cracked glass t top repair

wrote:
> I accidentally pushed my seat back into one of the t-tops stowed behind
> the seat on my (formerly) mint 81. Now the corner has 4 diagonal little
> cracks about 2 inches long. Very very very annoying as the rest of the
> car is about as mint as you can get.
>
> After giving myself a thorough whipping, and calling myself some names
> I haven't used since high school, I decided I could shell out the $400
> to buy another top but I'd rather try to repair it for now. The cracks
> are in the dark bronze area and the average person won't notice it
> unless the sun is hitting it from the wrong direction. They seem to be
> only in the top layer of the glass and it appears to still be strong
> enough not to flex and run more.
>
> Has anyone found a repair that will hold on something like this? I
> could fill the cracks with the chip repair glue first and see what
> happens, but I wonder if it would hold for long. Any other ideas?
>

Sorry 'bout the linguistics--absolutely shocking!! Long ago though, I
decided that there wasn't much gain in preserving virginity (mental or
otherwise).

I took a rock hit on a trip and there wasn't a windshield within 200
miles. A local glass guy ground (drilled?)small indents at the end of
the cracks and filled them with repair stuff -- held for 5000 miles
until I got home. The appearance wasn't great though.

Give your insurance claims folks a call. Tell them that you're not
submitting a claim but want a referral to a local glass repair outfit
that can give you a good price on the repair. My insurer transfers me
to their national glass contractor who sets up a conference call with a
local associate. I've done this on both glass and side mirrors and
saved nearly 1/2 the price of retail.

A match might be difficult--particularly if there's mirroring on one
surface. I had aftermarket T-tops on a '79 and the mirroring was on the
inside surface of the glass. I'd seen others mirrored on the outside.

Paul H.