The seal around my rear window is leaking, so I want to replace it, but I have no idea how. From what I understand, I'll need a roll of butyl tape, but what kind of tool do I need to remove the chrome trim around the rear window? Do I just pop the trim, pull the window, and re-tape it?

 

Auto parts will have the special tool for trim removal. They're cheep. After the trim is off you need to cut the existing seal. This can be done with a bent knife or special tool. Becareful it is very easy to brake the window by prying on it.

After the window is out you'll need to clean all the old seal off and inspect for rust. If it's rusted, please do this right and replace with new steel not body putty.

Good Luck!

 

That window has been leaky since I bought the car, so there's probably rust in there. I was going to wait until I painted the whole car to locate all the rust/bondo in it and then replace whatever metal needed to be replaced then. Right now I just want the trunk to stop leaking.

 

If your looking for a temporary fix. There's the old standby, a big bead of clear silicone sealer all around the trim.

 

I thought about that! The caulk gun with the clear silicone is only 10 feet away from my car in the garage

 

This is how it's done: after you have cleaned/prepped the metal, you paint it with a special primer. This helps the butyl stick. Then you clean the glass and run a strip of masking tape all the way around the perimeter of the glass, about 1/2" from the edge. Then you paint the 1/2" edge strip with primer and let it dry.

Apply the butyl to the glass. Make sure they sell you the right one, it comes in different thicknesses for different vehicles. I like to buy it at an auto body supply house cause they know what you need. Pick up a tube of sealer while you are there. It is black like the butyl and the primer and pops right in your caulking gun.

Peel the tape off at an angle towards you so you don't lift the primer. Place backlight on the car. It helps if you have suction cups with the handles. Now this is the part where you have to be super careful. After you are happy with positioning, use the palm of your hand to smack the around the edge of the glass to seat the butly. Too much force and you'll crack it, not enough and you leave gaps that will allow water in.

Last, run a bead of sealer all the way around the glass. Don't clip too much off the tip of the tube cause it's kind of runny. After you run a decent bead, use your finger or a plastic tool to smooth the sealer out. You don't want to leave any low spots, especially around the top. Water will sit there. You want to imagine how the water will run and smooth to help it flow.

I like to have it start high near the edge of the glass, then slope away from the glass. Kind of like this crappy representation where the bracket is the edge of the glass and the backslash is the sealer. }\

Also, if you are going to do a quick and dirty temp job under this, recommend you use POR-15 to coat the rusty metal after you get as much of the cancer out. Will help to keep it from spreading too bad.