Auto glass replacement is very common, and a broken window on your car or truck is not always expensive to fix. The glass used in the automotive industry is typically tempered safety glass made to fit the opening and is held in place with a rubber or urethane seal. 

Proper Replacement Glass

Auto glass replacement requires the correct glass for the vehicle, and some manufacturers use many different styles of glass in one car or truck. In some cases, the glass may have embedded parts like a radio antenna or an electric defroster grid on higher-end models but not have those on base model cars.

Often those differences can make interchanging the glass a problem, so it is essential that the glass company orders and installs the correct glass for your vehicle. If the glass requires an embedded item and the one the auto glass replacement service orders does not have it, the glass may still fit, but you will lose these features.

In some cases, the cost of the glass is higher with the embedded items, so ordering that glass for a car that is not equipped for it would raise the cost of the replacement unnecessarily. The auto glass replacement service will know what they need if they inspect the glass damage, but if you are ordering the glass over the phone, let them know if there are any special features in or on your auto glass. 

Replacing The Glass

Older cars and trucks that used rubber seals are easy to replace the glass on, but since most modern cars have shifted to a more durable urethane system to secure and seal the glass, replacing a broken window is less manageable and often requires an auto glass replacement tech to do the work for you.

The urethane material often requires heating to remove from the car before you can install the new glass. The technician can remove the glass, scrape off the old sealing material, prepare the surface for new urethane and then install a new seal and set the glass in it. 

When this is done correctly, the glass will seal around the perimeter and will be secure. If the preparation is not done well, water could get behind any gaps in the seal, so it is critical that it is installed with no air pockets or gaps in the seal. While the seals are available at some auto parts stores, and you can purchase the glass and do the work yourself, you are far more likely to have a successful repair when you hire an auto glass replacement service to complete the repair for you. 

Contact an auto shop to learn more about auto glass replacement. 

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