Glass

[busterwivell]

Got my glass in from Auto City Classics yesterday, all 8 pieces. Got gray tinted. I'm hiring the front and back out, but a friend and I are going to tackle the flat glass ourselves. Any tips to get the quarter glass out (and new glass in) on a 2 door sedan?

[busterwivell]

So, glass guy was out yesterday. Back window is beautiful. Front windshield was shattered in the box. Auto City Classics says too late to file a claim. Shame! Couldn't help it that the glass guy was quarantined with Covid 19, just back to work on Monday. He can source another windshield, but it's green tint, not gray. Gonna have to pop for another windshield.

[carls 56 (RIP 11/24/2021)]

that is a shame about to late to file a claim.

[BamaNomad]

So you received MORE than the 8 pieces of glass you ordered, but you didn't open the boxes to inspect??

One more lesson that it pays to inspect ordered parts as soon as they are delivered.. Your reported the breakage slightly more than a month after receipt.. Did they tell you what time frame would have been appropriate? 2 hrs? 2 days? 2 weeks? or ??

[busterwivell]

Well, I'll put it this way, Bama. I opened the box with the flat glass, all was good. I opened up the boxes with the front and back glass, saw how they were packaged, suspended in bubble wrap, with cardboard frames, and saw no damage to the outside of the boxes. I'm a little down on strength with cancer issues, and thought I might chance breaking the glass myself fighting it out of the box. Hindsight says I should have risked it. Lesson learned. Got to order a new one today.

[BamaNomad]

I certainly don't blame you for not removing a windshield from it's protective box/crating. All I'd do in that situation is open the top of the crate and *inspect* the glass in the crate... If that was what you did and you missed a 'crack', then I think you have reason to be upset at AutoCity... or the shipper...

[busterwivell]

That's what I did. I highly doubt it was Auto City, I'm not trying to bad mouth them at all.........I'm sure it was the shipper. My glass guy wanted their contact (autocity) info. He was very impressed with the glass and the crating. He,too, looked at the boxes and said that everything should be fine with both pieces. we pulled the windshield out together and set it on his stand, and peeled the final layer of bubble wrap of to discover the problem.

[WagonCrazy]

I got a full set of glass for my Nomad from AutoCityGlass too. It was OK when it arrived, but they do wrap the snot out of each piece with bubble wrap...so...you do have to take each piece fully out of the box in order to unwrap the bubblewrap. So I feel for ya man. That could have happened to any of us. Just order the replacement windshield in grey and move on.

[busterwivell]

Ordered yesterday. They did discount the windshield! That took some sting out of it.

On a brighter note, The back glass is installed, as are the quarter windows, so I can put the interior back in. I hate fighting the back seat, should get it together today. I really like the look with the gray glass. I should get a tracking number today, and get the glass next week. I'm expecting to be able to drive the car again by the end of the month..........finally.

[BamaNomad]

I'm a fan and proponent of the original E-Z-Eye (green) glass - I think it reduces the most harmful of the sun's rays and I LIKE the original look), BUT with the colors of your car, I have to admit that the gray tint will look nice... :)

[55 Rescue Dog]

I'm a fan and proponent of the original E-Z-Eye (green) glass - I think it reduces the most harmful of the sun's rays and I LIKE the original look), BUT with the colors of your car, I have to admit that the gray tint will look nice... :)
You helped me make up my mind. EZ-Eye is what I thought I should use on my satin black 210.

[Rick_L]

Gray car needs gray glass, green wouldn't work for me. I doubt the green glass is better at any of the blocking since the gray is typically a deeper tint - the original green is pretty light. But I don't know everything by any means, didn't even know you could get a green front glass. I thought they were all clear with that dark stripe at the top.

[BamaNomad]

Gray car needs gray glass, green wouldn't work for me. I doubt the green glass is better at any of the blocking since the gray is typically a deeper tint - the original green is pretty light. But I don't know everything by any means, didn't even know you could get a green front glass. I thought they were all clear with that dark stripe at the top.

This issue is similar to the age old question: "Why is the sky blue?" Do you know the answer? :)

If the *appearance* of the glass relative to car color at car shows and in photos was your sole consideration, then you'd be right Rick, BUT.. E-Z-EYE tint being GREEN is based on science and safety... ie. maximizing the light that our eyes NEED, but eliminating the damaging IR and UV rays from the sunlight. E-Z-Eye appears GREEN because the green light is allowed thru the glass. Green is in the Middle and most 'illuminating' of our eye's sensitivity in the visible light spectrum. Red is near to the IR, and the UV is near to the blue.

A Gray ND (neutral density) glass is exactly that.. a neutral density filter.. meaning it reduces all parts of the spectrum equally, allowing just as much IR and UV thru the glass as it does the eye sensitive wavelengths in the visible spectrum.

Anyone that can remember going thru junkyards 30 or 40 yrs ago when lots of fifties cars were present, some with E-Z-Eye, might recall that the interior materials were in MUCH better condition when the car had the tinted E-Z-Eye installed in the factory! I've a '57 sedan with all original E-Z-Eye glass, as well as a '69 Z28 which was built with all tinted glass (softray in '69, but still with a green tint). In both of these cars, the factory installed interior materials are still in good shape (except for wear). The reason for that is that the harmful IR (red range) sun rays are filtered out by the glass. If you ran a test with two identical cars, one with gray tint glass and one with E-Z-Eye glass and sat them in the sun with the glass up for a few hours.. the interior temperature of the gray tint glass would be MUCH higher than the car with the E-Z-Eye because of the different amounts of IR being allowed thru the glass!

