Have any of you retrofitted double pane windows?
 

If so how much of a difference did it make? What were your experiences?

I'm one of those people that always think the car is too noisy on the inside and I'm always trying to find ways to make it quieter haha.

That's what the Bose is for :ROFL:

Sorry I can’t answer your question, but I’m of the opinion that it would be an excellent upgrade.

My S8 has them but it’s off the road at the moment (long story) and I’m convinced the cabin is one of the quietest cars I’ve owned.....even compared to much newer stuff.

Maybe it’s all in my head but the S8 to me seems to be so well insulated from outside noise it’s remarkable. I’m either running around in my wife’s smart car or my beater A6 which are both newer and much noisier without the radio on.

Yes, my first ‘8 was a 2.8 Sport Quattro and Prestige/A8 Parts retrofitted appropriately tinted double-paned windows. And yes, you could really notice the difference!

There's a noticeable difference in cabin noise between Big Red and my S8. If I keep her it'll be one of the essential upgrades. All you need is the glass and the channel in the door frame. The rest is the same.

And some door trim clips and the knowledge and ability to take it all apart and reassemble correctly.

Though having swapped a whole upper door frame (broken pulley!) and moved the glass over in the process it can't be that difficult if I did it.
(Just missed a trick with that damned triangular trim behind the rear window though)

I’ve always thought mine was pretty much the quietest brum I’ve travelled in. Having driven a range of new cars for work and having been driven in an A6 the better part of 20 years newer my 8 with double glazing was always quieter usually much more so. Why someone spec’d a 2.8 with them and pretty much everything else apart from the one thing it needs most, parking sensors! remains a mystery.

thanks for your feedback everyone. in this case I'll be adding this to my never ending list of todo's.

I have now acquired a set of 6 double pane windows for my car with matching blueish tint for £180 delivered to Cardiff....

I will be doing a limo tint on the rears for sure and I wondering whether I should remove the glass and give it to the tinting company as just glass especially that (from my understanding) the guides that are in the glass will have to be removed to do the job properly (pic attached)

What do you people think?

Are there any 'while you're there' jobs to do in the doors while I have it all apart during the replacement? I already know I need to get loads and loads of door clips, but I'm also thinking of adding more sound proofing material inside just to make things that little bit better.

How about one touch auto-up feature for the rear windows? If so, check out the following post by Sergey in response to a thread I started on retrofitting rear blinds. The start of that thread will also give you instructions on removing the door cards:

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/showpost....63&postcount=8

Oh yes! good idea. added to the list! thanks!

Alcantara headlining......

It soaks up some road noise for sure. +1 for twin pane windows making a difference. Also, larger profile tyres.

The PF carpets were thicker, making for more sound proofing but given the different colour scheme pre/post facelift that's a bit of a non starter.

But I guess arguably, one of the quietest factory D2's out there would be a Prefacelift S8 with the full enhanced leather pack.......

Does anyone know a decent conditioner for the door seals etc? I want to clean and treat it all properly before it goes into the car.

Do any of you have experience with tinting D2 windows? there are guides on the actual glass that from what I can see will have to be removed, so im probably beter off removing all the windows and giving them to the tinter instead of them doing it on the car?

For the rubber seals I've used Sonax Gummi-Pflege and Nextzett Gummi-Pflege and I've been satisfied with both.
If you just do a search on eBay for "gummipflege" you should see some appear in the search results.

I don't see it as a cleaner but more of a conditioner. Just rub it in and let it dry.

I use Autoglym rubber care which is also a conditioner as Dean described. For door seals I spray it on a microfibre and apply it that way so it doesn't get on trim or paintwork.

I would be strongly disinclined to try and remove the glass from the frame. I did this recently and it is very tricky to get back in. It also comes with a high risk of breaking the glass if you tweak the pins the window runs on. Any competent tinter should be able to do it in the frame. The pins are in the masked area of the glass anyway.

Thanks for the above answers.

In that case I'll just treat the seals and lubricate the guides with silicone and get the car tinted with glass already on it.

Well I have them here... gonna clean and grease them up and hopefully its a one man job

My 2.8 will probably end up as the most upgraded example around and will be worth absolute peanuts, but hey, this is better than smoking :)

:ROFL:
I hear you!

I've done drivers side front and rear doors so far and it hasn't been too difficult, it can be done by one person.

I'm astounded by how much detail has been put into the door cards, they have loads of self adhesive foam seals, places routed especially for wiring and each door seems to be hand numbered.

It takes a few attempts to align the window frames perfectly so that the door opens and closes correctly and seals.

The door seals themselves seem to be made out of very high quality rubber and all the little channels and clips it all fits into is just right.. My 21 plate Toyota seals look far worse than 20 year old audi ones.

Also there are different types of sound deadning material in the front and rear as if they properly experimented with what shape/size/material works best.

I haven't broken any door card clips yet :cool:

Now for the triangular side windows...

Have any of you removed them?

Service manual shows rivets that have to be removed, but the windows I have don't have any holes etc for them and I don't want to start ripping stuff apart.. were rivets used just on pre facelifts cars?

Or the front door team didn't talk to the back door team and so they came up with completely different ideas, both of which are rubbish :ROFL:

The quarter windows unbolt from inside.

Remove:

Back seat (base and back)
Rear inner sill trim
D-pillar headlining trim
Outer aluminium trim
Both inner trims round the quarter glass
Then the glass can be removed

Are you tinting them while the doors are in bits?

Ha! thanks for this. I think I will fit the windows and leave the trim off so that the tint man has better access and then put it all back together +++