Best thing you can do is pull the lockstrip and push out the side windows and reseal them. You didn't say what kind of windows you had, clear or green tinted glass is tempered, most deep tint glass is tempered but some of the deep tints were laminated. Just read what the window monogram (bug) says on the glass it's self. If it's tempered you can push it out with little worry, just have somebody ready to catch it after you push it out.
Now if it's laminated same procedure but spread out your hands to distribute the load on the glass so you don't crack it. If you have the opening windows with the wing same procedure, just push them out.
Your probably thinking 'Why do I have to take out the windows' Simple as you probably have twenty plus years of crud and dirt in there and you need to clean it up or no sealant will stick to it. Once you have it all apart clean it all out, rubber, topper and glass. If you have the opening windows make sure the drain holes (look on the bottom and you'll see them) are not plugged with dirt, moss etc.
Okay everything is clean now reverse the order that you took them apart in. Rubber goes on the topper first and if it wants to fall off just tape it to the topper with tape going from outside to inside. Huh? Don't worry as you put the window back in starting at the bottom and working your way around using a plastic stick (some call them fiber sticks and or bones) the stick will cut the tape as the window goes in. You can use a glass cleaner available at a good glass shop such as GC800 Betclean for lube as it's compatible with the sealant you need to use. Just spray it onto the top part off the gasket so the window goes in easy. If your patient and the rubber is flexible and warm you can also install the glass dry, especially if it's tempered as it'll take a beating.
You'll get to a point where you may need to tap the glass back in, don't be afraid as you can 'spank it in' with the flat palm of your hand. Now you'll need to seal it and the best stuff to use in this situation is a tube of Essex Urethane U-418 regular not high viscosity. Get a couple extra nozzles as shops always tend to have extra. Check the expiry date on the box it came out of and pull the pop top off the bottom of the tube. Using the nozzle, puncture the business end off the tube. Wipe the nozzle off on a rag and cut a small round hole in the nozzle about 1/8" of an inch and load the tube into a decent caulking gun (always start small as you can make it bigger if need be). Now wearing nitrile (or at least latex) gloves lay a small bead between your clean dry rubber and your topper. Now don't go insane and think more is better cause it ain't and you'll make yourself a mess that's not fun to clean up. just lay a bead in enough so that the gap between the rubber and the topper is filled at the bottom. Install a couple of inches than do this, taking a free hand push the rubber againest the body and make sure nothing oozes out, than pull it back and check out the seal, should be good.
Now go all the way around between topper and rubber except the bottom, What? Why? Because water will not flow uphill and also if you are less then accurate in sealing the top the water at least has a chance to flow outside rather than being directed inside.
Okay with that done now it's time to seal the glass to the rubber. Make sure it's dry and using the same nozzle size put urethane between the glass and rubber, again closing the rubber with a free hand to check your sealant usage and the seal itself. Again you just have to seal the glass across the bottom and sides but on mine I went across the top for the extra strength incase of a rollover or accident. You see this urethane holds up to 700psi and has reinforced isotropic network adhesive technology which allow higher amounts of chemical crosslinking which bottom line means it's the cats ass for urethanes.
Okay time to lock it up, if yours is a black lockstrip you can reuse it. If it's chrome plastic it's now shrunk. If you want chrome just tell the glass shop to order two (one for each side) front windshield chrome locking strips as they will fit the sides perfectly, part no, W848chrwls or something close to that. If you have ordered the crome it should come with a new center clip and you might have to squeeze the clip to get it to fit right.
Using a high quality lace or strip tool start where the original start point is and go around feeding the strip back into place. Best way to pick a lace tool is if it say's made in China or you can bend it with your bare hands right in the store, it's crap. You can lube the rubber with the aforementioned GC800 Betaclean glass clener as it's compatible with the U418 urethane. I should off mentioned this earlier but practice reinserting the old lockstrip on the other side with no urethane in place so you get the hang of it, it's not to difficult to do. A word of caution if your tool has a feeder foot on it watch the new chrome lockstrip on the corners as it will get scratched and damaged easily. If your using the black rubber it's a snap and if you don't lube it, it will stretch , just cut the access inch with a razor blade.
Now for clean-up, use the fiber stick to scrap the access off the glass and the topper. First hose the excess urethane squeeze out down with GC800 Betaclean as this will keep the urethane from stringing and sticking where it shouldn't You can sharpen the fiber stick to remove the excess urethane and on the glass you can use new razor blades to remove any urethane. Use solvent or varasol to cleanup any stubborn urethane residue and if your topper is white you can use methyl-hydrate to clean it but make sure your wearing gloves as solvents and methyl-hydrate is hard on your skin and health in general. And that concludes our lesson for the day, any questions?
Incase you were wondering, this is my shop suncreekautoglass.ca
