Originally Posted By: Eugene

This is what my FIL tells me, he replaces glass several times a day. He has some fancy $500 reciprocating saw looking tool with a thinner blade with very fine teeth that more like vibrates than cuts to cut through the glue but he can't use that on very many cars, most he still has to use the hand tools. He has to buy shirts a couple sizes larger because hig upper arms are so large from tugging on those cutting tools. He's complained about the new glued in windshelds for a long time now since they are so hard to get out.


Oh, yeah, those are great - if you care to keep the car intact. In a rescue situation it's totally different - you no longer care about the car, so you do things - ahem - quickly.

Picture this - you smash a line along the headliner and the dashboard- then you smash a vertical line so now you have a door-like solid section of glass. Punch a few holes in the upper and lower corners and PULL. If it does not rip out right away, smash a little more along your previous lines. Punch a few holes in there. A Stanley FUBAR tool is great for this too. With 2-3 strong people you can tear the window to a point where it flops open like a hinged door. You use the glue to your advantage to give you a swinging door. It's not EASY but it is possible.