Good luck finding a new one 
WTF- How does this happen????
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 1,783
Likes: 2
From: Downey California
WTF- How does this happen????
I go look at the vette in the morning and this is what I find. 
I parked it inside the night before and the window was fine. I was the last person to leave and the first one to came in. I was so mad
What the heck could had happened??? I did take the Window out about 2 months ago to replace some parts inside the door. 
Has this ever happened to someone else??? Is the 68 glass a one year only?? Does anyone have one for sale?? 
Drifting
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 1,403
Likes: 0
From: Denver CO
I'm sorry to see you problem. I've been installing auto glass for sometime and have owned my own glass shop for the last 13 years.
My first suspect would be the work that was done two months prior. The door glass is tempered, what this means is that is heated to temperatures near melting point and then cooled very quickly. The glass behave totally different than regular or laminated glass like the windsheild.
If it is hit hard even with a rock or a hammer it may not break, but it is bruised. This can lead later on to it imploding without warning.
The otherthing is it could have had an edge hit, this will make the piece break very easily.
When you were working in the door was the glass hit or were the holes in the glass lined up right (I beleive there are holes where hte regulator bolts up to spanner nuts, not sue I'm a C4 guy)?
This could have set it up for failure.
My first suspect would be the work that was done two months prior. The door glass is tempered, what this means is that is heated to temperatures near melting point and then cooled very quickly. The glass behave totally different than regular or laminated glass like the windsheild.
If it is hit hard even with a rock or a hammer it may not break, but it is bruised. This can lead later on to it imploding without warning.
The otherthing is it could have had an edge hit, this will make the piece break very easily.
When you were working in the door was the glass hit or were the holes in the glass lined up right (I beleive there are holes where hte regulator bolts up to spanner nuts, not sue I'm a C4 guy)?
This could have set it up for failure.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 5,752
Likes: 4
From: Austin Texas
Maybe you over-tightened the glass mounting parts when you had the glass out?....Maybe a temperature change aggrivated the mounting....C-3 'vert glass is different than coupe glass, but 68 has extra holes in glass that 69-75 don't. They can be found in Corvette salvage yards, G/L 
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 1,783
Likes: 2
From: Downey California
When you were working in the door was the glass hit or were the holes in the glass lined up right
Maybe you over-tightened the glass mounting parts when you had the glass out?....Maybe a temperature change aggrivated the mounting...
Race Director
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 11,874
Likes: 263
From: Arlington Va Current ride 04 vert, previous vettes: 69 vert, 77 resto mod
it happened to my wife in our volvo station wagon...she went to role the window down and it exploded....its probably from years of stress and it finally gave way...its a good thing it didn't happen when you had a passenger in the car
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Safety Car
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 3,581
Likes: 28
From: Spring, Texas
A similar thing happened to my 71 coupe (long gone but missed). It was in my mother's garage and under a cover for a week. I pull the cover off to drive it home, only to notice the passernger window is spidered just like yours. Still believe someone accidentally hit it with something, but the car cover showed no signs. No work had recently been performed on the door or window. Twighlight Zone...
C6 the C5 of tomorrow
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 6,665
Likes: 2
From: Twin Cities Minnesota
I worked with a guy who had that happen to his Honda.
It was sitting in the parking lot, it was fine when he got to work, but at lunch time, after a thunderstorm, it was shattered.
We wonderend if it was the temperature change or the thunder, or maybe both...
So it does happen.
It was sitting in the parking lot, it was fine when he got to work, but at lunch time, after a thunderstorm, it was shattered.
We wonderend if it was the temperature change or the thunder, or maybe both...
So it does happen.
Race Director
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 16,100
Likes: 17
Here is one for you guys...was aboard a 90,000 ton tanker going thru Panama canal..after we cleared locks,it started to rain..real hot day...the centerline wheelhouse window shattered...we had to bust it out so helmsman could see to steer...
Excuse fuzzy pics...digitals of old prints...we put plexiglass in later...
Excuse fuzzy pics...digitals of old prints...we put plexiglass in later...
Last edited by rihwoods; Feb 8, 2006 at 02:04 PM.
Safety Car
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 3,775
Likes: 4
i cracked the window on my sunbird when i washed it. we figured it was probably cooking inside the car, and when the cold water from the hose touched the windshield it cracked it.
i learned an important lesson that day. if its hot out and you want to wash your car, roll down the windows for 10 mins or so before hand.
i learned an important lesson that day. if its hot out and you want to wash your car, roll down the windows for 10 mins or so before hand.
Drifting
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 1,403
Likes: 0
From: Denver CO
Windshields are not tempered that is why temperture spreads the crack. It is laminated the glass is hot and when you put water on it the outside sheet contract while the inside sheet stays the same or does not contract fast enough to keep up, thus the crack.
Tempered is a totally different animal. The glass is cooled so quickly that the inside glass is trapped by the outside that cooled so quickly. That is why it explodes when it breaks, it releases all the tension.
Tempered is a totally different animal. The glass is cooled so quickly that the inside glass is trapped by the outside that cooled so quickly. That is why it explodes when it breaks, it releases all the tension.
