Let's start with the choice. Here you need to remember about such nuances that, being carried away, others do not take into account - for example, the noise of the mechanism, the speed of raising and lowering the glass, the price. And also the fact that not every power window failure can be easily fixed, especially on the side of the road. If the glass freezes when closed, it’s rubbish, especially in hot weather. It is no better if it is lowered and rain and snow overboard … So, we pose the most important question: will it be possible to lower (raise) the glass in case of failure of the electric drive? You should ask not only the seller, but also after reading the description of the device: it turns out that many designs are not designed for this. Those on sale can be fairly clearly divided into three categories.

To the first we take regular power windows, for example, now installed by VAZ on the “nine” and subsequent models (photo 1). Their important advantage is that for installation you only need to remove the old ones, manual ones and fasten the electric ones (and of course, connect the power supply!). Anything to drill, saw, cut, etc. is not required. Maintainability is at the highest level: there are spare parts for sale, prices are quite reasonable. For example, the trapezoid in photo 1 is no more than 200 rubles, and the motor with gearbox is about 450 rubles. The speed of the window is high enough, but not enough to cripple a gapeous person. The noise is not strong - just right for controlling the work by ear. When a car rolls along an uneven road, the power window does not give out its presence - it does not rattle, it does not creak. But the drawback is the one already mentioned: in the event of a breakdown of the electric drive, you find yourself in an unpleasant situation. It is possible that you will have to open the door, disassemble the mechanism and, having released the glass, look for a way to fix it in a suitable position.

The second category is power windows that are delivered to the market based on customer interest. Here, for example, in photo 2, the mechanism of one Ural company, which we tested on the "top ten." The details are attracted by their solidity: they are impressed by the mighty toothed “rails” and levers, a Japanese-made gearmotor, here you can find the necessary buttons and a bundle of wires. However, installing the windows turned out to be quite troublesome. The frame holding the glass moves along the rail along the guide rail with the motor, and we had to take care of the correct length of the wires going to the motor and their reasonable laying - so as not to stretch, but not to sag, threatening to get where we should not. Tinkering with them!
And here is another drawback: the "rail", although it looks impressive, was not rigid enough. When the glass rises, it bends outward, rumbles on the go. Finally, this power window is rather slow, and its maintainability is none. In any case, we (in Moscow!) Could not find any spare parts.
Sometimes other options are on sale. For example, the motor is attached to the door at the level of the armrest - and tightly, there are no noise-canceling bushings in sight. Drivers of other cars will immediately find out that the engine has turned on. The door panel resonates, bulges so that, look, the trim caps will pop out.
[caption id = "attachment_184348" align = "aligncenter" caption = "SPAL overhead window lifter.
1- cable 2 - handle "]

[/ caption] The third category - overhead windows. In the photo 3 - Italian SPAL. Very convenient to install. Regardless of the design of the door, it is enough to remove its casing, install the cable 1 instead of the handle, and position the motor so that nothing inside the door interferes with its operation. Put the released handle in the glove compartment. Or let handle 2 from the kit lie there: in the event of a drive failure, the glass can be moved by rotating the roller with the handle. Slowly but surely. The Italian electric drive seemed to us the most quiet - and at the same time quite fast.
The prices of the windows of the last two categories are 2200–2800 rubles. We believe that, of course, the third is preferable. By the way, we found spare parts for SPAL in stores.


Power window connection diagrams are indicated in the attached instructions. But the control buttons deserve a separate discussion. If you intend to make a duplicate control (Fig. 1), then for this purpose the necessary buttons are shown in photos 4 and 5 (pos. 1). Their internal switching is the most suitable for this. For simpler schemes, any buttons are suitable, including those such as in photo 5 (pos. 2).