Fogged glass FIX

Sandy and I just got back from our trip to Alaska Thursday and on my way back to Key West I stopped in at Suncoast Designers, Hudson, FL. They removed the fixed and slider passenger window and the slider driver window ( I had a new fixed driver window installed a few years ago), disassembled, cleaned and reassembled and installed them in 6 hours. All this for $385.20 tax in plus 50 Amp, water, sewer. What a deal, and I got a 5 year limited warranty

How about this, I talked to Jeff Heydon, Mgr, if he would work with us in an exchange program, he said no problem. If we could collect four frames with bad glass send them to him he would hold them until someone needed an replacement, then he would order the new glass and could have them shipped with in 3 days. Remember this. Most of the windows I see at dealers the glass is not reusable as it is etched to bad to be polished out and has to be replaced. As you can see most of my cost was the removal and instillation. A do it yourselfer could get new glass for about the same cost
www.suncoastdesigners.com
Ed

Ed, This was a great post for me. I had no idea this place existed so close to our house. All four of our thermo glass panes have been fogged for years. It has always irritated me but ended up on a " back burner " list. I went to this facility last week and they removed, cleaned, resealed and reinstalled four glass sections. What a great job they did. I watched their equipment clean, heat and press the new seals into place for proper fit and thickness. Apparently they are one of two companies with the equiptment to properly reseal these windows. They don't use nitrogen or pull a vacuum during reassembly. They simply inject dry air. All of the work was performed in one day for under 500.00.

Their Facility has 50 amp hook ups and water for 10 motorhomes. They also provide a waste station on site. They told me different RV clubs call ahead and make reservations to get multiple RV's done during the same week. Customers camp out and stay in their motorhomes while the windows are repaired.

This is a glass company also providing doors and windows for the housing industry. They do no other repairs on motorhomes.

I desperately need them to clear my fogged driver side window, but they're 500 miles from me! I wish there was a place like this closer to Hotlanta! :(

Michael, Order the glass from Prevost and have the body shop install it when doing the other work. The tough part is the removal, cleaning of the opening, and resealing the new window. Prevost service changed my drivers (forward glass) window at a rally several years ago and charged me less than $400.00 for everything. Took about 2 hours.

I had a local glass shop remove the non sliding window on the passenger side and put in a single pane of auto glass. Cost less than $150.00 and they came to me.

Thanks for the input Mike! I'm sure it's good advice. In the meantime, I've sent an e-mail to the President of Suncoast Designers asking for a price on repairing my driver's window with their process if I have my local shop remove and ship it to them.

I don't know why this is, but the local glass shop (Binswanger - a huge company with locations nationwide) that I originally took it to won't touch it (or replace it with a single pane) citing something nebulous about DOT restrictions. I didn't get it.... :confused:

We just had the drivers and passenger (door) slider windows replaced. The driver's slider was collecting water between the panes. I could have put gold fish in there.....Anyways, these two windows lost their seal and were badly fogged up (common with these windows). I arranged for the local glass company, came to my house and replaced both sealed slider windows with a 1/4" laminate glass.... it is tinted too and cost 189.90. I know its not DOT but.......

You all that have done that window replacement, is your frame painted to match the coach? On mine, it looks like the paint overlaps the caulk around the fixed window. It has chipped in a few places exposing the caulk. If yours is painted like that, how do they detail that area?

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Originally Posted by Darrell and Linda

I know its not DOT but.......

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I don't give a flying fish about DOT - I just wish I could find someone local to do it! :confused:

Our window frame is painted a dark grey and with the new neoprene chalking / seal for the new glass is black. It looks good. Close inspection of the fixed window chalking showed signs of drying out /cracking. It was originally black in color. I don't know what they used before as a sealant but it is drying out. I talked to the glass guy and you can purchase this neoprene chalking from glass companies or body shop supply outfits and reseal yourself.

I can understand if your color on the window frame is a light color the black sealant would stand out. I don't believe there is a selection of colors of caulking. But you never know.

