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Glad I found this, thanks to all who posted. Also helpful that the pics still work! But I wish now I hadn’t attempted it in an over tired state😢.
awns729: the painters tape is a great idea to keep that **** off the fabric, also a great idea to do the top first, let set up, then get the bottom.👍
I however made the false assumption that I could do it all in one go. Leftover ego from automotive background (from a past life) I guess. i Had difficulty after getting the bottom part secured, so I had to bail on the top part, which should’ve been the reverse if anything. I was still up at 3am putting in new vapor barriers in the doors, so I finished the top part of the back glass after that. Seriously tho I must be a bit of a sado, butyl tape or urethane, which is worse? I hate them both 🤠.
At any rate I now feel confident I could offer this as a service if I had a shop, but I wouldn’t lol. I found a few things made my life easier, or would have, had I done a dry run first(kinda like it says on the tube of urethane). Might be redundant but if it helps someone not have to deal with what I did then that’s great and it gives me some relief just thinking about never having to deal with this again.
1. Kind of goes without saying but make sure the glass and surfaces are clean. Blow it off with compressed air if you can, to get bits of lint or paper towel, dust. Wipe surfaces to be glued with 91% IPA. I used those blue shop towels to clean, then a ‘lint free’ terry folds cloth🤣, then blew it out with compressed air. If you don’t know what a Terry Fold is, look it up lol.
2. If nothing else this would’ve helped the most. Get your clamps and stir sticks set up on the glass so you know where you’ll need them to be exactly before hand. For the more anal person, numbering them might help. Trimming them a bit to fit better actually helps a lot too. Might not seem necessary but once you expel the glue is not the time to be runnin around trying to figure **** out, it does actually set up pretty fast. Once you get the clamps and stir sticks set up(after glueing), it helps if you move them sightly so there’s almost a little overhang from the edge of the convertible top. It will tighten the gap up. You’ll have to trim a little of the urethane that squishes out.
3. Don’t worry too much about excess urethane(unless it’s in the fabric at which point you’re kind of screwed anyway). It will easily come off with a razor blade once it’s set up, even a thick bead will come off clean if you (careful not to cut into the edge of fabric) cut both sides. It will also pretty much come off like plastidip on other smooth surfaces. I believe this is why a primer is needed in some cases(to etch the surface so it will actually stick).
4. Work clamps not only work great on the lower corners but help prop it up so you can reach around😅if you have to move the glass or push the top down like I did 🙄. I used rubber tire chocks to support the top section which probably kept me from smashing the glass with a hammer due to frustration. Oh ya, I would recommend NOT scraping off all the old glue on the glass, just enough so it’s fairly level and uniform. The urethane sticks a lot better to that than bare clean glass(ie: unprimed).
91% IPA seems to clean this stuff up just as well as Acetone but acetone eats some plastics. IPA can soften some plastics too but it takes longer exposure on most plastics and clear coats(according to reading). IPA is also way cheaper but wont get you high from huffing it🫠🤷*♂️💀😅.
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