I rear ended someone. The damage was on the front right side. Minor-moderate, nothing too major. It appears my bumper slid under his completely, my grill/valence/fender bore the brunt. This was at night. I didn't see any cracks, then again it was dark and I wasn't really looking. I drove home, coverd the car, then uncoverd the right side to do the repairs.

After everything was done, I come to remove the cover completely and notice lower driver side windshield has 2 cracks in it. Doesn't appear that anything hit it, the cracks are clean without any surface chips. 2 seperate cracks, one from left edge to bottom edge, then another one from left edge, across the first crack, heading towards top. Appears that the cracks extend under the chrome trim and gasket.

I know this crack wasn't there before the accident, I just recently replaced the wipers and would of noticed then. I don't think there was any frame damage, the bumer didn't appear to get tweaked. Could the window of cracked from the shock of the collision? Or should I bite the bullet and get it checked on a frame machine?

Certainly the crash could do that.

I would fix it and get a 4 wheel alignment,,,,,you will know if it s straight when you go to replace the fender.

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

I swapped on another fender. The holes on the core support and inner fender matched the fender itself. Theres a decent amount of slack in the bolt holes though that allow for adjustment of body lines, so I don't know if thats saying much for the frame straightness. Could the unibody get twisted enough to crack a windshield but still allow fender bolt holes to align up? I should check rear windshield while I'm at it.

I plan on getting it aligned later on because of tire wear issues previous to all of this. My main concern is the frame / unibody itself.

Both my A bodies have been pretty straight......even after I punted a elk.
That being said one can always check frame alignment with a laser level and tape. The most important thing is the diagonals.

If the fender lines are straight yer prolly fine.

I break windshields from roof loads.......my Valaint creaks at the passenger window post on hard cornering.

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

It probably just sent a shockwave through the entire car. Coming to an ubrupt stop will jolt a window loose. Its like when a car has so much torque it cracks a window, or pops a T-Top out. The car is still fine, but it twists just enough to crack a window, then goes back into the original shape. I wouldn't worry about it.

Another scenario would be if the abrupt stop pushed one side of the windshield out, the other side held, Crack.

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1963 Dodge Dart -225 Slant 6, 904, 2.76's, 18.84 @ 73
1970 Nova 12.53@108
1970 Bug 15.38@87

You should have your alignment checked. The suggestion of a 4 wheel alignment is a good start, but to find out definitively if anything is bent have your SAI (Steering Axis Inclination) angles checked. Any modern alignment machine can do it. However finding a "real alignment guy" who is willing to go through the procedure may not be easy. I would "wait" on the car, and stand outside the bay and watch. I would also require a print out of before and after, though SAI is not adjustable, the printout will be helpful if you do need your frame "pulled." Checking SAI should add half an hour to one hours labor rate to the alignment, no more.


TopHat

Most windshields in the Canadain North are cracked. Two thing cause this.....and one of them is not the cold....its the heat.

In real cold weather having your defrost on hot too long can crack your window.

The other is Rock chips....lots of them.

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

The coldest it typically gets here is 40's... an occasional dip into the 30's F on the absolute coldest days.

I get my fair share of rocks, I commute daily ~ 70 miles round trip on freeways shared with plenty of bigrigs. Valence paint is all torn up from the rocks. Wish I could blame this one on rocks though but I don't think so. The crack is clean, no other apparent clipping from something hitting it.

Need to drill it, the crack is spreading 1/8" a day or so. Any tips on what implement to use to get the cleanest hole? Dremel file bit, drill bit...?

I think you need something like this...

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=42829

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

We use a Dremel with a carbide tip dental drill. Just drilling it probably won't stop the crack spreading; you also need to inject repair resin to rebond the glass. The drilling is primarily to clean the impact site of dirt and debris.

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David Kight
'62 Valiant Signet, White
'98 Dodge Dakota
'06 Jeep Liberty

Growing older is unavoidable but growing up is strictly optional.

I read some time ago that you can use a piece of 12ga copper wire in a drill with valve lapping compound on it, but I have never tried it. Would be a cheap solution if it worked.

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Chuck Rivers, Webmaster