, between the glass and the internal rubber, it should be between, touching the glass to about 4mm max gap and a little rubber ridge on the inside.
If there is a bigger gap than 4mm and a mess of adhesive, then the front windscreen has been replaced or refitted.

Good Luck.......

NP993

Couple of points....

1. The outer seal is inexpensive enough (I think around $45) that if you're serious about buying the car it's worth asking the seller if he'll allow you to remove it (30 seconds) to get a better look at the rust situation. Sometimes you can remove it intact, sometimes it comes apart. Either way it's a small investment to acquire much greater knowledge.

2. Replacing glass frankly isn't that big a deal, as long as the guy doing it knows what he's doing. I had my windshield replaced two weeks ago. Did lots of reading, expected problems, etc. Found a good guy and watched the whole thing. It's a piece of cake. You don't need factory templates and all that stuff. Your glass guy just needs to position it evenly inside the windshield aperture and use the correct kind and amount of urethane.

3. It's not expensive. Sunset sells the glass for $775 and (at least where I had it done, a well-known glass specialist) the install was around $250. Assuming you get the glass from Sunset, there's no reason this should be much more than a $1K job. It doesn't take that long -- aside from cure time, it's a couple hours of labor max. In your case of couse this will be different because of the rust.