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Convertible glass

Started by Rich G., November 09, 2017, 09:37:25 AM

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CudaJack

Hi and thank you for your recommendation. In fact, I had checked with ECS last spring after my AMD fiasco. The guy I spoke with at ECS was very knowledgeable on this topic. He said there had been consistent problems with recent production runs of door glass from several different vendors. He said the curvatures on the E-body convertible glass is particularly complicated. He cited the 'Cuda convertible driver's-side door as particularly problematic for the repop manufactures to get right. At that time he told me that he could not recommend any aftermarket glass for my driver's door, but he had some hope that things might improve eventually. So, at that point I decided to simply polish my OEM glass as best I could. Auto glass places simply refused to touch it - they said the scratches were too deep and that the glass was sure to shatter. I read up on this and found that heat is the big issue.  So, I kept it wet as I worked on it. I sanded by hand in successively finer grits to heal the scratches. When it came time for finer polishing, I used my die grinder at low RPM with various polishing compounds on cloth mandrels. I stopped regularly to check the glass temperature with my IR thermometer and kept things cool with a spray bottle of water. The glass temp never rose more than 10° above ambient. The whole process was a lot of effort. It came out pretty well though - a bit of blurriness now where it was previously badly scarred, but miles ahead of the ugliness I started with. (Before and after pictures are below).  I think I would have gotten it close to perfect had I had the correct polishing media for glass/sapphire for my final polish, but I was in a rush to reassemble my car. I could probably go at it again now even with the glass on the door by masking things off, but it would still be messy and I might get my new door fuzzy dirty. I think I'll check with ECS again and see if they're back into a run of some good glass. Thanks again for your advice. Regards, Jack

Cuda_mark

I do still have that complete set. Clear, vert, driver quality. It's in storage but I'll post some pics of etchings and date stamps along with some pics that would give you an idea of overall condition. I'll get them up here in the next few weeks.


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CudaJack

Hi and thanks. Driver quality is just fine. J.