cracked windshield
 

my girlfriend just texted me her car has a crack in the windshield, she doesn't know how it happened, but it's parked in a public space under some trees and it's been quite cold recently. my theory is mabe something fell from the trees.but i have yet to see the damage. she drives a ford fiesta mk4.

she said its about a 10 cm long crack... since we have annual tech inspection and this sort of thing won't pass, we need to have it replaced, although her car just went so it's not overly urgent... than again with the car sitting outside and winter coming the danger of water ending up in the crack and freezing is quite imminent

since the fiesta mk4 is quite common and it shares many components with the earlier and the next version i might be able to find a decent second hand windshield, but what happens next? where could i find info on replacing windshields in general and preferably on this car?

any help is appreciated

around here, you can get the auto glass people to come and repair a windshield. not sure what they use (I think it is some type of resin) but when it dries, the crack is pretty much undetectible. several guys in the shop have used them and it is much cheaper.

car insurance places charge a co-pay for replacing a windshield but they will pay for this fix for a windshield for free. it saves them money and you money.

not sure if it will take care of your issue or not but it may be worth looking into.

Also around here (and I'd assume anywhere), you can get the repair material to do the job yourself. I don't know how well it works.

There are instructions for DIY techniques on the internet, you won't make it look nice but you can probably prevent it from spreading more. Maybe I should do that on the big spreading crack on my truck.

i know there's a know repair company over here that advertise their glass repair service, but they usually talk about small impact damage, not larger cracks, i'm sure these people would know how to handle it, but if they can't technically or legally fix the damage they'll probably want to replace the whole thing, wich i'm quite confident they'll do a good job at, but they'll charge a lot too...

My GF needs the car to get to work, but right now i can't afford to put to much of a dent in my buget, so if there's any chance of safely replaceing the window myself i'd give it a go.

I don't think it's very hard to do. I've watched it being done before, you just need the appropriate materials. IIRC, there's caulk that you put down, then you put the glass in place, then maybe more caulk and/or a gasket. Then don't drive it for a day or two, if possible.

Ah, this one looks good:
https://bmwe32.masscom.net/sean750/wi...eplacement.htm
There's definitely a few things I forgot. It says to remove the wipers, of course. Also, it mentions cutting the old sealant, which makes sense.

depends, is it glued on or is it old enough to have a rubber gasket that goes all the way around?

Several years since I've seen a Mk 4 Fiesta up close, so I can't remember if it's a structurally bonded one, or a rubber channel fitting. If it's a bonded one... chances are you're gonna have a hard time getting a used one out of the the vehicle in one piece, and fitting is best left to the professionals. If it's a rubber gasket/channel, then it's doable when you know the tricks, Google should help you there. Basically, you run a rope/cord around the gasket and pull it out as you feed in the glass, you usually need 2 people, one to apply pressure, and one to feed it and pull out the cord. Lubrication helps, preferably something like glycerine that won't attack the rubber.

just saw that trick on tv a while ago... if it is a rubber gasket assembly my girlfriend might be a little less disaproveing of my interest in tv shows where they take appart, and put together cars.

the car is from the mid 90's but it's one of these few cars that actually kept evolveing directly from the original model so maybe the window assembly didn't change... i'll check toninght.

Surf the internet for windshield repair kits - I picked one up on Amazon for about $10.00 no shipping that is a UV curing resin for repairing bullet holes and cracks and it cures in the sunlight. Not good for chips however which is what I have in my windshild in my xB. It came with a seringe to force the resin into the crack for a bullet type chip but for a straight crack it would probably just flow into the gap slowly and make it clear again. You need to worry about the crack growing and windshield failure especially in really cold weather and watch out of uneven heating of the glass by parking under a shady tree.

yea if its a crack most likely it will keep cracking

I've never changed one by myself, but have helped other people remove them. If you can get a hole through the gasket or chalk you can usually use a piano wire to saw the windshield loose. I have also heard of people using guitar strings. You'll need someone on the outside of the car and someone on the inside to do the sawing. Always pull the wire away from the glass otherwise you'll cut into the glass or crack the windshield, this can get extremely difficult especially around corners. You should be able to pick up a new gasket at an auto parts store. I think they usually have some directions in the box how to install the windshield. A salvage yard might remove the windshield from the salvaged car for you, that way if it gets broken you're not responsible for it.

