ALT-2 Auto Glass Window Replacement Tips
When you live in a hurricane state as I do, sooner or later, you'll need to replace a window or two. There are a few things you can do if you don't want to drive around with the wind and rain blowing in on you. Given my experiences, I would like to share what I have found.
The first time I had to deal with a broken car window, it was actually a truck, was when a neighbor became angry with me. He wanted to borrow money. Now I don't loan money to people I don't know just because they live in the same neighborhood and I knew nothing about him. So the next morning, I found one of my windows hanging in the door by the film. The glass was in a million, maybe a billion, pieces.
I called around to see how much it would cost to replace the window, but it was more than I could afford at the time. But I also couldn't drive around with the big hole and allow the weather to come in on me.
I went to a home improvement store and bought a piece of plexi-glass, cut it and put it in place of the window. I didn't know at that time that I had done something illegal. It is illegal in the state I resided in at that time to use plexi-glass in autos.
Later on, it was hurricane season. We lived in a low-lying area, prone to flooding and the police came around and said everyone had to leave. My family and I went to a hotel for the night. The hurricane came right over the hotel where we were staying. The hotel next door had pebbles on the roof. These pebbles, about the size of marbles, were loose. They were caught in the hurricane's winds, lifted off the roof and slung into the windows of all the cars in the parking lot. My truck was no exception.
I found that two other windows and the windshield were smashed. The plexi-glass was fine. But I couldn't put plexi-glass in the windshield. I didn't know how. And it's a good thing I didn't know how.
The next day, I called around to find out how much it would take to replace the windshield. After getting several estimates, one young man came out and replaced the windshield with one from an auto lot where cars are taken after they have died. It was reasonably priced and fit just about like the original glass. It took him about an hour to make the change.
I still had the broken window on the driver's door to replace and this same young man told me he could get two windows for me. One to replace the broken glass and the other to replace the plexi-glass. I had found out by this time I should not have the plexi-glass. It's too dangerous as it will not break on impact as windows are designed to do. Just in case a head happens to make contact during an accident.
So for a couple of hundred dollars, I had a replacement windshield and two front windows. It's a good idea to call several places to find out what the prices are. Some companies only use new windows, whereas others send a worker to junk yards to find perfectly good windows.
I did use plexi-glass on the camper windows that were broken, but that was a legal thing I could do. I advise not to use them to replace windows in the cab of trucks nor in cars.
