Many people are capable of doing an auto glass replacement on their own, but don’t even consider doing it themselves. If you have insurance that will pay for the replacement, great, but if you don’t you can save some money by doing it yourself. Really, all it takes are some basic hand tools and a little patience and common sense. Having a factory service manual or a subscription to ALLDATAdiy certainly comes in handy, also. Having the right information that is specific to your vehicle can save a lot of head-scratching and possibly some unnecessary work or even broken parts!
There are different procedures to follow if you are working on a fixed window with a frame, a fixed glass without a frame, or a moving window. Here we are going to address a fixed glass with a frame. This type of auto glass replacement is usually the simplest, because you don’t have to mess with adhesives and nasty chemicals.
The first thing to do is to figure out what parts of the car need to be removed in order to get to the fasteners that attach the window frame to the car. This is where factory service information can really save you some time, because at first glance it may not be clear where the fasteners are or how the glass frame is attached to the car. In most cases you can remove whatever you need to with just basic hand tools such as screwdrivers, pliers, a socket set and/or combination wrench set. If the fixed glass is in a door (such as a vent window or quarter window), an inexpensive set of nylon or plastic pry tools really comes in handy and makes it easier to remove the door panel without damage. If the car has manual windows, there is also a special tool for removing the crank handle retaining clip, but you can sometimes use a rag looped around the handle to pop the clip loose.
Once you have gotten everything removed that was needed to expose the window attachment fasteners, it is just a matter of unbolting the old broken glass. While you have everything apart, use a vacuum to clean up any broken glass from inside the door panel or the vehicle interior. If the replacement glass did not come with a new seal, closely inspect the old seal for any damage. It may be wise to replace the seal while you are at it, even if the old one looks good.
Now it is just a matter of bolting in the new glass and putting everything back together. See how simple that was? Most of the time, fixed glass with a frame is pretty easy to replace, but as I said earlier, a factory service manual or ALLDATAdiy can really help you out if it is not obvious how the glass comes out. For several years, I worked in an auto repair shop that used AllData, and I highly recommend it. Yes, there were times that I wished we had the factory service manual for a car we were working on, but AllData for the most part served us well, and since I left the auto repair business I have subscribed to ALLDATAdiy for several of our older vehicles.
At any rate, that is the basic procedure for auto glass replacement when you are dealing with a fixed window with a frame. Replacing car windows that have a frame really isn’t terribly difficult and can usually be done with just a basic set of hand tools and no special knowledge or skills. If you don’t have insurance to cover the repairs, you should really think about doing your automotive window replacement yourself.
