How to remove old urethane glass primer from windshield ???

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Beaver Shaver - 10 Nov 2007 18:14 GMT

I removed the windshield from my truck to repair rust on the a-pillars.
The windshield is a fairly new piece of glass and I would like to re-use
it. I took a razor blade and scraped the old urethane adhesive from the
glass, but not all it came off. Now I'm having a hell of time removing
the remainder of the urethane glue and primer from the glass.

Is there a recommended way to get this stuff off so the glass can be
re-used?

Thanks.

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autoglass101@comcast.net - 10 Nov 2007 20:22 GMT

> I removed the windshield from my truck to repair rust on the a-pillars.
> The windshield is a fairly new piece of glass and I would like to re-use
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>
> Thanks.

As long as you haven't used any solvents or chemicals during your
cleaning process, I would blade off as much as I could get and then
clean with glass cleaner and glue it back in with urethane. Most of
the time if urethane has a good bond to the glass you won't get it all
off. Just make it as smooth and clean as you can. Pinchweld prep is
just as important in gaining a proper bond.

Hope this helps.

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Beaver Shaver - 10 Nov 2007 20:42 GMT

>>I removed the windshield from my truck to repair rust on the a-pillars.
>>The windshield is a fairly new piece of glass and I would like to re-use
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
>
> Hope this helps.

Too late. I tried various solvents I had around the garage to get the
remaining urethane off the glass. The problem is that the old glue is
half off. So there are areas with clean glass and other areas with old
adhesive still stuck to surface. If there was a undamaged layer of
urethane all around, I would just go ahead and clean it and re-glue it.

So the problem now is that I can't apply new primer to the glass because
you're not supposed to use it on the old urethane. It's all gotta come
off somehow. I hadn't expected that the primer would be so darn hard to
remove.

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Steve W. - 10 Nov 2007 23:53 GMT

>>> I removed the windshield from my truck to repair rust on the a-pillars.
>>> The windshield is a fairly new piece of glass and I would like to re-use
[quoted text clipped - 26 lines]
> off somehow. I hadn't expected that the primer would be so darn hard to
> remove.

No problem. Grab a hair drier and use it to GENTLY heat the urethane
just in front of the razor blade as you scrape. If you use some new
blades and are careful the old stuff will come off easily. The solvent
will evaporate or come off with the old sealer as well.

Signature

Steve W.
Near Cooperstown, New York

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Beaver Shaver - 11 Nov 2007 02:48 GMT

> Too late. I tried various solvents I had around the garage to get the
> remaining urethane off the glass. The problem is that the old glue is
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> off somehow. I hadn't expected that the primer would be so darn hard to
> remove.

Problem solved. It turns out my technique wasn't the problem. It was the
WalMart razor blades. Apparently, the blades from WalMart are made of
some really cheap steel. They dull very quickly. They were dulling so
fast that all they would do was about 6" of urethane before losing their
edge. I started to change blades every few inches and things went much
smoother. All of the old urethane and primer are now gone from the
glass. Woot!

But I do have one more question. The trim on this vehicle is very fussy
about the installion height of the windshield. It needs to be 5/16" and
3/8" -- no more, no less. The factory manual recommends the use of a dam
strip, but I haven't been able to locate one. I would like to use
spacers, but there is not a lot of room on the pinchweld. Any suggestions?

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Comboverfish - 17 Nov 2007 22:54 GMT

> > Too late. I tried various solvents I had around the garage to get the
> > remaining urethane off the glass. The problem is that the old glue is
[quoted text clipped - 20 lines]
> strip, but I haven't been able to locate one. I would like to use
> spacers, but there is not a lot of room on the pinchweld. Any suggestions?

The window moulding "dam strip(s)" may be available through your
vehicle's parts department (what make and model was that again?). If
this is a >10 year old Ford, then chances are lessened.

Toyota MDT in MO

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philthy - 17 Nov 2007 20:29 GMT

trim as much off as you can with a sharp knife then use pinchweld primer on
the channel then glue it bac in the new stuff will fill the voids with no
worry

> I removed the windshield from my truck to repair rust on the a-pillars.
> The windshield is a fairly new piece of glass and I would like to re-use
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>
> Thanks.

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