Windshield delamination advice

I had that happen on 2 windshields. It did not get appreciably worse over time. On #2 I "fixed" it with a stratgically places FCA decal

 

This is a common problem on these old cars. My GTC has delamination on both front and rear windscreens. The rear does not bother me much. But the front also has the typical yrs of sandblast, a couple of scratches and the delamination. I just bought a new front from Tom Shaughnessy. Of course the next big hurdle is if it fits. Hand built cars make this a project that only an experienced glass guy/body shop can tackle. I would guess there is going to be some grinding of the new glass as I believe they tend to oversize to account for car dimensional differences. The gasket in my car is in very good shape so we will try to re-use. Apparently new gaskets don't have the same profile making a bigger problem.

Will let you know how the project goes. I also have a new rear screen from Shaugnessy. That will be for a later date. It's the front that matters.

 

I got involved in a long thread on our ZR-1 owner's group on this subject. The 1990 to 1995 ZR-1 had a gold (real gold, they say) coating in the windshield to cut down on infrared heat. The A/C was just barely enough on these cars with all that aluminum engine mass under the hood. The windshield itself was unique to the ZR-1; no other C4 Corvette had it. It even had a little trapezoid where they left off the coating for a spot to put your radar detector.

They all delaminated in time. Even the "last ZR-1", 1995 #448, sitting there in the Corvette Museum with about 3 miles total, is delaminating.

GM does not make this part any more. GM refused to give us an allowance for delamination, as well. One of the guys found a service for business jets (some of them had this gold coating thing as well) which claims to be able to repair delamination on windshields. It involved infusing an adhesive sealant into the edge of the part, and then using a vacuum bag system to get it to stick back together. It occurred to me that this might be an option for early cars with a pretty rare & unique windsreen that was otherwise undamaged; cost might be appropriate for such a Ferrari.

For us ZR-1-ers, it turned out to be more cost effective to find a glass company in Spain which could duplicate the original windshields at about $1,500 each for a club group buy. Nobody knows yet if these new ones will delaminate later in their own due time.

 

One of the most exasperating jobs in my restoration was keeping the replacement rubber along with the chrome surround in place on the glass before trying to place it in the opening. The string pullng went fine but getting to that point was very frustrating. The replacement rubber gasket was close but not an exact match causing the chrome to continue to pop back out of it's groove while trying to keep the rubber on the glass. Be careful not to damage the chrome also.

Obviously it can be done but it is not a job for a short patience day.