How to break your rear hatch glass without trying.

So I found something interesting out on Friday.
I went back to a junkyard I had been to with Mark96Roady a few weeks ago in Orlando area (had to go up there for work).
Nice 96 AGW with lots of good parts.

Anyhoo, the keys were there and I opened the rear glass manually. Someone had taken the gas struts and I needed the window to stay open.
While I was holding it, I looked around for something to prop it up. I found a piece of scrap that looked about right, but it was just a little too long (like 1/8 of and inch, so I pushed up just a little more on the glass to get to maximum open and insert my prop.

So apparently when you push on the glass (by the handle in the middle, this puts a LARGE amount of stress at the hinges, and BOOSH I got a free shower of tempered glass. I called Roo up and asked him what he was doing when his 'exploded' a couple years back. Bad struts holding the window up....

Knowing how tempered glass works, this 'exploding rear glass mystery' now makes total sense to me...

Be careful out there fellas, finite number of these puppies left.

Good to know John,thanks.

YIKES!! I had a door glass on one of my Chevy Citations do that once when I was replacing weatherstripping... They go off like a bomb and shatter into a million tiny pieces, and continue to crackle on the ground for a few seconds afterward. Scary stuff!

Yes.

Yes they do, Mike....

I replied to his on the ISSF. Mine left about a 15 foot circle around the car. Any stress on the glass beyond the natural hinge stop can cause it to shatter. The holes for the hinge bolts are a great place for stress cracks to start.

I got a few spares

Once a window breaks on your car, you will NEVER get all the chunks out of it. It's fun cleaning out a car and finding that one piece that says it's had a window broken   

Back around '83, I was writing a damage repair estimate on the rear end of a '82 Camaro. Unbeknownst to me, the rear hit had somehow shifted the upper body structure where the glass hatch hinges were. I was trying to get the hatch open to examine the floor, when BAM!. Glass imploded.

95BRMW wrote:

Once a window breaks on your car, you will NEVER get all the chunks out of it.  It's fun cleaning out a car and finding that one piece that says it's had a window broken   

Can confirm this, too.... lol

Going to be very very CAREFUL from now on whenever I open/close that window!

Krash Kadillak wrote:

Back around '83, I was writing a damage repair estimate on the rear end of a '82 Camaro. Unbeknownst to me, the rear hit had somehow shifted the upper body structure where the glass hatch hinges were. I was trying to get the hatch open to examine the floor, when BAM!. Glass imploded.

YIKES that's a HUGE window. Bet that woke you up!

81X11 wrote:

Krash Kadillak wrote:

Back around '83, I was writing a damage repair estimate on the rear end of a '82 Camaro. Unbeknownst to me, the rear hit had somehow shifted the upper body structure where the glass hatch hinges were. I was trying to get the hatch open to examine the floor, when BAM!. Glass imploded.

YIKES that's a HUGE window.   Bet that woke you up!

I practically jumped out of my shoes. First thought was somebody was shooting at me!

well after hearing this im taking a trip back to my pick n pull to get a rear glass of the wagon i nsaw there earlier this week. im gonna stash it in my garage incase i ever break the window by accident. whats the best way to store it you guys think? im thinking bubble wrap, lots of it.