Window stitching repair (with photos!)

[DrWong]

Noticed the stitching holding my window zip starting to deteriorate in places. So got a Speedy Stitcher (mentioned in this thread) from a marine supplier in Newcastle yesterday and some purple upholstery thread from John Lewis. I had to darken the thread with some wood ash but the colour match turned out great in the end

Anyway, tested the Speedy Sticher today on four or five stiches that had gone on the window's left side. Pretty happy with the result! Here's the before shot (well during, as I forgot to take a proper before shot):

And this is the after shot (the white marks on the window bead are a useful visual reference). I tried to follow the existing holes and overlapped some good stiches at each end of the repair:

This is the main bit I'm tackling tomorrow morning. Weather forecast is good for the day so hopefully be able to put the roof down for a drive in the afternoon without fear of the stitching getting any worse, whoo!

 

[hard top]

Looks like a bloody good job done there so far..

 

[DrWong]

Looks like a bloody good job done there so far..

Cheers mate! Really pleased with how it's gone so far and optimistic about the rest of the repair tomorrow

Will update with photos

 

[Jjim]

Good job there

 

[Jack Ratt]

Just what the Doc (tor) ordered

 

[Scooblitz]

Doing the same job myself tomorrow.

 

[DrWong]

Tackled the rest of the repair today. There were two areas to sort on each side near the bottom corners.

Left corner before:

Left corner after:

Right corner, before:

Right corner after - got a bit carried away here and did more stitches than I probably needed to...

So Speedy Stitcher - big thumbs up! It'll stop your window from falling out!

 

[Althulas]

Just watch the YouTube video to get my head round on how you did that must have been time consuming to put the stitch in the get inside the car to form the loop put the thread through then get back out to pull it through or is there another trick to doing it?

 

[Faheem]

Looks like a job well done!

 

[Mint]

Brilliant job, well done sir

 

[DrWong]

Just watch the YouTube video to get my head round on how you did that must have been time consuming to put the stitch in the get inside the car to form the loop put the thread through then get back out to pull it through or is there another trick to doing it?

Yep, pretty much spot on! While you're doing the last bit outside the car pulling the loop through, you also need to have an arm inside holding the inner thread taut otherwise it gets pulled out. It's a fair old clusterf*ck. The five test stitches I did yesterday took me about an hour (including snapping the thread a couple times) but I got it down to a couple mins per stitch today once I understood all the nuances. It would have been a much greater ballache if I didn't have tweezers. Prob spent about three hrs in total doing the repair.

Well worth doing though. I'm considering going over the rest of the stitching that hasn't worn out just cos the new ones look so nice and crispy

 

[DrWong]

Just watch the YouTube video to get my head round on how you did that must have been time consuming to put the stitch in the get inside the car to form the loop put the thread through then get back out to pull it through or is there another trick to doing it?

Oh yeah, just realised there is another trick to doing it - have someone inside the car! I was on my own tho

 

[Althulas]

Top job for giving it a go and getting a great result. it must have been a right ball ache but good for not giving up. I suppose it was the only way to do it due to small size of the stitching making it near impossible with the bent needle.

 

[Grumps]

Good work. I replaced my roof recently as 2 corners had completely gone. Well done.

 

[How 29]

Looks really good, if you have the time I have a couple of pairs of jeans that need hemming.

How you fixed??

 

[DrWong]

Top job for giving it a go and getting a great result. it must have been a right ball ache but good for not giving up. I suppose it was the only way to do it due to small size of the stitching making it near impossible with the bent needle.

Thanks mate. And yeah, I considered a bent needle but quickly discounted it. Good thing with the Speedy Stitcher is you only need to insert the needle on the outside before retracting it and don't have to pass the needle back through from the inside. This means you can make super precise stitches because you aim the needle exactly where you need it, i.e. following the existing holes

 

[DrWong]

Good work. I replaced my roof recently as 2 corners had completely gone. Well done.

Thanks Grumps! I know the economic case is to replace the whole hood if the window goes as the cost isn't much more. But I was keen to avoid this due to a few stitches going in the zipper, as the hood is in otherwise great condition and the window was replaced just before I got the car a year ago. By re-securing the zipper, I hopefully also retain the option of replacing the rear window with an original BMW item when that inevitably goes. Which is nice

 

[DrWong]

Looks really good, if you have the time I have a couple of pairs of jeans that need hemming.

How you fixed??

Hahaha bring em round! I also do leather sofas, sails and camping tents

 

[How 29]

Your repair looked well. A lot of patience