"Henry

it has been a long time since I have been on here. But I was trying to find something out on the acadia and traverse parts DW1712 had two customers stop by for the same reason, went some place else and both had leaking windshields. we looked and could not see where the water was coming from. so we pulled windshield and reset. still could not figure out where this came from."

Ok so here is the answer, and I hope this is useful information, when I took over where I am right now I had 5 of these I had to fix from the previous people working here. I like you could not figure out why the car was leaking, I blamed the sunroof, which i cleaned the tubes out... then I ran water on the car like a mad man for about a good 30 minutes! I could not reproduce the problem , so I got out my air hose and blew air around the entire permiter of the windshield, nothing came out... I sent the car back to the dealer and told them it had to be a body seam or something...

Long story short, it was not a body seam, this paticular car had multiple issues, the top had a channel cut into the glue caused by the installer shooting a round bead. That was the 1st issue, the 2nd issue was the moldings on both sides cut into the glue causing water to be able to run in with the molding coming under the dash... the dealer actually pulled the dash and found this needless to say i felt pretty stupid.

The way I have been preventing the bottom leak is by cutting the molding on the windshield so that it does not have a chance of cutting into the urethane in the bottom corners. Depending on the brand some of the glass I have been getting lately has actually had the molding glued on from the factory.

I would say the biggest thing anyone should think about is how ignorant this molding is and make sure your glue sits below the molding and not having the molding cut into the glue. As we all know some manufactures could not put a molding on for nothing.

Depending on what glue your using (I use Express) you might find it beneficial to prime the molding...

The Buick Enclave windshield.. same thing...

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Sounds like it all began with the previous installer using incorrect methods to apply the urethane. See Beranek's latest blog. Regardless, you can apply the perfect bead, but it will be in vain if you fail to deck the windshield evenly with precision. This is true with all installations, not just the enclave. If one sets onto stops, then lays the windshield in. The curvature of the windshield may scalp and smear the top of your V bead in the corners where the curve and contour is most extreme. The four inches of molding at the bottom adds to the distortion of the bead. If the bead is applied to the glass, same effect, bead may smear in those areas if not placed evenly with precision. This may not only manifest itself in a water leak, but may also block the outer rain channel, thus creating a stagnant water trap that may in time rust the a-pillar. There are many options out there that aid in properly setting windshields, some are designed to prevent making contact to the bead across the bottom where the curve is most extreme.
I do these all the time, very easy job with the right equipment. We can't see through the frit, so we must apply the materials correctly. It's a good feeling to be able to set it and forget it.