Ditto window channels, felts, stops, door bumpers, good regulators. Don't slam the doors....(pet peeve) 4TTRUK
check to make shure you or someone else did not use too long of a screw some where in the door or there is a peice of sheetmetal or something, worn out runchannels will do it as well. IF ANYTHING comes in contact with the window in the tracks or inside the door bad things will happen. as once said idiocy is repeating something expecting different results. Something is not right down in the doors. look for scews on armrests, widow acuator mechanisms bent or missing rollers, all these thing will brak glass, I know from experience.
The side glass in newer Dodge Commanders are saftey glass if you think they still don't use it. Surprised me to but it's still in use today. Fuzzys and new runners are a must as well as alignment. If there is any kind of stress on it it will crack especially if the runners aren't in sync.
This is gonna seem like a shameless plug for my business, and I suppose it is, but I've come to learn in my old age....the squeaky wheel gets the grease!! So, ok guys, look, I'm a self proclaimed EXPERT in glass, specifically vintage auto glass, and I have a thread in the HAMB o'dex and sell my glass to hambers all over the world. I have the factory patterns for virtually every american car or pickup built before about 1965, and I mainly sell tempered glas for the side glass for the exact reason you keep breaking your laminated side glasses. My craftsmanship is the best in the world, and I have hundreds and hundreds of very satisfied customers from here to the other side of the globe. Check out my thread.... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=614524 There's some explanation of laminated versus tempered in there that you all may find useful. If you have any specific questions, please send me a PM and I'll be very happy to help you out! I also cut curved glass for chop tops & have a thread with some video of me doing it, if you're interested in that too. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=678053 My advise to Indychus: get tempered glass from me, you'll never break another one unless you take a hammer to it I LOVE THE HAMB!! YOU GENTS ARE THE MAIN ARTERY IN THE BLOOD SUPPLY OF MY BUSINESS, AND I'm FOREVER GRATEFUL FOR ALL OF YOU. Thanks!
screw the glass just get some plastic and duct tape, after you get some head on down to walmart and their will be somebody in the parking lot that will be a expert in this conversion. ask the guy living in the trailer way out away from the store he will know who does it. LOL!
Every time I did laminated side glass, I always used new felt channels. I also, never screwed the channels in, I glued them in. I just used primerless windshield urethane in the bottom of the groove where the channel sits in (where usually screwed into). Put the channel in and roll up window to hold in place. Let the urethane cure overnight. Also, make sure your metal channels (or guides) inside the doors have new felts too and are adjusted right - window operates smooth with no binding. I never had anybody come back to me for a window that cracked that I installed ...ever.
Here is a point of concern I did not see anyone mention here..... Are the metal strips that the glass is set INTO -at their bottom- side[the mounting to your regulator]...about SAME equal length as the glass is or within an inch on each end of being the same length as your glass? If they are a bunch shorter length -this can cause the weight if the regulator to cause more pressure on the glass when the door is shut ANY harder than normal..... It is easy to see if that is your problem as any cracks will originate exactly at the ends of that metal strip mentioned above... Usually when a door has had the vents removed abd a one peice glass installed this can be a problem you would encounter ,as the glass is longer in length and that strip is in some instances not lengthened enough.........
Laminated is for windscreens and vent glasses. Safety glass on the rest is the ticket. Check the vertical and belt line fussies as well as ensuring that the vertical glass channelw are straight and adjusted correctly and not off line. Also make sure there are no screws or fasteners rattling against the glass. Use graphite dust to lubricate the glass edges and vertical channels. No more problems.
I used tempered glass for the doors in my 47 Chev. All it takes to break laminated glass is leaving the window down and shutting the door. If you put everything new in the door, it might be fine, but (to me anyway) not worth the risk.
guess I'm not too old to learn something new...eveyone i know uses laminated. Hey Chris hows the cost of tempered compare to laminated? (I know ...if you replace 4 pieces of side glass there probably is no comparison...but I'm curious)
Replace the channels. And I agree, don't slam the doors. I was at Dead Man's Curve car show last week, and two different times people slammed truck doors shut. If it's new stuff, and aligned properly, you don't need to slam the door.
just to stir the mix here. 47 years in the auto glass business. I say there is no way in hell you can break a door glass that is properly installed by slamming a door. on the other hand, there is never a time that I will install laminated glass in a door that had the vent windows deleted. go figure huh!
I'm getting new front side windows cut for my 54 Caddy tomorrow, having just deleted the vent windows ... Am I just asking for trouble ? I'm using new 1/2" x 1/2" channel & fuzzies ... This will increase the width of the windows by 6.25" so I'm moving the power window regulators ahead 3.5" to clear the motors and better balance the weight of the windows ... I'm just reading about using tempered glass for the 1st time tonight ... I hope they work out OK ... but if there is a problem ... at least i can use the new laminated safety glass as a template if I have to have ones made out of tempered glass ... I'll have to hope for the best, as the origional windows have lasted almost 60 years ...
I think another idea could be to make the height of the glass a bit taller so it hasn't got a chance to to rattle in the door , when the window is wound all the way down make sure it's got 1/4 of an inch of the top of the glass sticking out so it's being held by 4 sides not just 3 ,just a thought good luck and I'd still use tempered glass it's strong and flexible , I hit this glass with a hammer at work to get rid of scrap pieces and to hit it in the middle you can't break it with out huge force it has to be hit on an edge good luck
yes the fuzzy side of velcro worked well for me on my nash metro. I bought it off ebay very cheep then cleaned and painted the guides and glued the velcro in with black 3-m super weatherstrip adhesive. now if I could figure out a way to make dew wipes id be set.
I charge the same for either tempered or laminated. The annealed glass costs way less than the laminated glass does, and I can cut it in about 1/4 of the time it takes to cut laminated. Also, because of how I cut the annealed glass, there's way less work involved in shaping and polishing the edges up. However, I do have the extra cost of having the glass tempered when I get done doin' my thing to it. I'm simple minded and I figure it all comes out in the wash, so I charge the same for everything, and sell mostly tempered glass, except for the windshields of course.
Well guys, I have all new felts and fuzzies installed, and new glass. It's been a couple of weeks now with no issues, and it damn sure makes the entire car feel better with the windows sealed up properly. I guess time will tell if my issue is solved, but i'm betting it is... This glass has already lasted longer than the previous glass. The glass shop offered to cut new glass for free, but since I'm pretty sure it was my fault they broke for not replacing the soft parts, I paid for it anyways. Thanks for all of the advice!
Just laminated... no need for tempered. From what I've read, the original glass was laminated, and if it worked well enough for GM to produce millions of cars with it, it's fine for my application. I'm pretty sure that replacing the soft parts fixed my issue.
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