Bonded windscreen removal for reuse, Any tips?

[stevek]

Hi,

I have bought a non sunroof roof cut for the 924 to hopefully replace the sunroof on mine. The plan being to transfer the skin across by carefully drilling the spot welds out. I'm expecting plenty of difficulty and trouble trying to tackle that bit but there's only one way to become experienced so I'm going to have a go. I will be looking at this YouTube video:

in great detail when I get to cutting stage. This is way beyond anything I have tried to tackle so far but looks doable.

But the first task will be to remove the windscreen, preferably in one piece so it can be reused later. It is a relatively new screen (5yr old) so isn't de-laminating or anything like that. I have been doing some web searching and looking at various YouTube videos but I'm still quite unsure about it.

There seems to be plenty of people saying 'its possible', 'no problem', 'easy' ect but just as many saying 'It will break' 'not worth the risk' etc. I was hoping there might be some first hand experience of people who have tried this on the forum.

There seems to be 2 main types of tool..

1) A 90 degree cutter with a drag handle...


2) A cheese wire with handles...

... with two types of wire types; braided or square section.

Has anyone had any success or failure trying this? I would love some pointers.

-Steve-

[Deleted]

Hi i have used both methods shown ,the single sided cutter has a good chance of cracking the screen if you get the angle wrong !. The cheese wire is probably the best for a novice but can still cut the screen or dash , an old number plate down the dash stops dash damage but you may be safer to get a screen company to cut it out and put it back in . Try a smaller one man outfit they tend to be more realistic ,I'm in the trade and can get them done for £50/60 without much trouble .

[dodgerover]

We cheese wired a screen out of a rover 216 successfully when they first came out. It's definitely a 2 man job though and takes some co ordination. Beware you can cut into the screen if you get over enthusiastic.

[thewindscreenman]

As above, wire every time. Feed it through the bond from inside the car on an angle using small, long nosed pliars until there is enough poking out to pull with pliars. Take your time, keep handles flat to the glass with one man inside & one out & you should be fine. Storing the windscreen in a safe place is the challenge!

[discostew38]

Jan 5, 2016 0:30:24 GMT thewindscreenman said:

As above, wire every time. Feed it through the bond from inside the car on an angle using small, long nosed pliars until there is enough poking out to pull with pliars. Take your time, keep handles flat to the glass with one man inside & one out & you should be fine. Storing the windscreen in a safe place is the challenge!

What he said ^
the only thing I'd add is if the dash is still in the car slide an old number plate between the dash the and cheese wire to protect the dash from being damaged by the wire as you cut the lower part 

[stevek]

On my phone tonight so just a short reply to say thanks for the tips everyone. I have ordered a cheese wire type cutter.

-Steve-

[Deleted]

I used braided wire that they use to hang pictures up with. Cut short pieces and solder the ends as it easier to push through the sealant. Look in my build thread on my 1972 mazda rx2. It's really easy to do. I managed both screens out on my own without breakages in less than half an hour

[kabman]

When a mobile fitter came to replace the screen on my wife's car I was chatting with him as he did it, as you do. He used a knife with a 90 degree blade and made it look so easy. Literally in seconds. I almost blinked and missed it. He was at our house for less than 10 minutes - I didn't even have time to make him a brew.

[stevek]

I got too scared last weekend and bottled having a go at this. Anyhow another week thinking it over has raised another question. What angle to use the 'cheese wire at'. I may well be overly worrying about it but I want to give myself the best chance of not cracking it.

I have seen conflicting opinions, some saying to use the shallow (Angle 1) which may ruin the paintwork on the frame but may reduce cutting into the glass. But others (including thewindscreenman  above) saying keep the handles close to the glass (Angle 2) for a clean cut. My gut instinct say 'Angle 1' but i'm not sure and it's against Mr Windscreenman's advise which worry's me!



I'm thinking of having ago at the weekend if Toby can come round to help me, and if i'm feeling brave!

-Steve-

Another after thought: Is it a bad idea to try this if it's a cold day?

[theheap]

The tools you have shown are what I use when removing screens at the scrappy.
Side windows that are bonded are removed with the cheese wire method but using accelerator cables or similar if I don't have the right tools to hand.

