I’m in Wollongong near Fairy Meadow, a few blocks from the beach. Salt spray and spring gusts have been rough on the ute, and the screen picked up a long crack after a pellet of road debris on Memorial Drive. I have decent tools and a carport, but I’ve never tried glasswork. Friends say it’s just “cut, lift, seal,” but I’m worried about alignment, rust on the pinch weld, and accidentally trapping moisture that leads to leaks. With the southerly changes rolling through and showers most afternoons, is a weekend DIY even realistic? Or is this one of those jobs where a tiny mistake means fogging, wind noise, or worse—airbag issues?
I had the same grand DIY plan in Fairy Meadow last spring and bailed halfway. The salt air and those southerlies made keeping the bonding area clean a nightmare, and I nicked some surface rust on the pinch weld that would’ve turned into a leak. The urethane needs proper prep, primer, and a clean, dry cure—hard to guarantee under a carport when showers roll through. My Hilux has the camera near the mirror and I didn’t want to gamble with airbags or calibration. I ended up booking a Toyota hilux windscreen replacement with a local tech; night-and-day difference—no wind noise, no fogging, and they checked for hidden rust. If you want a sense of pricing and options, you could check out Windscreen Replacers—found their info handy without the salesy stuff.