Just wanted to share my experiences concerning a polishing kit for deep glass scratches from Eastwood (we had this topic some weeks ago...).
In restoring my 68 Bird I discovered minor and major scratches in the Bird´s glasses. Trying to do my restoration as perfect as possible I was looking for a way to get rid of these scratches. I finally discovered Eastwood´s Glass Polishing Kit For Deep Scratches and gave it a try...
To my big surprise I really was able to polish even the deep scratches but the glass got a fogged appereance. And even so I tried for several hours (I worked on one of the smallest glasses, the RH rear quarter glass...) I didn´t manage to clear it completely again. I think I will manage to do after another half day of polishing but that´s only a small part of all the glasses (approximately one tenth...). When I need two days for polishing one tenth of the total... any further questions?
Yes, one question remains: where do I get a new high quality car glass set?? I´m looking for the highest quality possible. Shipping to Germany surface mail will cost around USD 350.00 so I don´t bother if the set costs 550.00 USD or 750.00 USD. When paying so much for the transport it must be top - that´s all...
Years ago i had a "professional" tell me they could polish/buff some wiper blade marks (made from a torn insert being present)out of my windshield as it was good other than the scratches.I let him polish it out.The scratches came out but was now left with a major 6-8 inch wide haze across the drivers side where the 2mm scratches were, not sure if at that point he gave up or that it was just no possible. He then told me he "thought" he could lol Well i ended up replacing the windshield last year, no more scratches,no more haze. Thomas, i see complete "GM authorized" glass sets on ebay from time to time, not sure of the quality though.
David
http://FirstGenFirebird.org/show/closeup.mv?CarID=571 If i don't get this car back on the road soon i'm gonna go postal! On a quest for FGF knowledge 1968 Pontiac Firebird Convertible 1969 Oldsmobile Cutlass "S" Convertible *Sold*
I only add the I-told-you-so to make sure that others don't waste their money on such snake oil. I don't sling numbers around because I haven't a clue about such things. Don't know a thing about transmissions and rear-ends either. Then again, some of the number slingers don't have a clue as to turning a wrench. I have spent a signifigant portion of my life as an automotive technician, with heavy experaince in automotive glass.
You might want to do some research on the glass. It has been my professional experaince that Pinkelton manafactures some of the most poorest quality glass, specifically, it doesn't fit the hole it is intended to fill, and its temepered glass is worse than its laminated glass. One thing that they failed to mention with "blasting" the LOF logo on the glass is the other correct glass manafacturer, PPG. Probally PPG refuses to allow Pinkelton to use the PPG logo, no matter how much $ Pinkelton offered to throw at them.
I had wholesale access to any automotive glass manafactured 81% off NAGS' list on laminated, and 79% off tempered. In the late 80's, I also had access to all tempered replacment glass, LOF and PPG, for f/g/f cars. I forget the exact amount, but my cost--the same price that a large glass shop pays--was over $500 mid-80's dollars.
Maybe you should contact LOG and PPG and see if they still make glass for the cars
thanks for the additional info! Very good to know. I´ll try to contact them via the web, hope they will reply... Does anybody know by chance what glasses the part suppliers like CI or Rick´s First Generation sell? Sometimes you even find ads on eBay and every seller´s claiming his glasses will be the best. No chance to judge it over here from Germany...
LOF and Pilkington are the same company now. That's why they are able to put the LOF label and date code on the glass for you. I believe most, if not all the distributors are selling Pilkington's glass. I did not realize that their glass was so poor-they manufacture almost every fighter jet windshield (polycarbonate) for the western world.
I bought the windshield and backglass from Pinkerton. After reading this thread, I checked the backglass against the original by laying it over top. The curvature and outlines seem to match closely. The PPG glass that was on the car measures 0.200" thick while the Pinkerton one measures 0.237". The original was clear and I bought tinted for the replacement. This thiness variaton is within the adjustment range for one of the 3M bitumous rope seals. They make this seal in three thicknesses and there are also alternative installation methods these days. I don't know if the PPG glass is orignal to my car. All the glass was removed by the previous owner in the 1980's to fix rust.