[thewindscreenman]

Wire flat to the glass yes but you will be pulling the handles along the edge of the glass so no danger of it digging in. Wire should be V shaped with one handle/operator at either end of the V (one in one out), the bond being at the bottom or point of the V so you are putting force on the bond but very little or none on the edges of the glass.
I am in Tingley, Wakefield, in Feb. If you're not too far away I will gladly come & show you or even do it for you. I will be in my van so will have everything needed. Can you wait for 3 weeks?

[stevek]

thewindscreenman - While reading that last description it twigged exactly what you meant. I wasn't thinking in 3D!

I didn't get chance to try this at the weekend because other plans were 'suggested' by the other half, not that I would have fancied it with the cold snap anyway!

I should jump at your offer (I'm only 15min from Tingly), but part of me wants to try to do it myself for the experience. This could make me look very foolish later on.

-Steve-

[thewindscreenman]

Lol no problem Steve. Will all be much easier to do on a nice hot day.

[thewindscreenman]

1st pic is of what is generally referred to as a Fein cutter. Not used one for glass myself but I use a similar oscillating tool at work a lot (builder now) & it's brilliant for cutting wood, plaster, plastic etc in hard to reach places. Friend of mine lives in Florida & swears by them but says they have their limitations regards access to bond on some car windscreens.
2nd pic is a very basic Kent tool which I would not advise if the glass is to be saved. Wire or nylon cord for me.

[thewindscreenman]

I seem to remember that one of the older passats had a length of cord embedded in the glue from the factory. Could even be the B3. If you fish around at the bottom of the screen where it meets the dash right in the middle there may be 2 ends of the cord tucked away assuming your screen is still the original one. The idea behind this being you grab one end with some strong grips & pull with all your might. This cuts through the glue but there is the danger of your grips slipping off & you punching yourself in the face. Trust me on this one.

[redtopuk]

i used to do it with a bonnet release cable soaked in oil an kept wet
Defo 2 man job using cheese wire method
done bout 100+ using bonnet release cables just take your time
once 2 of you into a rythm takes no time

[gazz81]

Only ever tried once. didn't end great!

[sunbuilder]

i used to work for autoglass
don't use the angled knife, its too thick and needs a lot of force behind it.
use the cheese wire set up, you can get 2 types of wire one single stranded and 1 multi stranded.
In this case I would use the single strand type and probably on a very warm day or in a heated garage.
As long as you don't catch an edge of the glass you will be ok. I have personally never used more than 1 person to do it but this is up to you. You shouldn't have to saw too much but rather just pull but one side slightly more so slightly sawing not madly.
You should go to a scrap yard that allows you to get things yourself and maybe have a practice session.
There is also a tool available that helps you push the wire through the screen to start it all off. You could make one from a thin piece of steel like pencil sized with a small cut in one end to fold the wire over, then you carefully push it through hold onto the wire that has poked through then withdraw it. Remove all window surrounding trim first, carefully.

[longpod]

I remove the bonded screen from my 95 Range Rover by wrapping a wire around the entire length of the bond, on the outside, with the two ends poked through to the inside at the same point (driver's side pillar I think, it was a few years ago). Attached the handles and pulled the wire into the car, close to the glass.

This takes takes a lot of wire, and I guess I must have moved the handles from time to time.

I got the idea from a video of a machine that uses the same method.

[stevek]

Last weekend Toby helped me remove the windscreen. Here he is fitting one of the pull handles...



We ended up trying 3 types of wire...



We started with bottom one which came with the handles, It worked really well but kept breaking. It was a little better if you stripped some of the plastic coating/sleeve back on the cutting section as otherwise it would bunch up and snag the wire. We ran out of that wire.

Next we tried the top one which is a square section wire also specifically for windscreen removal. This stuff was vicious! You could hear it grating and scratching into the edge of the glass. It was quite painful to the ear and I was sure we were about to break the screen. We aborted using this wire.

We were out of proper windscreen wire so we had to improvise. I have no idea why but I had some braided picture hanging wire (middle in picture, about 1.2mm) which looked about right. Despite being lots thicker than the first wire it still cut OK and was MUCH less violent than the square section stuff. We cut the other half of the screen out without snapping this wire once.

Anyway we got it out just before it went dark...



And amazingly we didn't crack it which is why we are grinning like goons...



It's now safely stored away in the back of the old 309 which is now quite literally a shed!




-Steve-