I was looking at the chrome trim on the windshield and rear window and was wondering if anyone has ever contemplated removing it and replacing it with a newer seal type that is seen on newer vehicles.
A lot of new vehicles has a rubber seal around the Window, it looks good and keeps rot out. Since I have to replace my windshield I was debating on looking around for something like this for the front and rear windows.
I'm going for the black door handles as well, and have been debating blacking out certain pieces of trim (wwith rubberized paint basically) if/wwhen I get around to painting the car.
I think your best bet is to remove the glass and remove any rust that may be in the channel. Then prime it and seal it with paint. If you are repaint ing anyway it's a good time to do it. If there is no exposed metal or underlying rust and you keep dirt and debris clear of that area you'll never have rot issues.
A totally blacked out eagle would be ultra-cool. Get rid of all the chrome trim and moldings, black wrangler handles, reupholstered interior, tinted windows, etc. etc.... etc. etc etc.. I considered doing it on my black wagon some years back unfortunately it was too far gone from years of neglect.
My son blacked out all the chrome on his sx4, he had the bumpers powder coated, some peices have that rubbery stuff, others are painted, door handles black too.
It looks pretty cool like that I think
AMC painted much of the bright work black on the sport models.
I want to totally delete the chrome from the front and rear window, leave it on the rest of the car.
The wind and rain in my area gets in these behind the chrome molding and rots the vehicle. I'd rather find a windshield rubber seal like on modern vehicles that would press in and seal it up tight.
If it's already causing rust problems, you'd need to eradicate all the rust present (best way is to pull glass and sand off, then coat and paint) before you do anything further. Pressing a seal in might block further moisture from entering but if there is already rust it'll keep going underneath.
I'm not aware of any seals that will work. All I can say is if treated correctly you should be fine with the factory trim. Why re-invent the wheel?
It's a thought right now. I might wander some junk yards and see what I can see.