Winnebago Class A bus style RVs are famous for the front windows cracking easily…and this is often due to the rust that has accumulated on the steel window frame because of several probably leak areas. These leaks are due to the design of the front end of the RV for both construction and safety reasons as they can now sell it as having a steel frame around the driver. This is little more then BS as the steel just isn’t strong enough to protect the driver much during a crash or especially a roll over. Lucky for us consumers though that these RV’s are so big, they are hard to miss by the average driver on the road so major accidents or roll overs are rare. The leaks themselves are due to age and the twisting and vibration an RV gets on the road. What silicone or other caulking used ages, dries, and releases it’s bond from the frame/end cap interface which then allows water to creep inside past the caulking. This accumulates on the steel framing and eventually rusts it. The rust grows, and as it’s not as smooth as the steel, cracks in the windshield develop. Here’s a video of the work that goes into cleaning and getting the rust off of the frame:
However, what happened in my case was that I’d hired a handyman at Preferred RV Resort, he happened to work there and did RV washing and waxing of RVs on his days off. So I hired him. And when he got around to the front of my RV, he lost his grip on the orbital buffer, it smashed into my drivers side window, and cracked it. Of course I had the curtain closed, and didn’t even notice until 2 days later.
Here’s a link to more info about this issue in a Weather Proofing article…
And because of the known rust issues with Winnebago RVs, the glass company I needed to use quoted replacing both of them for $3600. At which time they would clean out the rust for me…if it wasn’t too bad. This article is about that glass replacement.
First some pictures of the crack…
One of them shows the swirls that came from his mishandling of the orbital polisher as he banged it against the window. The swirls were definitely not there before he worked on it as I’d washed the windows and squeegeed them off shortly before I hired him.
The crack was right in the drivers view. I didn’t want to have the work done in Pahrump so I used clear packing tape on both sides of the crack to help stabilize it in place.
I was only a week away from leaving and heading south to near Parker Arizona at the time anyway so after having a back and forth with the guy several times with him repeatedly denying he broke it, rather then stay in town to sue him, I just went ahead and swallowed the loss. During that week I had navigated to an both an ethics website and an RV’ers website with thousands of members, explained as clearly and unbiased as possible, and asked for advice and the vast majority said to just forget about it. Eventually, that is what I did. Still not really that happy about it, but it is what it was.
Anyway, down near Parker, the glass company brought their glass out, and things went like this…
One thing the guy did was reach up with a metal tool and cracked the glass in 2-3 places on the passenger side after I finally said, okay, go ahead and replace both of them…so I couldn’t change my mind. That pissed me off.
And after the glass panes were out, they ground down or wire brushed what rust they could find. I was happy that the rust only looked really bad over the drivers window, and I later figured out where that water came from so fixed that leak coming from the running lights. There was rust on both sides, but the passenger side wasn’t bad enough to require a new window…but still, I’m happy it was replaced so the rust could be removed.
And after they finished that rust abatement work by grinding and wire brushing they brushed on this stuff in the bottle shown below. And here’s what it does: “CRL Black Betaprime 5504G All-in-One Primer promotes adhesion to the vehicle body and the automotive glass and prevents rust from forming in small nicks and scratches on the pinchweld. It works in all weather conditions, thus reduces the time and material costs because you only have to buy and apply one product. It helps to achieve stronger, more reliable, longer-lasting bond. It is the only one primer needed for every application. Can be used on all common aftermarket substrates: -Glass ,Frit ,Metal and encapsulations( RIM, PVC, and PASS). Dries in just two minutes in temperatures 20°F (-7°C) and above, and in just 10 minutes between 0°F (-18°C) and 20°F (-7°C) . Tested and proven to be effective in treating larger bare metals areas and hence, allows corrosion treatment in fields. DS 06/27/2016”. I was going to use phosphoric acid, but this stuff will do.
And here they are installing the new glass after laying a bed of caulking.
Looks good with all new glass, new rubber molding and of course, the rust removed. I wasn’t impressed by the sales technique the guy with the red hat used. Eventually I called up the owner and got him involved with what I saw as shady business practices and he gave me a refund of $70 so I’d shut up. Told me that he fired the guy. Probably BS, but just a business expense on his part. Fully deductible off his taxes too I’d wager.
So that’s the extent of the rust on my window frame, caught it in time so the cracked windshield helped as insurance likely wouldn’t have paid for it if it was strictly caused by rust on the frame due to a leak. Cost me a thousand because of the deductible, but I got both of my windows replaced, the rust ground off, the metal treated, new gaskets and caulking so I’m good for another 2o years. As long as I don’t follow a gravel truck on the freeway.