Someone just broke my windsheid.. ask me anything

[LDS Jock]

I was playing tennis tonight and when I came out to get in my car, right dead center on the passenger side is a ring after ring of cracks where something hit it. After looking closer, you can see the impression in the center including the stitch marks. I guess it was a baseball or softball. Of course, everyone was long gone by the time I got there. GRRRRRR.... :mad:

[PROGRESSIVE1]

1. Maybe it was a FReeper?!?

[LDS Jock]

3. no bumper sticker

or anything to identify me.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

2. That sucks

that happened to me before. Thank God for insurance.

[LDS Jock]

4. it was my sister's car

She said it would be $200 with the deductible. :(

[happyslug]

8. This is comprehension NOT collusion

Big difference in the co-pay, check with her insurance first.

Generally Comprehensive Damage is you pay the first $50 (Collusion deductible is generally $500).

Now I live in a low insurance rate area so in Austin the rates may differ, but check with your insurance company first.

[LDS Jock]

9. that would be a BIG help

I'll have to see about that.

[happyslug]

12. 20 years ago the Comprehensive was $50 in Texas

That is when I was selling windshields and other types of Glass by PPG Industries in Corpus Christi TX (I left Teas and went to Law School and ended up in Johnstown Pa, closer to birth place Pittsburgh).

Anyway, MY INSURANCE deductible for Comprehensive was $50 in the early 1980s in Texas and is still $50 today (but in Johnstown Pa). We have had some inflation since the early 1980s and given the general condition of the Insurance industry her comprehensive may be $200 (We are talking about Texas here). Hope it is $50, but check with her insurance company.

[Career Prole]

5. Whatcha got for bumperstickers?

I live in Texas, too. Got a Kerry sticker, a DU sticker, and an "Outsource Bush" sticker...but my car only got keyed.
Sorry 'bout the windshield.:(

[LDS Jock]

6. No bumper stickers

or anything on the car. I was in Austin, on the east side. That isn't exactly freeper land for any of you unfamiliar with the area.

[texas1928]

7. I had that happen to my back windshield

my best friends ex-girlfriend did it, it looked like a hammer had hit it. People saw a little blue car parked infront of the neighbors, and she drove a blue sunfire. But they could not tell if it was her or not. Kind of pissed me off.

[happyslug]

10. Back Glasses tend to be tempered, not laminated

Front Windshields are laminated glass (Two panes of glass held together by a plastic liner). US law requires all windshields to be "Shatterproof" safety glass and that means laminated.

The other glasses on you car tend to be tempered, tempered is five times stronger than laminated but when it breaks it breaks into many very little pieces. Some other countries use Tempered in their Windshields but not the US. Some of these other glasses may be laminated, but that tend to be in older cars (i.e. pre-1960) or that real dark privacy glass in some of the SUVs(And most the real dark glass tend to be tempered).

All that said, I am surprised that you found your "back windshield" looking like someone hit it with a hammer. Tempered is hard to break with a hammer, it has very strong Resistance to shocks such as being hit by a hammer.

On the other hand Tempered if hit by a Axe or other sharp instrument just shatters(I knew one guy who proved he had a diamond ring used it to cut the door glass to his car, he was shocked when it just shattered on him). If you ever see a Fireman's Axe with the sharp point behind the Axe head, that point is to hit tempered glass, breaking the hold each atom of the glass has with the next one, breaking the glass completely. This is do to the nature of Tempered Glass.

Given the nature of Tempered Glass, I am surprised you saw anything like a hammer hit it, generally the whole glass pane just breaks into very little pieces.

[texas1928]

11. Well mine had the defroster built into it

and she busted the whole thing. And that glass was not cheap since I had to have the type with the defroster wires in it. this was in 91 and my cougar was an 81 model.

you can tell it took a couple of hits, she hit it at the bottom next to the frame and there were dents in the chrome frame around the where the hole was.

[happyslug]

13. Wires would have held the glass in place.

The only reason I brought it up was when I was selling glass (including Auto Glass) we always had people who claimed their window was shot out for they heard the bullet.

The problem with tempered glass is the tempering process forces the molecules of Glass to bind to each other. This strengthens the glass BUT WHEN ONCE MOLECULE BREAKS ALL OF THE MOLECULES BREAK. This break occurs at supersonic speed, so that hat the people was hearing was NOT the shot of the Bullet, but the Glass molecules breaking their bonds with each other.

Thus it is HARD and almost IMPOSSIBLE to determine HOW most tempered glass broke. In your case you had evidence independent of the glass (the Chrome and the wire holding the glass together after the glass itself was broke).

Just a problem I ran across and when I see people claiming they knew what broke their non-windshield glass, warning bells goes off in my head. Hope you have had better like since 1991 with all types of glass.

[texas1928]

14. Oh it was

It was just shattered all to peices. except for the hammer size hole at the bottom. When the wind blew it moved in and out.

Oh I have, but to be honest I wish i had never gotten rid of that Cougar. Best car I ever had.

[happyslug]

15. My Sister had a 1977 Cougar

The only problem with it was its gas gage, you could run for miles from full to 3/4 tank, but once it hit 3/4 tank you better gas up, it was out of gas. Once you learn that it was a good running car.