Newest Uro windshield seal doesn’t fit very well

[Duc Hunter]

My car leaks like a sieve with the factory seal. The old URO seal leaked the same. I don’t have those gaps though. With the factory seal I can wash the car and have water dripping out from under the dash.

I think the factory seals are prob now made in china (like a lot of Porsche Classic parts seem to be now) and are crap too. I have not tried the new URO seal yet though.

[Evans, Marv]

My '72 leaked under the dash also. When I removed the windshield and the dash pad I had major rust to the metal under the dash corresponding to the bottom corners of the windshield.

[UROParts]

Originally Posted by 175K911

Picked up a new Uro windshield seal from our host, after it was posted that all of the old seals had been purged and the only thing in inventory was the latest, most updated seal.

Hi Ed, could be wrong but looks like you have the old version seal. Please PM us a photo of the bag showing the label, if you still have it. We'll figure it out via PM. Perhaps someone returned an old version seal to Pelican and their warehouse staff returned it to stock for resale.

Here are photos of how the corners of the new seals look: Re-designed New URO Windshield Seal Review

Originally Posted by 3Ddesigns911

Here are some pictures of the finished installation with the new seal and original windshield.
It is wider, and fits well all around including the corners. It molds around to the body and no gaps anywhere.

Here's a photo showing the outer lip measurement to identify the redesigned version. OEM and our prior version have a lip that's about 8 or 9mm, while our redesigned seal is about 12mm. Also, you can't see it in the photo, but there's another rib hiding next to the inner lip for a total of four ribs, just like OEM. We discontinued the prior version of the seal around February of 2018.

[UROParts]

Originally Posted by Koizumi

Yep! It’s ridiculous. It’s as if Porsche just made a mold of the faulty Uro gasket to fill inventory.

That makes zero sense. We reproduced the OEM seal (which is logically the best approach), which means the problems with the OEM seal were also reproduced. Highly doubt Porsche would reproduce an aftermarket reproduction of their flawed OEM product. We are not and have never been the OEM supplier for this item.

However...it's entirely possible Porsche will eventually duplicate our new improved seal, or more likely will just buy our redesigned seal and repackage it as OEM. You'll know when the fitment of the OEM seal suddenly improves.

[Koizumi]

Originally Posted by UROParts

That makes zero sense. We reproduced the OEM seal (which is logically the best approach), which means the problems with the OEM seal were also reproduced. Highly doubt Porsche would reproduce an aftermarket reproduction of their flawed OEM product. We are not and have never been the OEM supplier for this item.

However...it's entirely possible Porsche will eventually duplicate our new improved seal, or more likely will just buy our redesigned seal and repackage it as OEM. You'll know when the fitment of the OEM seal suddenly improves.

Perhaps so, but either way, none of these seem to appropriately fit. There’s always major gaps after a few days post install. Aesthetically it’s displeasing (which I could get over) but for a daily driver like me, the rain is the issue.

When was this new seal made? It’s been a year approximately since my last faulty purchase.

[UROParts]

Originally Posted by Koizumi

When was this new seal made? It’s been a year approximately since my last faulty purchase.

We discontinued the prior version of the seal around February of 2018, so hopefully 99% of seals sold today are the new & improved version. Undoubtedly there are still a few of the old seals floating around out there, so we'll just have to handle them as they appear.

Hopefully anyone sitting on an old seal contacts us for exchange, instead of returning it to the retailer (where it could be resold) and then buying the new version.

[175K911]

Originally Posted by UROParts

Hi Ed, could be wrong but looks like you have the old version seal. Please PM us a photo of the bag showing the label, if you still have it. We'll figure it out via PM. Perhaps someone returned an old version seal to Pelican and their warehouse staff returned it to stock for resale.

..........


Here's a photo showing the outer lip measurement to identify the redesigned version. OEM and our prior version have a lip that's about 8 or 9mm, while our redesigned seal is about 12mm. Also, you can't see it in the photo, but there's another rib hiding next to the inner lip for a total of four ribs, just like OEM. We discontinued the prior version of the seal around February of 2018.

First, thanks for your response.
Wish I had the original bag but I don't, got thrown out once the windshield was installed.
Purchased July 12 from our host. This is the p/n from the order- W0133-1618123-WPC. Was of the belief that all inventory had been sold through quite some time before that, but as you said, perhaps an old version that got returned and put back into inventory.
I agree by looking at the pics, especially the area over the windshield wiper humps, that the seal I got is quite a bit narrower than in your pics. I need to dig out my original Porsche seal and compare dimensions. But no matter what, I guess I'm looking at having to have the windshield pulled back out and reinstalled with a different seal to do it right. Car will likely never see rain, but since that's such a vulnerable area of the car, and mine is in excellent shape in there because the OE seal fit so well, it would be foolish to leave it like this.

