Chevrolet S10 Auto Glass
Throughout the life of your Chevrolet pickup truck, chances are that you will experience some wear and tear on your auto glass. Luckily, the glass in your Chevrolet is engineered to keep you and your family safe.
What is auto glass made of?The glass in the Chevrolet S10 trucks model windows is designed with two goals in mind. First is the safety of all those who are inside. Second is to help maintain the overall stability of the vehicle. As such there are two separate designs for the windshield and the other windows that address these concerns.
- The windshield on the S10 model pickup is made using a material called laminated glass. This is composed of a three-part structure consisting of two sheets of glass, with a sheet of polyvinyl butryal (PVB) in between them. The PVB is a strong, durable, adhesive resin that becomes bonded on the molecular level to the glass through a process involving higher pressure and heat. The resulting windshield will spiderweb upon impact, keeping dangerous glass shards from flying around the vehicle. PVB is also UV ray resistant, which protects both passengers and the interior of the car.
- The rear and side windows are more at risk of breakage from the jostling around of everyday driving. There are all sorts of holes and bumps in the road that can put tremendous pressure on the S10s windows as it moves down the road, requiring a strong glass to handle it. Here, automakers turn to tempered glass, which takes a normal piece of heated glass and cools it very quickly through a process involving high-powered fans. The quick cooling causes the temperature of the exterior of the glass to drop much more rapidly than the interior. Also, due to the tempering process, when the glass is shattered, it comes apart in tiny dulled pieces, which are harmless to passengers.
Depending on the condition of the windshield, it will either need to be repaired or replaced. The two kinds of injuries that auto glass generally suffers are cracks and chips, and as a rule of thumb, if a chip is larger than a quarter or a crack is longer than 3 inches, you should have it replaced. However, if either is smaller, then you can hold off on the replacement and use a window repair kit to deal with the problem. Regardless, the blemish should be addressed as soon as possible to maintain a safe driving environment. In most states, it is against the law to operate a car with significantly damaged windows.