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/