Getting Drop glass off the carrier..

[Lwanmtr]

Ok, if there's a post already on this, I couldnt find it...

I got my drop glass out of the car and have been scraping out adhesive (of which there is a ton)..been spraying brake cleaner where I can to get it to release..its stuck on there good. Anyone have any other tips, tricks, etc for getting the carrier to release?

[DMC-81]

Hi Rob,

Have you tried non-flame heat to loosen it up (like a heat gun)? Apparently that works, but I haven't tried it.

[Rich_NYS]

Hi Rob,

Have you tried non-flame heat to loosen it up (like a heat gun)? Apparently that works, but I haven't tried it.

+1

I've done it twice. Use an electric heat gun, but only enough to release the adhesive. Dave S posted somewhere here that the glass can break without proper caution.

I can't imagine trying to scrape the adhesive out....yikes!

[Rich]

Here's Dave S. talking about hammering the glass and carrier apart.

http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?267

Says the glass never broke but that the heating plus hammer method did not always get the job done.

I think I recall from pre-crash posts that a utility knife and/or a hacksaw blade - and lots of patience - to cut thru the old urethane can work. Dave mentions cutting in general.

[Lwanmtr]

Thanks. I'll prolly give the heat gun a try today. Thought about that last night..just worried about heating it too much. I know that cleaning the carrier out will be an annoying task, once I get it off..lol

[DMCMW Dave]

An update on that old post. Heat gun is still the way to go. It is possible to heat the glass enough to break it. So take it easy and don't let the heat get too concentrated in one area.

Another note - later cars have the glass secured with black double sided tape rather than glue. The good news is that they come apart much easier. The bad news is that sometimes they come apart when you don't want them to. Like in the car.

[Rich_NYS]

One of mine had tape, the other had glue. I used a heat gun both times, but l was able to "he-man" the taped one [apart] without too much heat.
I might have pics to post.

[Lwanmtr]

Heated and pulled and scraped for an hour and a half and still not budging...I'll give it another go tomorrow

[dn010]

Sorry to hijack here, but what is the adhesive you guys are using to secure the glass back to the carrier? My passenger side window has to be re-aligned so I will be joining the rest of you with removing, etc.

[Lwanmtr]

That is a good question though. I was planning on seeing what window adhesives autozone or oreily's has...Dont need much, Toby at DMCNW just says you need it at each end of the two sections....not all the way across.

[Rich_NYS]

Sorry to hijack here, but what is the adhesive you guys are using to secure the glass back to the carrier? My passenger side window has to be re-aligned so I will be joining the rest of you with removing, etc.

I used window weld

[Lwanmtr]

Do places like Autozone or Oriely's carry that?

[Lwanmtr]

Well after 2 hours of heating, prying, cussing, heating some more, scraping more the carrier finally released. Got it and the glass cleaned up and now to decide if I want to replace the scratched glass or try and get it buffed to see if it can be salvaged

[David T]

Eastwood (eastwood.com) has a kit to polish and buff glass. Or you can go to a glass shop and have them buff it and they could give you a little bit of adhesive to put it back together. The tape is a LOT less messy if you can get it and it doesn't have to dry.

[Lwanmtr]

Yeah, I'll check with local glass places to see what they charge. Im not sure if they could, cause there are alot of scratches.

I'll probably use glue because I'm going to put the window in while it's still tacky and let the window decide where it wants to sit in the carrier to be aligned.

[iflights]

I'll probably use glue because I'm going to put the window in while it's still tacky and let the window decide where it wants to sit in the carrier to be aligned.

Based on previous experience, I would suggest the glass sits clamped against the back of the carrier instead of allowing it to float.

[Lwanmtr]

It will be in the full up under pressure for at least a day or two to allow the glue to set

[DMC-81]

Based on previous experience, I would suggest the glass sits clamped against the back of the carrier instead of allowing it to float.

I also understand that the carrier should be centered between the two dimples in the glass. I had my passenger window out and I verified that alignment.

[Lwanmtr]

Ideally, yeah the two little dots need to be equal on each side...but talking to Toby, he said its not always true and he suggested gluing them and putting it in the car in the fully closed position so that the glass settles where it actually wants to be for best alignment.

My glass was like 1/2 inch forward on mine, which is why it was really off...hehe.

[SpudMurphy]

I managed to remove the carrier in 30 minutes.
The 36 year old bonding was pretty hard.
I used one of those long bladed knives that you get from a £/$ shop.

I used some UpVC Cleaner - it smells like thinners and is used in the trade to clean plastic windows from residue of silicone sealants etc

I also used a hot air gun.
First I "wafted" the gun across the whole of the glass to warm it up - so that it is not "shocked">

Then I played the heat gun on the metal carrier - worked fine - it took some effort but it came out as I say in 30 mins.

The next day, I dropped the carrier onto the floor and snapped off one of the plastic legs from the end plastic extrusions grrrrrr!