Vent Glass Replacement

For anyone who, like me, has had their "vent glass" (the small triangular piece of glass located just in front of the front doors) broken, and then balked at the very high prices quoted to fix it, here is a "how to" post for replacing it. I have no prior experience with auto glass, but a good many DIY projects under my belt, and found this to be a very forgiving, relatively easy thing to do myself--and saved in the ballpark of $200 in the process. Explanations and descriptions follow along with the pictures in the zip file...

1: The problem? Broken “vent glass” (not “quarter glass”—that's in the back!).

2: The solution? New vent glass. Note the three plastic clips on the backside of the new window assembly—these mark the placement of the glass on the car body, and make the installation really simple.

3: This process is a little messy at stages, and you definitely don’t want scratches, so it’s best to mask off what you can. I also had a cover on the ground to catch the glass that broke out.

4-5: I started in the upper corner, cutting away some of the outer molding with a utility knife, to expose the area where the glass was bonded to the car. Then, I started carefully cutting through the old urethane bond.

6: Lots of glass to clean up! The old glass was actually taped with packing tape before this process, but it still broke out all over the place.

7-8: I used a plastic putty knife to help pry the molding while also protecting the paint.

9: The old plastic clips didn’t come out with the old glass/molding. Removing them required some gentle prying—just be careful of that pearly paint-job!

10: Finally done with the removal—this was by far the longest part of the whole process. Notice, though, that the bonding material is only located around the window opening area, not around the entire area covered by the glass assembly. This is good to keep in mind as you proceed with the removal of the old glass. The internet experts say to shave off some of the excess of the original bonding material, but not to get rid of it all. With that out of the way, it's all downhill from here….

11: Cleaned everything up really well and re-applied new masking tape for the installation (the old stuff had glass all over it). The primer can be a little messy (though not as bad as internet reviews suggest) so be sure to cover up areas where you don’t want it.

12: I used 3M’s “Single Step Primer” to coat the old urethane/pinchweld area (amazon.com for about $15). The “dauber” there is from the Home Depot (under $2). In hindsight, I would have trimmed the dauber down a bit before using it—it was a little too wide for the small area around the vent glass, and would have worked better had I trimmed it first.

13: Prime-time. Follow the primer directions, don’t go crazy with it, and let it dry while you get the urethane on the new glass frame.

14: 3M’s “Window Weld” fast-drying urethane (amazon.com for about $20). It says it’s used by NASCAR drivers, which I’m pretty sure most Prius owners don’t want to be. But none of us wants a leaky window, so at least we can all agree on that. If you make sure this stuff is warm before using it, and you use a caulk gun, it’s very easy to work with (unlike what some internet reviews would lead you to believe).

15: You might notice in this picture and the previous one that the tip of the urethane dispenser is cut into a “V” shape. This is what the auto glass folks recommend, and what Toyota also recommends, so I used the utility knife to cut it to Toyota’s spec.’s (12mm high, 8 mm wide).

16: Urethane bead on the backside of the new glass assembly, applied on the plastic molding around the outside of the plastic clips (the old urethane on the car gives you the outline of where to apply the new urethane).

17-18: Putting it in is the easiest part—just make sure you remove all the old masking tape first! Then just line up the plastic clips with the holes in the pinchweld area and press it into place. You’ll feel the clips lock in when you press firmly enough, and when they're locked and loaded you can let go and press lightly around the area where you know the urethane is.

19: It’s like it never happened—now you're an auto glass expert, and we’re really ready for some NASCAR!

The whole process took me about 2.5-3 hours, the vast majority of which was getting the old glass out and cleaning up the mess that it made. Overall, it turned out to be very easy, and very cost-effective (under $150, including the new part, as compared to my average quote which was right around $350).

 

No problem Greg--I'm glad you find it helpful. I had wanted to do this job for a while and really wanted to find some "how-to" info. online, but nothing very detailed was available. Good luck (you won't need it) if you're about to do this repair too.

 

Hey jtabasz, sorry for the slow reply, but I only just now saw your question. I bought the glass from a Toyota dealer--I wanted to make sure I got the OEM part, and I wanted to be able to visually inspect it before purchasing, so I passed on the on-line ordering. I did see a number of websites, though, that had the same part, and which were a little less expensive than what I ended up paying.