TheSamba.com :: View topic

Tue Sep 13, 2016 9:28 am

I've got air bubbles all around the edge of my windshield, inside the glass.

It's a 59 and was neglected for a while before I got hold of it. Are the bubbles from heat and water? Does it weaken the glass?

I planned on replacing the completely rotted out windshield seal today, but I'm worried now the more I think about it. It's the original windshield and I don't want to break it.

Sooooo what do these bubbles mean?

Tue Sep 13, 2016 9:38 am

Tue Sep 13, 2016 9:43 am

The glass is delaminatiing, nothing you can do but replace. No real safety issue unless in field of vision. It can be weaker upon reinstallation, just be careful pushing at the edges.

Tue Sep 13, 2016 10:44 pm

Delamination does not mean any real structural weakness. sometimes white fogging is associated with the delamination but again unless it's causing viewing issues count it as part of the cars character. Here's a pic of some truly beautiful delamination in my 1957 "snowflake" Kombi. There are two of them in the center of one piece of glass.

If you are careful and have a steady hand some of the delamination can be cleaned from the outer edges by inserting a razor blade between the two pieces of glass.

and some more on another bus. It's the exposed edges that usually delminate due to weather exposure so a bug windshield is a bit unusual.

Wed Sep 14, 2016 7:50 am

the bigger concern is the rust in the window frame.

Wed Sep 14, 2016 8:40 am

Does anybody else think this could be a major safety issue ...
if the lamination is giving out on the edges ; How " SAFE " is the safety glass ??

Does anyone have any experience in the glass business ?
" Curious minds want to know "

Thu Sep 15, 2016 10:07 am

Not a safety issue at all. If it's original and you want to keep it, then learn to love it. It's a common problem. You can always hunt for another original in better shape. My bus has it on all windows and I wanted to keep them too due to being original.

If you're keeping it, then leave the new seal out in the sun or get it soft with a hair dryer to make the reinstall easier and so you don't have to push as hard on the edges

Sat Sep 17, 2016 10:18 am

bluebus86 wrote: the bigger concern is the rust in the window frame.

Oh man you should see the rest of it

Sat Sep 17, 2016 12:47 pm

Mayor Marion Berry wrote: bluebus86 wrote: the bigger concern is the rust in the window frame.

Oh man you should see the rest of it

with a screen name like yours, better check for some crack in the glass! :lol: :lol:

good luck with the rust repair, hopefully it aint all too bad.

Sat Sep 17, 2016 1:02 pm

grandpa pete wrote: Does anybody else think this could be a major safety issue ...
if the lamination is giving out on the edges ; How " SAFE " is the safety glass ??

Does anyone have any experience in the glass business ?
" Curious minds want to know "

In no way is this a major safety issue, I'd say minor at the very worst. In the event of something striking the window, the rather small area that is located at the bubble may come loose and detach, but odds are very good the windshield will still perform the same as a windshield without any small bubbles.

Sat Sep 17, 2016 5:14 pm

I'm wondering if that kit you can buy to fix stone chips might be a solution here? The bubbles at the edge of the glass are 'voids' where air has got between the layers (glass, plastic, glass) ....wonder if injecting some of the stone chip fix liquid would fill the voids? Just blue-skying .....

Sun Sep 18, 2016 8:49 am

Yes, that's the second part of the fix I suggest above. You'll want to use a razor blade to clean the voids out first then inject the liquid. It's a fair amount of work for something that could be left to age character

Sun Sep 18, 2016 9:00 am

If the glass is getting bubbles around the edge it does not impact the safety of the glass. It is not safety glass at all. If you are trying to keep it safety glass it needs to be replaced. Personally I think it is part of the character of our older cars and I hope I never fly through that window.

Sun Sep 18, 2016 9:25 am

vdubdan wrote: If the glass is getting bubbles around the edge it does not impact the safety of the glass. It is not safety glass at all. If you are trying to keep it safety glass it needs to be replaced. Personally I think it is part of the character of our older cars and I hope I never fly through that window.
I'm confused. :?

Sun Sep 18, 2016 9:52 am

It is indeed safety glass.

Windshield glass is laminated with plastic. It's designed to not shatter if impacted. It will spiderweb or if it's a big enough hit the object will come right through leaving a hole but the windshield will not shatter into a billion pieces.

This is different from side window/rear window glass which is tempered. This is also safety glass but it's designed differently. It's designed to shatter into millions of small non-sharp pieces if broken.

This is compared to plate glass (like the windows in your house or very early car windshields) which shatters into big knife-like jugular-shredding shards.

Sun Sep 18, 2016 11:01 am

sjbartnik wrote: It is indeed safety glass.

Windshield glass is laminated with plastic. It's designed to not shatter if impacted. It will spiderweb or if it's a big enough hit the object will come right through leaving a hole but the windshield will not shatter into a billion pieces.

This is different from side window/rear window glass which is tempered. This is also safety glass but it's designed differently. It's designed to shatter into millions of small non-sharp pieces if broken.

This is compared to plate glass (like the windows in your house or very early car windshields) which shatters into big knife-like jugular-shredding shards.
Correct answer.

Sun Sep 18, 2016 12:17 pm

iowegian wrote: vdubdan wrote: If the glass is getting bubbles around the edge it does not impact the safety of the glass. It is not safety glass at all. If you are trying to keep it safety glass it needs to be replaced. Personally I think it is part of the character of our older cars and I hope I never fly through that window.
I'm confused. :?

Pretty sure what he's trying to convey is that in his opinion, once safety glass delaminates from the plastic inner ply that it no longer is nor can be considered to be safety glass -- ie, it has now become a sheet of plate glass in close proximity to another glass sheet that is laminated with plastic. With the limited amount of delam present in the examples shown in the thread so far, I would personally disagree, but I can see where he's coming from once the delaminated area progresses past a certain point.

Mon Sep 19, 2016 9:41 am

^^ Its not plate glass at all...

Mon Sep 19, 2016 6:13 pm

And on the side glass I am doubtful that it is a sheet of plastic. Evidence the snowflakes in the center of the glass- had to be a liquid for that to occur.

Fri Sep 23, 2016 1:00 pm

Just finished installing my new windshield on my 64 Bug. Lucky me, I own a glass shop and have a lot of laminated glass scraps laying around. Took the old glass out, used it as a template to cut the new one and engraved the original logo with sandblasting.

If you have access to a glass shop I´m sure they can do this as long as the glass is flat (64 & earlier).[/img]