All You Need To Know About Rear Windshield Glass

All car windows, including the back ones, have significant functions. In addition to providing a clear view of the road and any obstacles behind a car, rear vehicle windows also aid prevent occupant ejections during collisions and reinforce the frame of the vehicle.

Continue reading to find out more about rear car windows, how they differ from front windscreens, the most frequent reasons for rear glass damage, and when it’s time to replace back windows.

How do Front Windshields Vary From Rear Car Windows?

The rear window of a car is normally made of tempered glass, as opposed to the front windscreens of vehicles, which are made of laminated glass, which consists of two sheets of auto glass that are bound together with a coating of polyvinyl butyral (PVB) or another adhesive resin. Traditional glass has been strengthened by applying heat, pressure, or chemicals to it to create tempered glass.

The layer of adhesive glue often holds the shattered shards of front windscreen glass in place, preventing the glass from fracturing. Yet, tempered glass frequently shatters into numerous little fragments when a rear window breaks.

These little glass pieces normally do not have exceedingly sharp edges, unlike standard annealed glass, and tempered glass breaks into pieces with relatively rounded edges due to the strengthening process it goes through.

In addition, automated rear window defrosters or defoggers are frequently installed, which operate differently from front windscreen defrosters.

A rear window defroster is formed of a metal grid that is bonded to the glass using a particular resin, as opposed to a front windscreen defroster, which blows air on the window to defrost it. An electrical current is sent through the grid when the rear-window defroster is engaged, creating heat that defrosts the window and dissolves any ice that may be present.

How Damage to Rear Windows Occurs?

Even though the designs of a car’s windscreen and back windows are very different, rear windows frequently crack or break because of the same dangers.

Among the several causes of rear windows getting damaged are:

• The stress on glass is brought by changes in temperature. When heated, the glass slightly expands, and when cooled, it slightly contracts. Although most glass can withstand small temperature changes, thermal stress can cause glass that heats up or cools down too quickly to crack.
• The effect of flying debris hitting or leaving the road. When hard objects, such as stones or baseballs, impact the rear windscreens, many of them crack.
• Impact of an auto crash. The rear window of a car might break in an accident just like any other car window.

Although there are similarities in glass risks, laminated annealed glass tends to be weaker than tempered glass. For this reason, it usually takes more force for an object to break a rear window.

Why it’s important to always replace damaged rear windows?

While many rear car windows break instantly when they are damaged, some instead get chips or cracks. Therefore, this glass should always be replaced at the first indication of damage regardless of the kind of damage your rear window has sustained.

Due to the nature of laminated glass, small fractures and chips on front windscreens can frequently be fixed rather than having the entire glass panel replaced. The structural integrity of the entire windscreen is less likely to be compromised by a small crack in one of these windows since they are constructed of two sheets of glass fused together.

Yet, even a tiny crack or chip in tempered glass can seriously compromise the structural integrity of the entire glass panel, necessitating window replacement. Simple vehicle vibrations that happen when driving a car have been known to cause even lightly damaged back windows to spontaneously break.

The occupants of the vehicle and other drivers on the road are put in danger when a rear window breaks while the car is being driven.

How to Replace a Rear Window?

There are various steps involved in replacing a rear window. Your auto glass repair specialist will initially order a replacement glass panel with the exact same measurements as your original glass. In order to prepare the window frame for the replacement glass panel, they will next carefully remove any glass fragments from your window frame and the interior of your automobile. The replacement piece of glass will then be attached, and any broken weather stripping will be replaced as necessary.

A new metal grid will be fitted to your rear window and connected to the system tabs that feed electricity via the grid if your previous rear car window had an electrical defrosting system. Lastly, the defrosting system is turned on when the window glue has had time to set or firm.

Although the back glass of your car is not made of the same materials as the windscreen, it nonetheless serves many of the same, significant functions. If the rear window of your car has to be replaced professionally, get in touch with GlassFixit specialists right away.