The Pinkerton windshield measures 0.200" thick. I've not been able to compare it to the original glass.
Thomas might be faced with the Pinkerton glass as his only option. I don't think it will cause him fitment issues. Pinkerton probably has fixed their issues from years past.
thank you for asking. Yes, I got news today. A certain Albert Smith (Albert.Smith@us.pilkington.com) from Pilkington finally replied on my inquiery. Unfortunately, he didn´t mention if these are the date coded LOF glasses but concerning the price it should be... As far as I understood he won´t ship to Germany but only to a carrier in the US who then has to ship it to me. A little bit complicated, especially when people like me don´t know any carriers in the US...
Here´s what he wrote: </font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">We do have the glass for your Firebird. A full set of glass for your car is $1200.00 + $100.00 shipping. We will only ship to a freight forwarded of your choosing in the US. All quotes are in US dollars. Regards, Al Smith </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Concerning Rick´s First Generation I already checked their glasses. I noticed they sell date coded LOF glasses for Camaros and asked them if they could get their hands on the corresponding date coded glasses for a 68 Firebird coupe. Unfortunately, they can´t... Bad chance... At least I could order their regular glasses without any codes.
In their part´s description they tell: </font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">...ORIGINAL LOF DATE CODEING IS AVAILABLE AT A SMALL ADDITIONAL CHARGE WE CAN SELL THE SET OF GLASS OR INDIVIDUAL PIECES WE ALSO HAVE GLASS FOR THE CONVERTIBLES AND 50S 60S 70S CLASSIC AND MUSCLE CARS... </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I already have sent them an email yesterday but still got no reply... We´ll see...
I guess if LOF and Pinkelton have merged, that kinda clears things up. It's been almost 15 years since I fooled around with glass.
As far as Pinkelton's quality: Poly and glass are two different things; also, government contracts are a different puppy, and you cannot jack around with quality.
Back in the day, Pinkelton was imported junk that didn't fit, neither laminated or tempered. As trivial information, I'm sure that everyone has seen Safelite Auto Glass. With all the merges going on, there's no telling the latest name, but in my day its logo/name/whatever was LSI, Leer Sigler, Inc. They didn't manafacture tempred parts, but they made laminated w/s for all cars. I wouldn't have used a lsi w/s either. The thing is that its laminated plate glass was superior even to PPG, the pioneer in lamainated safety plate.
I could get the best price on Carlite because one of the guys of whom I had wrapped around my little finger was a Carlite distributor. Carlite is/was an excellent quality glass, with an excpetional fit, often fitting better than oem. But Carlite is FORD glass.
I selected a ppg replacment w/s because my car was equipped with ppg. The left quarter is a lof, but it was a replacment glass, obviously because of the logo and the few chunks of broken glass down in the bottom of the quarter.
I have no clue as to why some f/g/f cars have lof while others have ppg. I'm sure that assembly plant has everthing to do with it.
One more thing on difference in glass: The thickness can vary by the lots in which it was manafactured. One of the biggest complaints from the nit-pickers was that the replacment glass is 1/64th thicker/thinner than the origional. Also, I don't remember when, but sometime after f/g/f manafacturering, w/s thickness was reduced, and the amount is one hell of a lot.
I took a look at the eBay glass. Wether or not it's "correct," that's one hell of a price, and I don't think you can beat it. For ppg, my cost back 2 decades ago was that price.
Update: I once again asked Pinkelton concerning the glasses and if the above mentioned price was meant for date coded glasses. Here´s their reply: </font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The price quoted was glass only. Date coding would be an additional $300.00 US.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">So total will be $1200.00 for glasses + $100.00 shipping within the US + $300.00 for date coding = $ 1600.00 Plus additional $350-450.00 for s&h to Germany...
I think I can shut the Pinkelton-chapter...
Unfortunately, the eBay-seller I´ve listed yesterday still doesn´t reply on my inquieries even so I´ve sent him two emails, perhaps he has no interest in shipping to Germany?
