Can somebody offer up any tips for removing the rear quarter windows other than heating up the sealant.

I shattered one last night and I don't want to destroy the other.

Thanks,
Eric

 

Try a piece of piano wire/ guitar string.

Pull it behind the glass and try to break the seal. Maybe use some heat too.

It is quite a bitch to do.

I've never done it. (tried and gave up)

 

They are kinda spendy arent they? As for tips, I only had to do it once, So I did it VERY VERY VERY SLOWYLY with a guitar string.....I didnt have a piano! LMAO.......Its doable, use a heatgun on the hottest day you can, and take your time.......The top is pretty easy the bottom is a pain in the ***. Good luck bro!

 

Yea I went thru a few guitar strings, and then a few lenghts of saftey wire. Take your time. I used a tiny drill bit and hand drilled a small hole in the sealant as a starter hole for the string. Aint no shortcuts to this. Your basically using the string as a saw. Back and forth, repeat, repeat, repeat. It takes along time. Maybe if you could heat the wire it would go faster but then how would you hold it?

 

take a fat piece of guitar wire and charge it with electricity, heating it up. cuts the **** like butter!!

 

Auto parts store sell the window wire. Never had a guitar. Heating the glass is a nono. I take a piece of wire, 24-30" long and use a pair of vice grips at each end for a handle. RX7Carl is dead on with the starter hole.

The triangular trim piece at the back of the glass will need to be popped off, you will break the heat weld plastic tabs that hold it on the metal piece. I use black rtv to remount them when the glass is reinstalled.

 

I used a razor knife to work a place in the seal and then used the wire from the hot start assist to cut the rest of it. used vice grips on the wire and it took about 5 minutes.

 

^^^ That's a ******* REALLY good idea!

 

i used a really flexible steak knife and had it out in 60 seconds. make sure to remove the nut on the inside first!!!!

 

I haven't personally removed one, but from what it sounds like, you should be able to to it with a razor knife, and the wire. If you want, you can get wire from your local auto body paint supplier. Thats where we get our wire from. Heating works, thats how all the yards here will get out their glass.

There is a junkyard here, that has a few FB's in it. If your in need of the glass, I can check with them on pricing, and go gank it for you. I've been meaning to check to see if they have a GSL rear end there anyway...

~Chris

 

Thanks guys, I'll try the wire, it shattered while trying to get a gap to insert something to cut with... I slipped and the glass went pop.

 

i didnt go the side window but i did do the winsheild and i have a tool but if u dnt have it well u can use window wire and have something round at each end and just cut like a saw and it will work and also take ur time

 

out of curiosity, why would you need to remove those windows if they arent already broken, in the first place?

 

Its a parts car, so I'm stripping all the useable parts off.

 

Anyone have an electric stove or oven?

Pop an element off and bend it. The outer casing will crack... It's ceramic.

Inside, there is Nichrome wire. This heats up when electricity is applied.

Pull out a length. Wrap the ends around pieces of wood or bakelite plastic. Apply power to part of the wire INSIDE the wood. If you apply power to parts outside the wood, then the part that's going to be near your hand will get hot...

I've gotta remove one of mine. It was hit by an errant golfball.

 

If you were doing body work, such as quarter replacement, you would remove it. If not only for the pannel replacement, but also for when painting so that there would be no edge. We remove quarter glass all the time for the body shops for this reason.

~Chris

 

go and get a hand held windshield remover...thats what I used with mine...if you do use a heat gun however try to heat if from the inside...too much heat on the glass will make it shatter...just ask my dad thats how mine got broke...he was brazing in a replacement section in the rear hatch lip and was too close with the torch for too long making too much heat and well you get the point...

 

when they get tinted do they have to come out or do they do it with it in place

 

Hey, this may sound stupid, but after you've drilled/cut a gap, could you use a long, thin, flat blade removed from a hacksaw??? Never tried it but sounds logical to me. If not, why not?

 

Another alternative is go to your local store like Wal Mart or Target or fishing tackle store and buy some steel fishing line in the small size. Once you can get it started thru the seal you just use vise grips or wrap it around a piece of wood and saw back and forth while moving the line towards one end of the glass then the other. It really doesn't take that long once you get it going.
L8R

 

wire sounds like your best bet, or a razor knife from the inside. Im know sure about a cold-knife (handle with a L shaped blade on one end, and a pull cable on the other). If you can use a pair of needle nose and feed your wire through from the inside to the outside, do so, just be careful to not the wire touch the paint, or it will scratch it.

Use visegrips on each end of your wire, from inside and out, and work it back and forth in a steady motion moving in the direction you are cutting. It will take some work, but once you get it going, you can get it right out. You can get braided wire, or steel wire, either will work. I usually start my cut with regular, then move onto the braided to finish it off.

If there are any interior pannels in the way, I would suggest removing them. If the hot wire gets near them, or headliner, it will either score them, or burn into them. Also be sure to keep it away from the paint as I said earlier, it will do the same, or scratch it.

As far as removing the glass for tinting, no, they leave it in the car. But if you have your glass already removed, you can have it tinted somewhere.

I wouldn't reccomend the hacksaw idea, it might work, but Id be afraid of scratching the body, or the glass itself. Remember, this is tempered glass, not laminated like a windshield. It will shatter pretty damn easy if you give it a good wack or hit it just right. Heat I wouldn't reccomend unless removing from a junkyard car. I wouldn't go heating up my body just to remove glass ever, a little patience will get it out with some wire.

~Chris

 

NO ****!!!

It was too cold to do anything today so I'll try tomorrow.

 

Heh, wasn't trying to be a smart *** by saying so, but some people think that all glass in their car is like the windshield, which is laminated (two pieces of glass with plastic lamination between them). The door glass, and all other glass (except in newer SUVs) is tempered. So if someone is under tha impression, they think they can toss it around, or hit it and it will just chip or get a stress fracture like a windshield....

 

Cutting the window sealant and cold weather does not go well together, found that out the hard way. If there is anyway you can get the car in a heated space, it will make it much easier, if not, try heating the wire. My glass installer has a very nifty tool that looks like a modified sawzall, the blade heats up and goes through the sealant like butter.