WTF - washed my truck yesterday

[TheNinja]

It was pretty hot out and I realize the glass on the windshield must have been hot. So I was spraying down the truck with a hose and then washing it with soapy water, then spraying it down again. When I was wiping off the water from the windshield I noticed a crack from the bottom to the top. No spiderwebbing or anything but still. I've washed my cars/trucks in the summer many times and never had any trouble. Needless to say it pretty much ruined my weekend. :|


Note to others: Be careful if it's hot out and you want to wash your car.

 

[Heisenberg]

I always let the car cool down and I never wash it in direct sunlight. A cracked windshield isn't anything compared to the PITA a cracked exhaust manifold is.

 

[Eli]

Are you absolutely positive that it wasn't there before?

I find it hard to believe that a temperature shock from maybe 120 degrees to 50 would cause the glass to crack like that. Isn't windshield glsas tempered?

 

[Sundog]

Originally posted by: Eli
I find it hard to believe that a temperature shock from maybe 120 degrees to 50 would cause the glass to crack like that.

 

[KEV1N]

Did you hear it? Maybe your car was just so dirty before that you didn't notice the crack

 

[TheNinja]

Originally posted by: Eli
Are you absolutely positive that it wasn't there before?

I find it hard to believe that a temperature shock from maybe 120 degrees to 50 would cause the glass to crack like that. Isn't windshield glsas tempered?

It wasn't in the middle before. My only explanation is that there was either a chip somewhere or there was a crack beginning to form at either the top of the bottom of the windshield. I couldn't believe it either, you try to do something good and it turns out costing you $$$ and making you mad. I think next weekend I'll just sit around and drink......

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

Originally posted by: Sundog

Originally posted by: Eli
I find it hard to believe that a temperature shock from maybe 120 degrees to 50 would cause the glass to crack like that.

I've seen my neighbor do it just a few weeks ago when Oregon had a big ol' heat wave. His brand new tricked out S-10 needed a new windshield. :laugh:

 

[bootymac]

Originally posted by: Eli
Are you absolutely positive that it wasn't there before?

I find it hard to believe that a temperature shock from maybe 120 degrees to 50 would cause the glass to crack like that. Isn't windshield glsas tempered?

Think back to high school science labs! When a beaker or any glass that's not Pyrex is heated up, and immediately placed into cold water, it cracks and breaks apart

Actually, I had a Pyrex flask break like that before... teacher got pissed at me

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: Nik

Originally posted by: Sundog

Originally posted by: Eli
I find it hard to believe that a temperature shock from maybe 120 degrees to 50 would cause the glass to crack like that.

I've seen my neighbor do it just a few weeks ago when Oregon had a big ol' heat wave. His brand new tricked out S-10 needed a new windshield. :laugh:

Seems crazy, unless there is a chip or crack already.. it seems like there would be windshields breaking left and right from people going through car washes after sitting in the heat, etc....

Even when there is the beginning of a crack, it takes many hot/cold cycles for it to spread noticably...

It's one thing when glass is like 1000º and you pour cold water on it, but I don't think any but the weakest glass would outright crack with a temperature shock of only 60 - 80º ... seems weird.

I'm sure it's possible, though. Maybe the glass had a defect.....

Originally posted by: bootymac

Originally posted by: Eli
Are you absolutely positive that it wasn't there before?

I find it hard to believe that a temperature shock from maybe 120 degrees to 50 would cause the glass to crack like that. Isn't windshield glsas tempered?

Think back to high school science labs! When a beaker or any glass that's not Pyrex is heated up, and immediately placed into cold water, it cracks and breaks apart

Actually, I had a Pyrex flask break like that before... teacher got pissed at me

Any glass can be broken with a temperature shock, even borosilicate... it's just more resistant.

Like I said, I wasn't under the impression that a shock that small would crack structurally sound glass.. especially glass that you would think would be treated in some way to help prevent breakage.

 

[rahvin]

Originally posted by: bootymac

Originally posted by: Eli
Are you absolutely positive that it wasn't there before?

I find it hard to believe that a temperature shock from maybe 120 degrees to 50 would cause the glass to crack like that. Isn't windshield glsas tempered?

Think back to high school science labs! When a beaker or any glass that's not Pyrex is heated up, and immediately placed into cold water, it cracks and breaks apart

Actually, I had a Pyrex flask break like that before... teacher got pissed at me

Pyrex is a fancy name for tempered. Windshields are tempered and safety glass.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Eli
I don't think any but the weakest glass would outright crack with a temperature shock of only 60 - 80º ... seems weird.

I'm sure it's possible, though. Maybe the glass had a defect.....

Happens with glasses in the kitchen all the time. If you take even a cooking-grade piece of glassware out of the diswasher and put it in room-temperature water it can crack.

ZV

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: rahvin

Originally posted by: bootymac

Originally posted by: Eli
Are you absolutely positive that it wasn't there before?

I find it hard to believe that a temperature shock from maybe 120 degrees to 50 would cause the glass to crack like that. Isn't windshield glsas tempered?

Think back to high school science labs! When a beaker or any glass that's not Pyrex is heated up, and immediately placed into cold water, it cracks and breaks apart

Actually, I had a Pyrex flask break like that before... teacher got pissed at me

Pyrex is a fancy name for tempered. Windshields are tempered and safety glass.

That's not entirely correct.

Pyrex is just a brand of a type of glass called borosilicate. It has low-expansion properties, which help it resist breaking when exposed to temperature shocks, in addition to just being stronger in general.

It doesen't have anything to do with being tempered.

 

[ShotgunSteven]

My car windshield cracked due to the temperature differences between the inside and outside of my car during the Winter.

 

[bleeb]

I've taken my car on a hot day to the car wash and BAM... just like that, the glass cracks.