On my 2000 Suburban a rear hatch glass hinge has broken. These hinges
are part of a molded plastic frame deal that surrounds the glass, is
glued onto the glass. The glue appears to have let go which caused the
hinge part to crack off, leaving the glass unattached at the hinge. The
plastic is quite thin, seems kinda brittle, and the stress at that
hinge/frame joint is clearly too much for it (the strong lift struts and
load when you pull the glass down seem to be the culprit, as well as the
closed load on it). Apparently this is a common problem that GM only
partially takes credit for (recall on some 05 vehicles, same
design/implementation going back to 00). Glass shop suggests a
replacement ($700 new, maybe $350 used if I can find one, would not even
touch a repair). Some internet search suggests the new ones are on
nationwide back-order (no problem here! move along...)
So, I am thinking some sort of super adhesive with some reinforcing
strips along the frame where the hinge is? I found some SuperGlue on
their web site that is glass/plastic formulated, but I was thinking that
the rear-view mirror stuff, a catalyzed adhesive, might be better? Or is
there some other kind of super adhesive that would be better than that?
Epoxy, cyanoacrylate, or something else for glass and plastic?
It really annoys me having to deal with this, clearly a poor
implementation, so I would rather spend a few bucks on some adhesive
than hundreds on a new glass that might fail as well.
Thanks...
--R
