Quote
JackintheBoxster
I've got to replace my rear window on my 986. I did this about five or 10 years ago, as I recall it was pretty quick, about $600, is this in line with others' experience? Since this is an '01, it has a plastic window, I'm wondering what the board thinks about swapping in a glass window.
Roughly $600 is what I paid some years ago for a new plastic rear window. The window material was heavy plastic and held up well over the years. I'd say its performance was comparable to that of the original plastic.
Couple of things: There are as I understand it 2 ways to go with the replacement. One way -- the way it was done for my car -- is to cut out the old window, but leave its border in the canvas. The new window is sewn in with a 2nd line of stitching. The left over border makes for a bit of a ridge line in the canvas around the window opening. I was not too concerned about this but was concerned the window would leak. It did not. The 2nd way I've been told is the entire rear window is removed and the new window sewn in usiing the same stitching line. I've never had this done.
If the top is original be very sure it is not leaking. Mine developed a leak just ahead of the rear window about in the middle of the top. There was no sign of any damage or problems at the canvas. While a bit faded the canvas looked just fine. The canvas is not the water proof layer, of course, it just covers the rubber sheet that is the water proof layer.
Also, I'm not sure the window can be replaced a 2nd time. But the shop where you take the car can advise you regarding that.
When it came time to replace the window I looked into a new top from Porsche. Cost of the top (alone) was over $3200 and even with some discount quite expensive. I submitted a request for some goodwill from Porsche -- using the car mileage as some kind of lever -- and was not successful. I was told Porsche is very tight-fisted with goodwill. My dealer quoted me a big discount -- I forget the amount -- but the cost was still prohibitive. Plus I was concerned about the new top's condition. I was thinking at the cost these tops sell for they can't be flying off the shelves and thus the replacement top could be as old as the one that came on the car and because of its age, even though "new", might not hold up as long as the original top.
After some research I went with an aftermarket top: GAHH. I elected to use the same top with the same size/shape plastic window, same color, same everything. The new top cost with labor to install at around $1400. The same shop that fixed the window replaced the top. Took a day I think and caution was to leave the top up for 2 weeks before using it.
I stayed with the plastic window as the glass window is smaller, not located in an ideal location, and interferes with putting the top in service mode.
The replacement top has the big and thick plastic window, has the same lining and other top hardware from the old top and for all intents and purposes is indistinguishable from the factory top.