Personally I prefer the SAFER green tint E-Z-Eye glass, And it also is the originally installed glass in fifties GM products, and it 'just looks right' to my old eyes! :)

PS. Did you know that the 'shaded region' at the top of factory glass actually appears as a BLUE tint? (from the outside of the glass) .. I think that also is related to the question above re why is the sky blue? :)

[55 Rescue Dog]

Great explanation Bama, and it makes perfect sense. Every car I've had with aftermarket tint I have pulled it out for better visibility. I think the green tint looks much cooler than all of the overdone tints that you can't see out of, or into that have been the rage for years. I would rather wear good sunglasses when needed.

[Rick_L]

Then why are good prescription sunglasses almost exclusively tinted gray?

[BamaNomad]

Then why are good prescription sunglasses almost exclusively tinted gray?

I have both green tinted and gray tinted prescription sunglasses... but most are gray as you state. I have an appt with my eye doctor tomorrow... I'll ask if she knows the reasoning for that? They do offer UV coatings as an option (if you opt for it) ... which doesn't discolor the lens, but the 'coloration' would be very much a function of what wavelengths are filtered, and how sharply they are filtered. I suspect taking the 'red' out is the reason the E-Z-Eye has a green tint. Obviously, with eye glasses, they can spend more effort (and more of your $$) to be a little more elaborate than in making auto windows...? Another reasoning is that with 'people' wearing glasses seeing 'color' is more important than with what we see out of our automobile, where it's more important to see detail and clarity than color correctness? Just guessing here .. but if I remember I'll ask my eye doctor tomorrow what she can tell me about 'color filtering' in eyeglasses...

I did a quick search to find a reference for the eye.. and found this article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectral_sensitivity

The graph shows the 'normalized' response of the eye vs wavelength. They don't state explicitly, but it's obvious that each of the B, G, and R responses are 'individually normalized' so that peak response within each band is 'normalized' so that each of their peaks is at the same 1.0 level. This is a little misleading, as the responsivity in the green region is MUCH higher than for the red and blue regions. The proximity in peak response between the green and red areas of sensitivity is also 'illuminating'... :)

[Rick_L]

I'll answer your question with my partially informed opinion. There's a lot more that can be done for UV protection these days than in the 50s, and you can have visual color clarity with those tints also. In other words there's more options to do both well than there were 60-65 years ago. You can even get plastics that block UV and they are clear in color. Used to use a lot of that in my work.

[BamaNomad]

How about the infrared, Rick??

[busterwivell]

So, to update this "learning experience", Auto City Classics did offer a replacement at a discounted price. I ordered it thru the same place as original. Called when I didn't receive a tracking e-mail. They were out of stock, don't expect more until November. I was bummed. My glass guy referred me to Vintage Glass in Atlanta. They had one, said it would be 2 weeks to ship?????? Claims they are that busy. I called Tuesday (2 weeks) and it hadn't shipped yet. I was told it was coming from California. I asked to be notified with a tracking number. Yesterday I got a call from the shop it was shipped to, and they opened it up. All is good! It's undamaged, is grey, and my glass guy will install it on Wednesday.
I'll just chalk up this $500.00 lesson as tuition, and move on..............now, the interior!

[busterwivell]

Got the glass all installed yesterday. I changed the oil in the car on Jun3 and parked it in my shop. It hasn't moved from there until today. I took it out for a 125 cruise. Outside temp was at least 108 this afternoon. Engine temp never went past 200, Vintage Air kept me cool, tinted windows helped a lot. The car is a lot quieter with the new fuzzies installed, no more window rattle! I'm happy again. I really hope GoodGuys, Del Mar is a go, I'll head out in 7 weeks.

[WagonCrazy]

Show us some pics Buster! We want to see how this turned out.

[210Chevy]

I hate to hear that buster...

[Al_Dente]

I have both green tinted and gray tinted prescription sunglasses...

...They do offer UV coatings as an option (if you opt for it)...

A mirrored as seen from the outside and green on the inside upper strip would look cool, without the green color mismatching the paint:

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fae01.alicdn.com%2Fkf%2FHTB1CoG5hp koBKNjSZFkq6z4tFXay%2FLongKeeper-Polarized-Mirror-Sunglasses-Fashion-Women-Square-Sunglass-Men-Mirror-Lens-Pilot-Sun-Glasses-Goggles-Gafas.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

[210Chevy]

Hey; Buster, who did you hire the back & front out to? a friend, or are there a company that does that work? I have the same problem and just ordering my glass so have to get them installed somehow.

[BamaNomad]

Where are you located, 210? If you are close enough to me, I'll help you. If not, maybe you're close to another DIY trifiver....?

[busterwivell]

210, where are you located? I called Matt from Northwest auto glass in Tucson. He has lots of experience with both old and new cars, and is used by most of the "car guys" I know. If you are in the Tucson area, let me know and I'll give you has number.