We have had a rash of fixing other peoples faulty work lately. We at AutoGlass Rehab get to see this everyday but know that you don’t, so we want to show some of the examples of what can happen from poor workmanship.
There are many tools to remove glass. Many people debate what is the “best” way to do this. Many people lean towards the newer tools that use fiber line or “wire” to cut the glass out. These are great and we use them too. Our favorite is the WRD “bat”. There are the polar opposites who like to go old school and use “cold knives” . This is another awesome tool that not all companies train or trust their employee’s with. Then their is my all time favorite the “extractor” which is basically a sawzall fancied up for glass. Our answer is there is no best tool for every job, they all need to be employed at some point to get glass our of a car safely.
So I am telling you we like all these tools, what’s the issue then? All of these tools require training and proper use or they can damage your car or truck. This damage is not something you will necessarily see, especially once that shiny new glass is in. Their are major fails and minor fails here. So lets show you the severity of the most minor infraction.
A scratched pinch weld…
This seems minor, cars get scratched all the time. But here, where water flows and it rarely gets to see the light of day this can be disastrous. Once the rust starts eating your car you have a few different failure’s that occur. One is the glass no longer bonded to your car. This is unsafe because the glass is a structural part of your car that will effect how your car holds you in or up in an accident. The second issue is that water can start to enter this non bonded area. Modern cars are filled with electronics that can’t handle water and that can get expensive. This particular car was 100% released across the top of the windshield, we only had to remove the urethane on the bottom and sides. With the windshield in you could only see a few slight bubbles in the paint. Thankfully for this customer we were able to save it without a body shop. Our next blog will show more severe damages that required body shop repairs.