CA hot summer. what you guys think about sika urethane.
which one to use what is good price range. thinking about using sika for this summer. thank's

we use ASAP and COOL depending on the conditions, there are a lot of variables but they give you a SDAT chart. you can also go to www.sikaindustry.com and get all the info you need. i have used sika for ten or so years and have not had many problems with it.

I use sika cool for fast drive times and cold weather, but for hot summer time I use essex 400 hv, in the heat and high humidity it's good to go in 2 -3 hours, and doesn't sag like sika. Both have thier place in my shop! Been trying PPG rapid seal 200hv but it's kinda stringy.

What about the SRP products? Does anyone use them?

We use Sika Move-It. 30 minutes with no air bag and 1 hour with air bags. Can use on any car, so no mistakes on a car that needs high modulus. Great product for the money. We have been using Sika for about 3 years and the technicians love it.

I've been using Sika ASAP for just over a year and it has been pretty good. My only complaints are its reaction to cold temps and humidity (like after a rain shower)...it skims over extremely fast so you'd better be ready to set the glass immediately after you finish running your bead. I'm getting ready to switch to Sika Ultrafast II...the Sika rep told me it will give me a bit more flexibility in the above mentioned conditions, but will still be ready to drive in about an hour. I would like to try the Sika Cool...has anyone had any experience with it? What are the pros and cons?

I have used essex the most-9 years, Sika for 1 year, and now SRP for 1.5 years... I absolutely love the SRP product... stock is an issue though- Pilkington is the only supplier... sometimes the expiration dates are a little too close for comfort... but I do love the product! Cost effective and fast cure times.

I love sika I would personally hug the inventor if i knew who he was. I HATE essex IT IS A BAD PRODUCT! its dog snot at the end there sales rep greg runs his mouth about everyone!!! My sika rep is like superman, when i need something he appears like a superhero, to battle the etc.. lol i am babbling. But seriously id you do use ESSEX products I would strongly suggest a psychological evalutation as you might not be in your right mind.. Or possibly possessed! Sika Forever!!! God bless Carl And the boys at Sika ! Blake your the best !!!

I've been using Dow for nearly 20 years, and I would say the same things you said about Sika. Sika makes good construction urethanes, definitely.

I don't know what your problems were with Dow, but I don't agree with your opinion. I've got several vehicles after multiple rollovers that our customers walked away from, I'll stick with Dow, thanks.

Guess I better go make an appointment at the shrink's office, but if thats crazy, I want to stay this way.

I had to go out and re-do a car one of our former techs did that was put in with Essex a few months ago because of severe leakage. When I got there I didn't have to cut anything except about 24 inches across the bottom. I smacked the shield flat handed and both the top, sides and bottom corners came loose!! I can only imagine what would have hapened if the owner would've had an accident.

I think ahesives have come along way and if used properly any of the brands named above are quality products. I have more of a problem with people being able to sell them to people who don't have a clue how to use them. Urethane doesn't kill people, bad auto glass techs do. I do record the DOT#, VIN, and afix the urethanes proof of purchase to every invoice just in case.

Mark - I need that # for your shrink .

I too use essex and we have never had any problems.

Now 3M is a different story all together.

Larry makes a very good point.

Any adhesive system, if not used properly, will not function.

Ninja cites a disastrous example, but without analysis, how can anyone know what went wrong?

First, was there an adhesive, or cohesive failure?

If adhesive, were primers applied properly on clean uncontaminated surfaces? Were they applied within the proper application parameters? Was the adhesive applied within the specified allowable time frame, before a re-application to refresh the primer was required?

If cohesive, were the adhesives within the usable date range? Was the adhesive applied within the acceptable temperature range of the adhesive used? Was the adhesive allowed to contact, then pulled or slid to cause an issue that would compromise the bead? Was the primer applied in the correct location on the glass to contact the new urethane bead? If the installer gunned the glass, was the area outside of the original trimmed back bed of urethane refreshed with a new coat of pinchweld primer, to be sure of adhesion if the new urethane bead didn't exactly match up with trimmed back original bed?

So many possible questions...and so little information to base a conclusion of any kind on, especially one to chastise an entire manufacturers line of products.

And, respectfully, Bachman, what the heck is "Dog Snot"? I can't say I've ever seen anything I would describe as that, and we have used Dow for many years also.

I use Betaseal One from Dow and love it. But you may not. Everybody is different. Prices are pretty close from Sika to Dow so that shouldn't matter. I suggest buying a box of each with thier primers, read their instructions. Use both of them properly, that make a decision and use what you like. Just use them properly and prime the freeking pinchwelds. I am tired of pulling windshields out that have been replaced before and finding rust.

John Anderson makes a good point. I think a lot of times it is how the techs are doing their jobs that makes the difference. Lets face it...there are a lot of badly trained techs who just do not care or take any time whatsoever. I for one like to take pride in a job well done. We've all had installs that have just gone wrong...and the feeling you have as your driving away isn't a feeling I like.

My problem with ESSEX was that i ran in to a bad patch of primer the U459 sticks (i think that was the #) and i ended up re-replacing and discarding aprox 150 windshields. ESSEX gave me replacement product for the defective thane, but i was out the LABOR and etc and all the cost of the glass. The product they replaced it with was old and hard as a rock, I had been an essex customer for over 13 years when this happened. I will never go back but that is just my personal opinion. I am glad to hear everyone else has good luck, i suppose with anything there is going to be problems, just stinks.

That must be the problem I ran into also Bachman. It was like the urethane just didn't bond to the glass at all, but bonded just fine to the body. I still think I'll stick with Sika though. Have you used the Sika Cool yet?

I use Sika-TackDrive over here in England. It's primerless, has easy flow, does not string or sag and it's not hard in cold weather. Though recently Sika have stopped supplying it in tins and have moved to sausage packs. It has a safe drive time of 1 hour for vehicles with no airbags and 2 hours for vehicles with airbags.

It should not matter what brand you use.As long as you follow the manufactures instructions (instrutions? who reads instructions)? Whether the car manufactures approve of your particular brand is a whole other story.We all have to live with the way we do things,right or wrong.I have never used sika and do not plan to in the future.Being from england don't most of your cars use dintrol as oem urethane?

For the most part Sika are the OEM suppliers to most manufacturers. BMW dealerships give out Sika-TackDrive in their bonding kits supplied with windscreens.

Well in my vast minutes of experience we've used only Essex. So long as the old bed is trimmed, the glass cleaned properly, and primers used correctly, we've never, ever, ever, had a failure.

I have taken out two windshields that were done by someone with a pickup and a cell phone that pushed out. A close look revealed no primer, the bed had been short cut, and rust was building.

I have had the same problem with Essex before. We had problems with windshields that were done in-shop following all of the correct procedures. The glass primer would not bond to the frit and the glass eventually would release. This happened a couple of years ago, and last month we had two vehicles with windshields installed by someone else that had the same adhesion problem. You could actually see the primer stuck to the urethane, and not the glass. I brought this up to our Dow rep when he was here last week and he acted like he had never heard of such a thing. Havent had a single problem since switching to Sika three years ago.