FJ40 Polycarbonate Windshield ~ an IH8MUD.com PRODUCT REVIEW

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IH8MUD.com PRODUCT REVIEW:

FJ40 Polycarbonate Windshield

I'm constantly attempting to lighten my rig, yet maintain the appearance of stock, at least from a certain distance. Following a trip to the Baldands Offroad Park in Attica, Indiana I found myself needing to replace my windshield. The incident occurred following an attempt at a deep ravine...I had laid the rig on the drivers side and finally decided that my attempts to right it were not going to work. After stopping, a 12" diameter boulder that had been loosened by my attempts decided to roll down...onto the hood and THRU the windshield, pushing it onto the steering wheel, and nearly into my lap. At that point, I decided I needed something tougher than normal glass.

My quest for an upgrade led me to Circle City Rock Products and John "rugburn" Runberg out of Indianapolis. He's been doing a variety of polycarbonate replacements for early Broncos, Jeeps and Land Cruisers, as well as of other automotive body replacement parts and composite winch fairleads for poly rope users. After a few discussions on what I felt I needed and wanted, he scheduled my new shield in with his next product run.

John delivered my new polycarb-glass (and a sweet IH8MUD.com monogrammed composite fairlead) when I happened to be wheeling one weekend at the Badlands. We talked about the install, what was required, and the rest was up to me. Once home, I began to second guess the decisions I'd made. There are quite a few options....tint selection, antifog inside, hard coated outside, and most critical, size. When I ordered, I thought the best/easiest install would be to pull the existing glass and rubber gasket and just RTV silicone the new polycarb into place. Well, once I thought more about it, I realized that I'd prefer to use the same stock rubber surround, making it looks a "tad" more stock, at least from a distance.

Treatment Specs:
The "SUPERCOAT" offers the highest level of abrasion and chemical resistance for coated polycarbonate available today. The hard coat brings the level of abrasion resistance to within .3% of factory glass, and offers nearly 10 times the protection of other coated polycarbonate windshields. SUPERCOAT™ repels water better than any temporary window spray treatment, and will withstand the use of wipers when necessary.

What follows is a photo reference of the entire install process...

The new polycarbanate windshield comes masked on both sides to protect it. In the case of mine, the clear masking was for the "Supercoated" side and the blue masking was the "AntiFog"" side. Good info to know, since you dont want to install it backwards!

I initially set the new glass into the frame to see how it would line up. This is the easy install...just use some clear RTV automotive silicone, set a bead on the frame, place the polycarb into place, then run a second bead around the outside edge to seal it up.

I chose to trim it down...I set my old glass on top of the polycarb (leaving the masking in place) and traced the outline with a Sharpie. I kept the top edge so it didn't need to be cut, taking more off the bottom, and trimming both side edges equally.

My old AEG Saber Saw was the tool of choice...directions state to use a rough wood-type blade, since a finer metal blade will create too much heat and gum up. If you mistakenly pulled the masking, use some masking tape to protect the shield from the face of the saw.

The first piece is out...I was VERY nervous about cutting, but it was amazingly easy. Once this first notch came out, I was committed. Drilling the polycarb is also possible, just take your time and drill slow.

Here are the pieces I removed. The only difficult issue is keeping the shield stable as you cut...you don't want (or need) to apply much pressure to the saber saw. The two 5-gallon pails (w/ protective towels on them) stabilized things ok, but I had to keep my hand pretty close to prevent the polycarb from vibrating.

Test fitting with my stock rubber surround. Again, note that blue is antifog, and faces inside. I started to install my backwards, fortunately I caught it prior to getting too far.

Once you've got the shield installed into the notched rubber, pull back the masking from the edges and proceed to install the rubber lock-cord. I kept the masking as long as possible for additional protection.

The polycarbonate windshield appears to be plenty flexible...while I was tentative to try this with the entire piece, the portion trimmed off the bottom proved to flex back on itself quite easily.

Care of the product is a piece of cake....For cleaning the SUPERCOATED outside, simply use soap/water, isopropyl alcohol, kerosene, naptha, denatured alcohol, or standard Windex. Always use a soft cloth, sponge, or chamois. Do NOT use paper towels.

Inside care is similar, again rely on a soft cloth, spongs, or chamois and avoid paper towels. Soap and water is recommended for cleaning, specifically Dawn dish soap, 1 tsp. per 24 oz. of water. Wet the windshield heavily, wipe until wet streaks and allow to finish by air drying....DO NOT RUB DRY, since that may abrade the AntiFog coating.

Contact and Ordering Information:

John Runberg
Circle City Rock Products
317-374-1458 (cell phone)
www.circlecityrockproducts.com