Check to see if she has insurance to cover the damage. In the US its part of comprehensive coverage which pays for damage from various natural events, storms, floods, tornados, etc.

In the US when they started using airbags, in the early nineties, they had to switch to a very strong urethane bonding agent that actually would keep the airbags from blowing the windshield out of the car, which would make the airbags ineffective.

In the old days it was usually in a separate gasket. If this is the case it will have flexible rubber at both the inside and outside edges of the glass itself. That is the type where you actually push the glass and gasket out of the body of the car and use a piece of cord to reinstall the glass.

In 1965 GM pioneered the glued in glass, which was a softer non curing type of rubber that was supported by spacer blocks at the bottom. The windshield's edges were covered by mouldings to cover up the gap between the glass and the car body. First place to rust out.

Over here (in the US) glass replacement is a mobile unit that can come to your work parking place, your house, or you can go to them. It's a job that I would definitely hesitate to recommend trying yourself if you have not done it before.

regards
gary

well i had a look at the haynes manual wich also recommends to leave this sort of work to a professional, but than proseeds with an explanation wich doesn't looks to complicated (in theory) it gives the same instructions for the front and back windown, and from the looks of it the window sits in a rubber like gasket... they don't mention any sort of glue in the instructions so i assume it's just the gasket holding it in place.

it shoudn't be a problem to get the car to a glass repair center, there's some nearby, and for an extra fee they'll sure come over and fix it at home, but unless the insurance coveres this expence i could be looking at a rather large bill, maybe that's the only option, but as far as car repairs go i don't mind getting my hands dirty if it gets the job done in a safe way and saves me quite some cash.

my girlfriend will give the insurance company a call to see if it covers glass repair...

thanks for the advice

a word on the crack repairs - larger cracks like the one you're describing usually don't repair well. its really meant for small cracks and chips or small impact chips that turn into internal fractures like what i've got. i don't know about the diy kits having never used them, but when you get a shop to fix this kind of thing they will fill it but they are required to put a lot of pressure on that crack to push the filler in. smaller cracks is fine, but larger ones can just get worse and break the whole windshield.

i'd call around and ask. maybe things have changed over the years maybe not. see what they say. if that doesn't work for you i'd call some scrapyards for a replacement windshield. small chips can be filled, its the cracks you have to worry about.

oh and yes it will go further over the winter.

I remember it being about 1/4 the price for a professional to install it if you supplied your own glass, so if scrap/salvage/wreckers yards have a windshield cheap enough, you might do it that way to save some money.

just called one of the most known glass repair centers around here (they keep bombarding me with adds on the radio waring people to have little chips repaired as they would result in cracks which could be more costly to repair....not much use to me now)

anyway, their prise is 321€ all inclusive, with original pieces and a lifetime warantee on the work and the pieces... should take 2 to 3 hours to install and for an additional 21€ they'll come over and do it at home. don't think they'll allow me to supply my own window though

the price includes a 10% reduction on the glass, but it's still a lof of cash :( on the other hand i don't think i'll find the same service much cheaper elsewhere. i'll see if a ford dealer could sort if out any cheaper but i doubt it.

i asked my dad about the possibility of a diy job, but he said the main problem would be to get the glass out of one car and into the other without cracking the glass.... he said sometimes brand new replacement window crack during install.

I have a friend that used to run a body shop and he told me once that's the reason windshield replacement was so expensive. He said his wholesaler had new windshields priced so if he cracked it during installation they could give him another one at no charge. This was 20+ years ago so things may have changed since that time.

THere is a big concern about safety if the glass is not install properly - in a crash the glass does protect you to some degree and in cases where the glass was not installed properly it had been know to pop out from the inside causing injury. If you had any idea how much force was on that glass when driving down the highway at 60-70 80 mph you would probably not be thinking about changing it yourself. In the xB it is a structural part of the roof and helps support it.