Michael, I feel the same way as you. I couldn't understand why the toll window was a double pane in the first place. After a few years, look around, everyone looses the seal. I think the problem is that movement (sliding back and forth causes the lost of a seal). Hey, the widows that were placed in my coach are a laminate,, simular to the windshield.

I went to a smaller local glass company. I mentioned to them that I understood that the glass didn't meet DOT.....and If they didn't mind, I didn't.... you know "Top secret stuff" ..... cash deal

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Darrell and Linda

I went to a smaller local glass company. I mentioned to them that I understood that the glass didn't meet DOT.....and If they didn't mind, I didn't.... you know "Top secret stuff" ..... cash deal

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Thanks Darrell - I'm going to skulk around see if I can find a local "outlaw" company who can/will rise to the challenge in exchange for cash and a promise of secrecy! :p

It is no big deal to get a single piece side glass to replace the thermopane and it can meet the DOT requirements. It just has to be tempered so if it should break it will not be razor sharp shards, but will fracture into BB sized pellets.

The glass supplier can cut it to size, send the piece out to be tempered and then you have a glass that is correct and will not hurt you if it should break. It may seem OK to wink and look the other way, but why take a chance and have a glass right next to you that could give you a very severe cut. The alternative is safety glass like the windshield, but that does get expensive and difficult.

On the way home from Oklahoma, we stopped at Suncoast Designers in Hudson, FL to have our driver and passenger side windows replaced. Over the past year, they had fogged considerably.

They were very familiar with Prevost busses and they did a very good job of taking care of us. Two of our glass panels had to be replaced as they were beyond cleaning and polishing. The process they use replaces the seal and the whole window "sandwich" is run through a machine that both heats and compresses the window.

The "new" windows look great.

One word of caution: although they were extremely careful in removing the old window glass, we did end up with a couple of very small paint chips at the edge of the window frame. The original paint is lapped onto the glass and a cut must be made at this seam. This occurred where there was a small amount of electrolysis corrosion which had slightly lifted the paint. They were very clear that this was a possibility in spite of all the precautions.

If you are considering having this done, I would strongly consider this facility.

Paul, the "electrolysis corrosion" you mention in the window frame is probably typical in our coaches, as is the paint overlapping the caulk which I think is not the best way to detail this area. Based on what you've seen, what do you think about removing the entire window frame from the body, taking out all the glass and caulk, repairing the corrosion, repainting the frame and then installing the glass so there is no overlap of paint over the caulk. Is it possible for that to be a tidy installation, or does that overly complicate things?

In my opinion, since there is a black border on the Prevost installed window glass, I would be tempted to mask off the window frame and prime and paint it black as well.

I have seen a couple of Prevost busses that have had the frames replaced, and they were black, and the look was very nice.

There was a small amount of electrolysis corrosion on the driver side window frame when I bought the bus which was sanded off and re-painted when we took delivery. It was this "new" paint than seemed to be more prone to slight chipping. I have some of the leftover paint from that job, so I might try to touch it up.

Can anybody give me instructions for removing the drivers sliding window for glass replacement - before I screw everything up?

You do not remove the slider, but instead pull the rubber wiper and then using a sharp box cutter slice through the Sikaflex around the preimeter of the glass, and then from inside the coach, cut the Sikaflex seal between the glass and the slider frame. The glass should come right out and then you can clean the Sikaflex that was used to bond and seal the glass in place out of the frame to be ready to install the new glass.

Thanks Jon, that saves me from myself!

We have taken the Laminated Safety Glass route to replace the fogged dual pane side windows.
Although not tempered (turns into a zillion 1/8 inch sized pieces when broke) it is the same as your windshield (remains in 1 piece in an accident).
In my opinion, much safer.

Why does it have to be double pane? I can understand it not splintering but breaking many small pieces. but the double pane is a wonder/

A double pane window will not frost on the interior in very cold weather.

