Original Windshield or Crystal Clear

[Deanj]

If you search the site for "windshield replacement" you'll find multiple mentions that many of the replacement windshields do not have the top to bottom curve that you see in the center when looking at a side profile of the car. Instead, they are flat. Something to keep in mind if choosing to replace.

I see. So are these flat replacements the new norm or just inferior glass? My side was replaced before I bought my 1960 and while the FoMoCo logo is missing, the pristine tinted glass is worthwhile.

Dean

[JohnG]

I would say that not having to put additional curvature into the glass kept the cost down a bit. Since we are talking very low volume here, that might have been important. (the windshield having no other application than 58-60 TBirds).

I have a replacement windshield in my '58 that itself is pretty old (I will say 20 years old) and it actually does have the additional curvature if viewed from the side. How that happened, I have no idea as it was put in before I got the car in 2003. I would hazzard a guess most owners have never taken notice. I only did after reading some posts on this site many years ago.

A consideration for me if I were considering having it replaced would be: can I find someone who will do a good job? Is changing the glass in a 1958 TBird the same as a 2012 Chevrolet? I know that on current cars they can replace the windshields pretty quickly and easily but do the techniques carry over to old cars? if not I may get something back I am not happy with. If so, fine and it is now just a matter of money and source.

Speaking of which . . .I took a look at Mac's. They show both clear and tinted available. In the $700 range. Whether you have a hardtop or convertible may factor in. Let us not forget shipping cost, which is doubtless not cheap for such an item. Do not appear to have the additional curvature we spoke of.

Wonder's book says the laminated approach changed to solid, tempered in 1961 (p. 8).

John

[Deanj]

John, I would guess for rollover reasons new cars have more surface area to bond with tape. I know that the T-Bird installation rubber molding has a tendency to dry out, crack, and leak. At least that's what happened on my rear glass when I found a trunk full of water after a shop left it in the rain.

I could be happy with thinner glass, slight variation in tint, but the contours and quality of installation must be right. For $700 less new molding the glass should not only be perfect, it should install itself.

Dean

[JohnG]

old story you made me think of: here and there are hardtops that people made into convertibles, for whatever reasons.

More than one person has been tooling along in their pseudo convertible and, for no apparent reason, the windshield cracked.

Why? a hardtop does not have as much reinforcement, especially in the rocker panel area. Remove the roof, a significant structural component, and the car flexes more. The poor windshield apparently could not quite make up the difference.

(you can look around this site for an article on the rocker panel differences)

John

[Deanj]

...a hardtop does not have as much reinforcement, especially in the rocker panel area. Remove the roof, a significant structural component, and the car flexes more. The poor windshield apparently could not quite make up the difference.

(you can look around this site for an article on the rocker panel differences)

John

Very true. In fact my friend says his 34 year restored 1966 Corvette convertible twists less with the top up. ( A white collar guy, he restored everything but the body himself over 2 years. This included acid dipping the frame, welding classes, and an assembly manual.)

I insist my 2016 Challenger RT Classic rides softer with both windows down.

Dean

[simplyconnected]

Production windshield installation is vastly different from Squarebirds to modern car methods.

Cars from the '50s used the edge of the 'windshield aperture' to wrap rubber molding around. Back then, the stainless trim pieces were inserted into the rubber, the windshield was inserted into the rubber, then the whole assembly was offered to the sheet metal opening (the aperture). Two guys positioned the glass assembly from the outside while one guy pulled ropes from the inside, that 'peeled' the rubber lip over the sheet metal edge, all the way around. There is a 'patting' or 'slapping' technique they used to vibrate this assembly into place during the process. Sometimes, a new installer would crack the glass if he patted too roughly.

Today, we pound molding channel around the glass, degrease & prime the area where urethane will be applied, then offer it to a robot. Today, the car's aperture is flat, not an edge. It was already painted, cleaned and primed in the Paint Dept before Trim.

So, two robots. One squirts urethane around the glass (with molding). Then, a turnover offers the glass to the second robot. The car body is positively located and clamped then laser cameras measure the car's aperture distances. This information is relayed to the robot so it can pick up the glass with suction cups and install it in perfect alignment with the body.

I set up this program for the 'vision cameras' and glass-insert robots. If two consecutive cars have identical measurements, they are the same car. In other words, NO two car bodies are the same.

An 'inspection' worker assures everything is right then he releases the car, otherwise he immediately pulls the glass out with his suction cups and sets the 'bad glass' in a rack to cure.

Urethane 'skins over' in ten minutes, so the 'repair' process must be quick. There is an 'offline urethane robot' that either makes 'replacement' glass OR it can take over if one of the main line robots fails. That means, it is programmed to make windshields or backlites. Convertibles don't get backlites.

At Ford, windshields are a 'double-inverted delta part' meaning, it is the highest priority safety item. We regard windshields as being part of the structure of the car because it is. Oh and by the way, you see through it to drive. - Dave

[dgs]

... my friend says his 34 year restored 1966 Corvette convertible twists less with the top up. ...

Early in my Squarebird ownership, I jacked the front of my convertible up with the top down. I wasn't really thinking. I quickly noticed that the gap at the top of the rear edge of the doors had disappeared when I found that I couldn't get the door open. I quickly put it back on the ground and put the top up. When I jacked it up again, the gap had gotten smaller, but there was still a gap and the door still opened.

[dgs]

I see. So are these flat replacements the new norm or just inferior glass? ...

I honestly don't know. I'm not sure if that's still true and if so, is all the glass that way or only from certain manufacturers. I had remembered seeing it on the forum, verified it by searching before I posted here. Something to ask a vendor about when you are ordering, I guess.

[Deanj]

...ask a vendor about when you are ordering, I guess.

Man, I'm finding out there's a lot to ask before ordering. Replacement parts are not created equal. Door scuff plates are bad, as are turn signal levers, and some rubber parts including the door weather strip seals depending on brand. Maybe you'll get an honest answer.

Some parts are adequate like interior trim, handles, wiper blades, and tail lamp lens.

Some parts have been really good like a power steering control valve, steering wheel (although the first one sent me was pre-cracked), and a power brakes unit from Booster Dewey.

When you buy a big ticket item like a windshield, somebody should volunteer the details on the item.

Dean