[SalParadise]

Amazing to me that in 2018, what is essentially a re-sized VW Bug seal, that so many people still and will have problems.

Amazing that it's gotten that bad that all the seals are still cheese ball.

[Canada Kev]

Well, it IS such a highly advanced piece of technology, it's no wonder people have difficulty manufacturing a version that fits correctly...

[proporsche]

I bought my front 911 windshield seal strait from Porsche dealer in Germany.and the outcome is perfect..before i had from SSF autopart OEM and from uro parts the older model....
It is for 1988-89 and 964 windshield....
before installation

left top

right top

right bottom


very happy with the Porsche made in Germany seal............ not Chines

[uwanna]

Here's a thread by Universeman that compares and contrasts the differences between Porsche and URO windshield seals. Nice piece of work! He shows the main differences between the OLD URO and Porsche
seal. Using his drawings you should be able to differentiate between an old vs newer style URO seal, particularly the number of seal ridges (3 vs 4) and the added seal lip on the new URO.
Detailed differences between aftermarket and Porsche windshield seals

[universeman]

The 964 seal (and windshield) are different from the pre-964 version, so not really an apples-to-apples comparison, though you can switch to a 964 windshield and seal if you want to get away from the metal trim and fitment issues.

Glad to hear about the longer lips on the URO seals. Many don't know about the role the trim plays in forming the seal; make sure you're educated on that before you condemn the seal itself. One thing I found when I did my test that Uwanna references above; besides an apparent difference in rubber quality and workmanship, there was not a difference in design concept between any of the seals. There are no pre-formed corners in the Porsche seal, for example. All of them hug the windshield the same way, and need to be held out by the functional trim, etc. Some may do better than others at stopping water ingress, but this is not due to an inherent difference in design; only a difference in execution.

The newer, wider seal from URO might do a better job at stopping water from getting into the channel, which is the reason any of the seals leak. It also will modify the appearance (slightly) of your car vs. an OEM seal due to the seal width. That may or may not matter to you.

[proporsche]

to universeman..quote..:There are no pre-formed corners in the Porsche seal"

the seal i have purchased has exactly this "preformed corners"...I have chosen the 964 seal and windshield because i was sick and tired to deal with the old trims and the not so perfect seals..
ivan

[florio]

To those that have leaky windshields, did you pump sealent between the gasket and the glass and the body? It's not glue as it never hardens (like butyl), and I thought that the factory did this, too.

[uwanna]

Originally Posted by proporsche

to universeman..quote..:There are no pre-formed corners in the Porsche seal"

the seal i have purchased has exactly this "preformed corners"...I have chosen the 964 seal and windshield because i was sick and tired to deal with the old trims and the not so perfect seals..
ivan

The preformed corners comments are about earlier seals, not '89 and
964 seals. Some earlier threads address the 964 windshied/seal as a proper replacement for the earlier ones, however some folks had a major problem as the '88 and earlier cars had a shorter metal mounting lip for the seal and the seal did not have enough purchase
on the metal lip to adequately secure the windshield.
Glad you had good luck with yours, but others have not been so fortunate.

[mike monde]

All I can add is that I just replaced my seal with the newer version and it solved my issue. The larger seal nicely covered the gap that was present with what I believe was a factory seal. My biggest issue was finding a windshield company who would do the job. Seems like vintage Porsche windshield installation isn’t high on the list in my area.
As suggested by UROparts, just make sure you have their new version. FYI, when I was ordering my concern was that Pelican was still stocking the old version so I found a vendor that guaranteed that they carried the newer version. (I do believe Pelican has updated their inventory)
I do believe the part number is slighly different so when ordering just confirm the newer part.
In the end I am very pleased with the fit of the URO product.

[mepstein]

There was a thread about reforming the aluminum trim into the corners with a piece of wood. I forwarded it to our body guy and he said the technique works great. Porsche also used a bit of sealant in the corners.

[uwanna]

Originally Posted by mepstein

There was a thread about reforming the aluminum trim into the corners with a piece of wood. I forwarded it to our body guy and he said the technique works great. Porsche also used a bit of sealant in the corners.

Check my post #20 in this thread!

[UROParts]

Originally Posted by mike monde

All I can add is that I just replaced my seal with the newer version and it solved my issue. The larger seal nicely covered the gap that was present with what I believe was a factory seal.

I do believe the part number is slightly different so when ordering just confirm the newer part.

In the end I am very pleased with the fit of the URO product.

Thanks for your feedback Mike! The part number hasn't changed, so if anyone orders a new seal, compare it to the photos to make sure you received the new one. If you happen to receive the old version, we'll be happy to swap it out.

[Trackrash]

Originally Posted by uwanna

Check my post #20 in this thread!

FWIW, this method is shown in the Porsche repair manual and usually it is required to get the best fit.