PROPER JOB
The other main reason for having certainly your 993’s front and/or rear windscreen removed and refitted, perhaps regardless of any other damage, is to cure the annoying and surprisingly loud creaking sound for which the cars became infamous, even while they were nearly new. Or in some unfortunate cases virtually brand-new.
Many theories for this have been advanced, but ultimately it can be due only to movement within the adhesive joint between the glass and the body – or perhaps even the two materials touching actually each other. The rear window in the blue car shown here, for instance, was pushed tight against the righthand top corner of the rebate, such that Paul Ralhan had difficulty passing that stainless- steel cutting wire through the gap – and that had been installed at the factory. The other possible culprit is the hard-plastic perimeter channel for the outer trim, again moving relative to the glass and/or the body.
Numerous ‘cures’ have been suggested, too, probably the best known of them being the fitting of a length of special low-friction PTFE tape beneath the lip of the outer perimeter seal, where it meets the paintwork. But Paul Ralhan is adamant – and we see no reason to disagree – that the only way to solve the problem, once and for all, is to have the windscreen out, and then to do the job properly. ‘Otherwise you might as well just turn up the volume on the stereo,’ he says.
It’s a fairly drastic step, especially if the window is otherwise undamaged (and that will most likely be the case for the rear screen), but in that case it might be possible to save money by having the old glass refitted. That will necessarily tend to compromise the job, however – your fitter will probably have to spend some time making good the edge of the rubber bonded to the screen at the factory, and the plastic channel may be damaged – so you need carefully to weigh up the facts of the situation, and then to decide accordingly.
Needless to say, the 993 shown here had been suffering from the problem – which was why the rear window had to come out, as well as the previously poorly installed front – but now, with two new glasses, and all traces of corrosion eradicated from the rebates, it is in that context both as quiet as the proverbial mouse and 100 per cent watertight. And, more to the point, more than likely to remain so for the life of the car.