Greg, In previous threads it has been surmised that the dual pane side windows might help prevent interior fogging on a seated bus which could be much more of a problem than in a motor coach. We replaced our side windows with tinted safety glass in both of our buses. For us, it has proven to be a significant improvement over dealing with the interior fogging of the original dual pane setup. It is also a much less expensive fix.

I was in Bradenton, Fl this summer and made a side trip to Suncoast Designers to get my passenger window fixed. They did a great job in just a few hours and I am well satisfied with the window repair. The cost was very reasonable too.

Has anyone had Seacoast repair the awning windows on an XLII?

Brian did you have that window outfit vancoucer do the work?

Greg, I believe you're referring to Peninsula Glass. We purchased their windows for our 94 Liberty. Their windows include new frames which I decided after changing them, wasn't necessary. Additionally we found their customer relations to be sub standard.

Any experienced auto/truck window installer should be able to install new safety glass in the side windows. The installer we used told me that in addition to being cut to the proper size, the edges must be beveled and polished to prevent cracks. FYI, the thickest tinted safety glass we could find was 3/8" so a foam spacer needed to be installed in order to fill the space. Also FYI, tint is identical to the windshield.

Have a 2006 XLII and the main door window seal is blown (it's dirty between the 2-panes). marathon quoted $2,300 to replace. The glass is fine: is there someone who can remove and re-seal the window? I saw the earleir post on Sun Coast Designers in Florida; but I am in Seattle. Does anyone know of a shop on the west coast?
Thanks Poggers.

-Jim

Jim, Peninsula Glass is in Vancouver, WA. I know they do the windows on plastic coaches but not sure about a Prevost. You might call them and inquire if they have any experience with Prevost windows. I have an awning window that I am going to take out and send it to Sun Coast they take the window apart, clean the glass and reassemble with new seal, all for $250.00 + shipping of approx $50.00. That's a little different because the awning windows come out pretty easily and can be shipped easily. Let us know if Peninsula Glass does them.

Jim,

Peninsula Glass does indeed make a Prevost side window replacement. They have aluminum black anodized frames and include screens. They are very nice. That said the company is not easy to deal with. Suggest staying with the original frames and have an experienced automotive glass company make safety glass or tempered glass replacement panes. They can be tinted to match the windshield and they will be much less expensive then Peninsula's or Prevost's. I have tried all the options. Send me a PM or call me for the whole story. 360 921 4476.

Replacing my sliding window with Prevost replacement glass. Can someone tell me the exact model of Sikaflex to use as there are many. I am thinking 295UV ????

Liam,
I can tell you tomorrow morning which Sikaflex to use. Ed and I have taken out several of our windows and put them back in. A lot of experience replacing fogged windows, having them defogged, and then putting the windows back in. I promise to post what it is in am.
Sandy

Liam, I use Sikaflex-221 for everything.

Liam, Jim is correct. The Sikaflex - 221 (the BLACK TUBE) is the one we used and have had no problems with it.
Sandy

Has anyone used Suncoast in Hudson Fl to replace the door glass of an 06 which is different than the sliding glass of the earlier coachs?
I was told by Prevost it would cost over $2000 but Suncoast quoted me around $250 to remove and repair th seal and install.
Bill

I used Suncoast last year and they were Excellent!

Jamie

We used Suncoast with our previous coach for the passenger side sliding glass window. We think they did an excellent job, also!
Sandy

Carol and Bill, I have also used Suncoast with positive results. FYI : 1. They can only do flat glass. Anything with a curve cannot be run through their machine. 2. Any paint that is on or at the edge of the work area will be slightly disturbed. 3. Plenty of free parking with water and hook up for their customers.

I couldn't find any locally over the weekend so called Prevost Parts at 0730 Monday morning. I love the free next day (for my area) shipping and they are so helpful.

Turns out the factory uses 255. When I look on Sika's site, it looks virtually the same as what you used. Sika doesnt make it easy to understand the minor nuances in products.