Good morning. I’m Saul Reisman, here at Saul’s Automotive, and today we’re going to talk a little bit about a common failure we see with 2004 to 2011 Bentley vehicles. Whether it be Continentals, GT’s or the true super-sports across the board, we’ve seen the same window regulator failure on multiple vehicles.
Now, if we take a look at the vehicle, the design of this two-door coupe was that it would be as quiet and sealed as possible, with 1-inch thick rubber along the entire perimeter of this 49-inch-long door, in order to truly seal the passenger compartment, to ensure a quiet ride at speeds of up to 180 miles an hour.
Now, because of that, the passenger compartment is so well sealed that when you close the door of the vehicle, the vehicle must lower both windows on that side about 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch, to allow the air pressure to escape as the door closes, and then roll the two windows back into position. Because this piece of glass weighs almost 100 pounds, and is a triple-pane piece, that puts a lot of wear and tear on the window regulator.
In this case, the window regulator inside this door is literally made of cables that are 1/16th of an inch in diameter, made out of stranded steel. If you can imagine trying to use a piece of-of winch cable to try and tie your shoelaces, similar kind of effect. The cable doesn’t want to bind, doesn’t want to turn and fit into these little wheels, and in turn, eventually breaks the actual assembly itself.
When that happens, your typical Bentley repair facility charges between $4,000 and $5,000 to do this repair. Here at Saul’s Automotive, we partner with an independent that can take these window regulators, disassemble them to a bare assembly, restring new cables, new pulleys in it, and instead of using plastic wheels against that steel cable, uses galvanized steel wheels against that galvanized steel cable, to ensure a long life and a much higher durability. Additionally, when closing the window with our window regulator, you get a little bit better seal, little bit quieter feel at high speed.
Now, if you have a Bentley vehicle, whether it be a Continental or a GT, or a V-8 or W-12 engine in it, they all use the same regulator. From 2004 all the way to 2011, literally hundreds of thousands of vehicles were equipped with this same piece, and unfortunately, the local dealership’s aware of this. When we contacted them, matching VIN numbers to try and appropriate correct parts, they made it very clear to us that they only wanted to sell those parts at MSRP — that they would not sell them at a regular shop-discounted rate, because they saw that their business wasn’t coming into them.
So, in turn, we’ve started partnering with O’Gara Coach, which is the Bentley dealership here in Beverly Hills, California. They’re able to overnight us parts from around the world, for less expensive and quicker turnaround than your local Bentley store.
So, if you’re in the Denver area and you’ve been told you only have a couple of options, those options take a lot of time, cost a lot of money, or you can go somewhere else very far away, please give us a consider here at Saul’s Automotive. Not only can we do the service that your vehicle requires, we can get it done more cost-effectively, and in a quicker timeframe.
If you’ve got a Bentley with a window that won’t stay down, or even just need a basic oil change service, please give us a call.
We’re here 365 days for your convenience. No bankers’ hours here.
303-919-7769.
Thanks.
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