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I am looking for technical information as to why the glass would chunk out with the rearview mirror, for reasons other than human error.
Anyone have any links to this information? Would be much appreciated.
Locktite and other acrylic glues shrink with considerable force when they cure. ANY defect in the glass surface would create a spall of glass to break out. Think of glue chip glass and the process they use.
I do.... DON'T use cheap aftermarket parts, I had a call last week about this and I told my Client that it must have a cheap China part in it. Got there and this was missing a huge chunk of glass, It was not China but it was an SGC part made in Kansas (dot 65)
This is a Toyota OEM purchased from Toyota, think it was AGC.
Not common for Toyota and the rep wants something technical to warranty it otherwise I am eating it!!
Its unfortunate the glass business has come to this. The point where what had been a simple warranty repair causes great panic and loss. NAGS has seen to it that no one can afford the cost of true good customer service, we are all pointing the finger at the manufactuer while eating the loss.
Sgc glass has been overpacked in pallets. This creates stress cracks at the rear view on most of the w/s in the pallet. They are aware of this but continue to operate this way. They will tell consumer that they must of pulled on the mirror to hard hence replace the glass again. Insurance companies are getting smarter and realize when sg does the job the replacement rates are higher and much quicker to be replaced again.Just sayin....
Easy fix.... 1. Remove mirror from button 2. Use Safelite's new super strong, invisible, non-yellowing, non-disintegrating resin to glue the chunk of missing glass with button back into place. 3. Reattach mirror. Walah(sp?)
What could possibly go wrong?
I've attributed the spalling to whatever adhesive compound was used at time of bracket bonding. I know for a fact that when civilians use Super Glue, what exactly you describe occurs a few months or weeks after application. Mirror can and will fall off by itself taking glass with it. The SGC brand was noted for years in doing the same thing. I can't say if that still happens anymore.
Pilk is using some sort of hot glue melt. PGW and others are using laminate- not adhesive to bonding the bracket to the lite. If memeory serves me AGC uses a Loctite-like substance. I'd try to contact them to see what they actually use. Then again if they are like other manufacturers, they might be subbing out hardware installs on the glass
If the rear view mirror is bonded to frit paint, it must be adhered with a flexible, expandable adhesive. Loctite is an adhesive that is brittle and non-forgiving so the expansion of glass during temperature changes will cause the glass to break thus allowing the mirror to fall off with a chuck of glass attached. I have used 3M's Channel Bond Adhesive to attach the mirror to frit paint. It is semi-flexible and cures quickly (5 minutes). I put the mirror on before I take the vehicle apart and by the time I'm ready to re-attach the mirror it is cured and solid.
It seems the metal tab comes embedded in some windshields. When the mirror is moved the right way it breaks the metal out of the glass. Just happened to me on a replacement windshield. Glass company does not warranty this.
My experience has been that 99% of the time when the rear view mirror "falls off" it's adhesion failure. The bond fails from either the mirror or the windshield. Only in rare cases have I had it fall off and take a chunk of glass with it.