FAQ > DIY - Do It Yourself Auto Glass Questions

• Can I buy a windshield and installation materials from Phoenix Glass to install it my self? Yes you can, but if it bonds to the vehicle we don't recommend it for many reasons, safety being the key one. In an adhesive bonded windshield, side or rear back glass installation for example there are many items and steps necessary to properly install them. It is critically important that a proper adhesive system be used. They must have primers used on the pinchweld and possibly the glass and even the type of glass cleaner used is critical to the safety of the installation. If you were to truly purchase all of the components that are necessary to properly install your own windshield you would be spending much more of your hard earned money than you would if you had your windshield professionally installed by us. You also would be avoiding the risk involved for the breakage of the glass if something went wrong and you would have a warranty for the product as well as the workmanship. We have actually had a customer that went through 5 windshields before he final caved and had his wife bring the car to us for the finale 6th windshield installation so the bottom line is we highly recommend that you use a professional auto glass technician to install your windshield or other auto glass part.

In the paint work phase of the operation I-CAR states that if top coats are being applied, masking is to be applied over the primer to prevent topcoats from being sprayed onto the surface of the windshield pinchweld. After the base coat and clear coat have been applied, the masking is removed. The glass pinchweld should be cleaned after tape removal to ensure any residual adhesive from the tape has been removed. There is a lot more to be said to answer your question. The pit falls in doing your own auto body repair and paint work are tremendous and way beyond the scope of this website.

There sure is! In the body work phase of the operation I-Car states that if body repair was completed on the pinchweld, it is imperative that body filler not be used. Windshields should never be installed over body filler.

• My car had a tree limb fall on it. The limb made a dent in the roof and broke my windshield. I'm planning on doing the auto body repair as well as paint work myself and then I plan on having Phoenix Glass install my windshield. Is there any special body or paint prep work I need to do prior to the installation of the windshield?

• 10% of all accidents are vehicle roll overs which cause almost 11,000 annual fatalities. • The FMVSS 216 Standard says a roof must sustain no greater than a 5" crush when one and a half times the vehicle weight is applied to the "A" pillar. • Vehicle occupants held inside the vehicle have a 25% greater chance of escaping injury. • 75% of occupants ejected from their vehicles are fatalities. • Passenger air bags use your windshield for a backstop and can only function properly if the windshield remains in place during a crash. • Click the link to see a Consumer Reports crash test video of your vehicle.

• Should I use butyl tape to install my own (glue in type) windshield? Absolutely Not! Butyl Tape is a sealant, not an adhesive. Back in the day when butyl was used it provided adequate sealing but little strength. When automobile designs changed, adhesive technology improved to provide high structural strength as well as a moisture seal. Butyl is now and has been for many years considered a contaminate and should be completely removed to ensure a 100% bond strength for the glass.

Auto makers didn't make the transition to urethane just for the fun or economics of it. Like everything else in life they learned as they went along and what they learned from all the data they collected over the years at the cost of serious injures and loss of life was that the vehicles they were producing had a serious short fall in the area of glass retention. Safety studies show the most common cause of death is being thrown from a vehicle during an accident. In 1970 federal legislation was enacted requiring the windshield to remain intact during a 30 mph frontal impact (FMVSS 212). In 1973, a similar legislation was enacted requiring the passenger car roof to withstand roof collapse during a roll over accident (FMVSS 216). Due to fuel economy and other concerns, automotive manufacturers choose not to reinforce the roof pillars to meet this standard.

The ANSI / AGRSS Standard If the OEM installation was butyl, polysulfide, or other non polyurethane, and the vehicle is licensed for highway use, adhesive bonded stationary glass installations shall be performed using polyurethane or an equivalent retention system unless in conflict with current OEM specifications

If you were to install it with butyl tape and your vehicle was involved in a severe accident it will allow your windshield to literally pop out of the vehicle allowing the passengers to be ejected from within it. Today’s auto glass isn't just designed to keep the elements out of your vehicle, it's a major part that is designed to be an integral part of the vehicles structure and it must be installed properly with an adhesive called urethane. Without it the FMVSS Specifications the vehicle manufacturers engineers built into the vehicle are, pardon the pun, literally out the window. Actual figures, depending on whose data you use, say that butyl tape is reported to have a holding strength of 60 psi where as it's reported that urethane adhesive has a holding strength of 600 psi. Whomever figures you use it still comes out with the same end result which is that Butyl, in no way, has anywhere near the holding strength that urethane does. Another common mistake we see a lot is people buying butyl tape off the auto parts store shelf without the compatible primers necessary to make it adhere to the intended surface. Without the intended pinchweld and glass primers not to mention proper compatible paint preparation on the pinchweld butyl tape, just like urethane, won't achieve any where near the holding strength its manufacturers intended it to. Even the type of glass cleaner used on an auto glass installation is critical.