The urethane adhesive used to retain your windshield in the car is a critical component of your safety system. It has to be able to withstand a roll over, or head on collision. If some back yard mechanic installs your windshield with a cheap slow curing urethane you and your family’s lives could be in danger. Not only are we concerned with the proper cure time but the method of removal and installation of your windshield. If the person you have doing the work is not properly trained they could badly damage your vehicles E-coating. The E-coating on your car is an factory applied electro- plate coating that prevents the metal from rusting, this can not be replaced, so if the installer scratches your paint under the moldings out of view and does not prime or repair this then your pinch weld will begin to rust and eventually cause the windshield to leak. This is not the worst of it though, now the windshield no longer has the retention necessary to stay in place during a roll over or head on crash. The windshield needs to be removed and taken to a body shop for rust restoration, this can cost anywhere from $1,000.00 or more.

In this region the most popular urethane sold is Sika Urethane, they are an industry leader in the development and production of high performance urethane sealers for the automotive industry. However,Sika makes several brands of urethane with different cure times and rates. Sikaflex 220+  is the #1 sold Urethane in our area and it should not be. This urethane is NOT RECOMMENDED FOR USE BELOW 50*F. Above 50*F it takes 8 to 16 HRs to achieve a safe drive-away time, that means you are not to drive your car for 8-16 hrs after the windshield had been set. But we never hear of any mobile installers telling their customers this. Why? They are either uneducated or they just don’t care about the safety of you and your passengers! Go to Sika’s web site and see for yourself (this chart is based on your car having a passenger side airbag).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We here at BILL’S GLASS only use “SikaTack-Move it” the cure time on this product is 1HR no matter what the temp or humidity. This allows us to release the vehicle sooner so you can keep up with your busy schedule. This high-strength, fast-curing urethane is much more expensive but the #1 reason we use it is, your safety is more important to us than PRICE!

 

To see the Safe Drive Away Chart for “Move it” click this link https://usa.sika.com/en/industry/industry-home/download_industry/SDAT.html

To see the Safe Drive Away Chart for “Sikaflex 220+” click this link https://usa.sika.com/en/industry/industry-home/download_industry/SDAT.html