Pain in the Glass!

I was curious if any of you folks know of a way to remove glass from a used car without destroying it in the process.

I was thinking a wire coated with an abrasive material would work, you put the wire through the seal and slide it back and forth to cut the seal, but I've never done it before.

I'm just curious because glass for my funky old car is getting expensive and I might be smart to grab a couple nice pieces of glass.

I'm just getting ready for a junkyard run and last time I could have gotten a decent rear window for 30$ instead of 250$ from the surly used parts dealer.

Thanks for any hints!

piano wire is what i hear

30# wire leader from a bait shop. You'll have some left over.

With the miata, I used some stainless clutch cable. It broke about 3 times during the course of the windshield removal. It still wasn't bad though and worked better than welding wire.

HF windshield removal tool. $15.99. Yes, I suppose you can't hunt down some piano wire, tear your hands all up, have it break, go buy more, etc., etc. Or you could just pony up the 16 bucks and have the window out in less than 10 minutes. It's nice to have a helper for this one.

Nice I definately need one of those

Cool thanks for the replies!

It looks like the HF tool is the one to have. I 15$ isn't bad if you consider the cost of new glass. Mercedes wanted 1200$ for a heated rear window for my car, but they are getting parted left and right around here.

Thanks for the help folks I appreciate it.

I've tried on several occasions to remove a good winshield from a car and haven't been able to do it. The last time was over 10 years ago. It seems I'd do fine until I got to a spot where the glass is close to the steel (the urethane is very thin) and the wire breaks the glass.

So...be careful, go slow, and have better luck than I ever did.

I suppose I might as well try again on the miata winshield while I'm parting the car out...

Clem

I figure me getting the glass out in one piece is a probabilitly problem especially since it is huge, but I'll bring a blanket and cardboard and see what happens.

Thanks for the suggestion Clem and if I know myself I'll work slowly and well until the thing is 75% out then catch something and make mess out of it.

Use the tool that poopshovel showed you. My buddy and I re&re'd about 6 F-body winshields last year with those tools.

Urethane can be a bugger to cut, the butyl sealed glass is much easier, on a hot day it's like a knife through butter.

If the glass is resting on the frame, there's not much hope for it. Whoever installed it should be beaten because it wasn't done right.

Shawn

use a heat gun if you can get juice to it out in the yard, or a little butane torch (although those a re hot enough that it can turn a tiny chip into a ruined day...trust me). Just soften the sealant a bit and it will make cutting waaaay easier

benzbaron wrote: Thanks for the suggestion Clem and if I know myself I'll work slowly and well until the thing is 75% out then catch something and make mess out of it.

You could not describe my past attempts and experiences more succinctly or accurately.

Clem