Windshield rust = scrap the whole vehicle?

[MrPlow]

Thanks for the replies and suggestions! It's probably going to get parted out a bit and scrapped if the rust is deep on the pillars. I can get enough parts off the van that could be valuable if I buy another one eventually just like it, or sell them.

Shame. This van drives great with hundreds of thousands of miles on it. I drove a different Sienna decades ago and the van wasn't much different except for fewer squeaks.

 

[Nick1994]

Take some good pictures and go to the bad part of town, where they install used windshields etc.

Walk in there and show them, see what they say. They might be able to put gobs and gobs of glue on it. Who cares what it looks like, as long as it doesn't fly off on the road. Then drive the van for a couple more years. I think it would be ok.

 

[nthach]

It’s all too common to see rusted pinchwelds with windshield replacements. I see glassmen fail to protect the areas that get nicked with body primer or even touch-up paint. That’s part of the reason why Safelite banned long knifes for glass removal. My parent’s van had some pinchweld rust, ironically enough it was a Safelite tech calling out one of his own. He smeared on some of Sika’s body primer to prevent things from getting bad.

any body guy won’t want to touch that. If the underlying metal is fine after removing the rust with sandpaper or a Scotch-Brite, the “official” repair as dictated by Dow is epoxy primer(PPG DP series or the equivalent).

 

[kschachn]

Walk in there and show them, see what they say. They might be able to put gobs and gobs of glue on it. Who cares what it looks like, as long as it doesn't fly off on the road. Then drive the van for a couple more years. I think it would be ok.

No it won't. The adhesive will bond to the rust which will immediately separate and flake off from the rust beneath it. You have to get it cleaned down to sound metal, prime with epoxy primer and then properly install a new windshield.

 

[kschachn]

Thanks for the replies and suggestions! It's probably going to get parted out a bit and scrapped if the rust is deep on the pillars. I can get enough parts off the van that could be valuable if I buy another one eventually just like it, or sell them.

Shame. This van drives great with hundreds of thousands of miles on it. I drove a different Sienna decades ago and the van wasn't much different except for fewer squeaks.

You won't know until you start cleaning it up. My rust was confined to a smaller area at the top above the driver's seat, and although it looked bad at the start it really wasn't as deep as it appeared.

 

[Trav]

Thanks for the replies and suggestions! It's probably going to get parted out a bit and scrapped if the rust is deep on the pillars. I can get enough parts off the van that could be valuable if I buy another one eventually just like it, or sell them.

Shame. This van drives great with hundreds of thousands of miles on it. I drove a different Sienna decades ago and the van wasn't much different except for fewer squeaks.

Take some better pictures and see if the rust goes through, that area is pretty thick. If its just the A pillar its not too bad to repair if you take your time. Back some years I chopped quite a few cars so I had to cut the pillars and split the roof which is much more difficult.

This is one side "A" pillar for that van, depending on the damage you may not need to get that deep into it.

2002 Toyota SIENNA Pillar - 6102408011 | Toyota Parts Overstock, Lakeland FL

Pillar. 2002 Toyota SIENNA. Genuine Toyota Part - 6102408011 (6102408010, 61024-08011, 6102408011). Ships from Toyota Parts Overstock, Lakeland FL

parts.lakelandtoyota.com

PM me if I can be of help.

 

[atikovi]

Glass shops use pinchweld primer to encapsulate rusty areas all the time.

While it won't repair rust holes, if the holes aren't much more than 50% of the pinchweld it should be OK. If you just want to keep the thing on the road a few more years, that along with the urethane adhesive will achieve that goal. Have some mobile installer come out to do the job. If they balk, maybe offer cash with no paperwork. Their concern is liability.

 

[AutoMechanic]

It looks repairable what I would do is get some of that spray that turns rust into a paintable surface and spray that on there and paint it and put the windshield on and seal it up really good. No need to scrap a perfectly good van over this.

 

[kschachn]

Glass shops use pinchweld primer to encapsulate rusty areas all the time.

While it won't repair rust holes, if the holes aren't much more than 50% of the pinchweld it should be OK. If you just want to keep the thing on the road a few more years, that along with the urethane adhesive will achieve that goal. Have some mobile installer come out to do the job. If they balk, maybe offer cash with no paperwork. Their concern is liability.

No shop nor installer that had any clue as to what they are doing would apply that over rust. In fact it doesn't even go over clean bare metal.

 

[Fattylocks]

I would drive it home.
Lay a windshield in a blob of silicone caulk and tape it up with a neat line of plumbers tape.
That's what I would do.

 

[atikovi]

No shop nor installer that had any clue as to what they are doing would apply that over rust. In fact it doesn't even go over clean bare metal.

Umm, primer is specifically MADE to go over bare metal. Maybe read the product data sheet first before commenting. https://www.dupont.com/content/dam/Dupont2.0/Products/transportation/Literature/TDS/299-52232.pdf

 

[kschachn]

Okay fine but most go over epoxy primer.

Where does it say it goes over rust as you said? I can’t find that part.

 

[atikovi]

Where does it say it goes over rust as you said? I can’t find that part.

Read the whole doc. Page 2 6th bullet.

• Effective in treating larger bare metal areas – allows for corrosion treatment in the field

 

[kschachn]

Yes it means that once the corrosion is removed it can be used to treat the bare metal without another coating. You don’t put it over rust.

 

[atikovi]

It's basically a rust encapsulator. Seals and prevents it from spreading.

 

[kschachn]

Cool.

That’s all yours on your next windshield installation.

 

[atikovi]

I've done over a dozen over the years but never one that was rusty. Just followed the manufacturers directions on using the products.

 

[Donald]

Look for a smaller shop that handles rust repair or restoration. I would not give up until I talked to a few of those kind of shops.

 

[kschachn]

The problem is really that the rust isn't sound and has extremely low tensile and peel strength. Iron oxide is less dense than iron so as a result it easily flakes off. There is no way to cover it so that the structural bond between the urethane and the weld is maintained. Any rusty area will debond from the weld in short order.

Now if there are micro pits of rust in an otherwise healthy and clean pinch weld then maybe, yes you can encapsulate or cover those so that you'll get a good bond and stop the spread of the rust. But no way over a large area and no way over a weld that has a significant percent of the area affected by the rust. It just won't hold and will lead to what has already happened to the OP's car, and to mine.

 

[Donald]

I wonder if the windshield had been replaced before? More than once? By a top rated shop or a hack.

A body shop guy told me you never know if the people who pop out the old windshield may scratch the surface in the process. And this minivan is showing the result of not popping out the old windshield very carefully.