A chip caused by a motorway speed stone has now grown into an L shaped crack about 25cm long. I will be getting a new windscreen (via insurance claim) and remember some talk a while ago about what is desirable or not e.g. original equipment or any brand, insurance tied fitter or independent and so on. I've spent longer than I want to on the forum search and couldn't find the threads.
Do you knowledgable people have any advice?
I've already delayed the replacment for a couple of months to make sure the job is done in the warm and I'll time it so that it's not raining either. An unrushed, unhassled fitter must be a better fitter.
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I haven't had to do this for decades, but from what I know now -- and if the insurers would permit it -- I would buy and OEM screen and ask a good local bodyshop who they use for their glass work.
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I believe Autoglass use OE glass and RAC Windscreens (formerly Auto Windscreens) use RAC branded or aftermarket glass.
From personal experience, if it's coming out of your own pocket, RAC are a lot cheaper than Autoglass.
Best thing to do is just insist on an OE screen if it's an insurance job
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I believe Autoglass use OE glass and RAC Windscreens (formerly Auto Windscreens) use RAC branded or aftermarket glass. From personal experience if it's coming out of your own pocket RAC are a lot cheaper than Autoglass. Best thing to do is just insist on an OE screen if it's an insurance job
I think for 'common'/fleet cars such as Fords and Vauxhalls and maye even VW they have OEM screens, but anything less common gets an OE screen I've experienced this with both my Audi and the previous SaaB 93SS I had.
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I got a new ws on my B6 A4 Avant six months ago by Autoglass - they fitted exactly the same screen the car had from the factory.
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>>... the job is done in the warm and I'll time it so that it's not raining either. An unrushed, unhassled fitter must be a better fitter.
whoever you choose, as your car is driveable, your better option may be to offer to drive the car to their depot where they can do the job under cover and with access to full range of tools in case of any difficulty in removing/fitting the screen. i speak from experience, as my car had to be taken to their depot when the fitter was unable to complete the job at the roadside.
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Autoglass replaced my VW windscreen with a Pilkington one which I considered to be of better quality than the original. I contacted them directly, as I am not on speaking terms with my insurer, and they claimed off the insurer.
Do you have a rain sensor for the wipers? If so, ask them to replace the stick-on gel filter rather than try to peel it off and stick it on the new one like they did for me initially. They had to come out and replace it another day.
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they claimed off the insurer.
This is normal practice anyway.
--
L\'escargot.
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Thanks everyone. Taking on board just about all the comments leads to: Take it to an Autoglass depot and get it done there. The Autoglass website says it needs 60 minutes for the glue to go off before you can drive the car away. I'm glad I read that bit - I'll go to one where I can usefully wander off for an hour.
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Thanks everyone. Taking on board just about all the comments leads to: Take it to an Autoglass depot and get it done there. The Autoglass website says it needs 60 minutes for the glue to go off before you can drive the car away. I'm glad I read that bit - I'll go to one where I can usefully wander off for an hour.
Blimey! An hour is not a lifetime is it? Have you ever had to wait in a Dentist's waiting room or in a Hospital's outpatient's dept. such as I did today, when I took my partner to the eye clinic for urgent treatment such as to alleviate possible permanent damage to her sight.
Patience is a virtue and an hour isn't a lifetime.
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Just had the windscreen on the BM replaced today at Autoglass. Car back on the road after a 75 minute wait. The replacement glass was made by Pilkington. Having had previous experience of RAC Windscreens, I would recommend Autoglass every time.
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Old git, you're not one of those......er.....old gits I see in the hospital waiting rooms sitting there glued to the now compulsory telly are you? Wasting life away - surely not. An hour is a huge length of time to waste. I mean it. If I go for an appointment like that I'm prepared with my book and my to-do list - planning for the future.
Good heavens, if I've got 30 years left on this planet that's only around 263,000 hours to go. It'll be 8 hours less by the time I get up tomorrow. Life is for living not for wasting in waiting rooms.
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Old git you're not one of those......er.....old gits I see in the hospital waiting rooms sitting there glued to the now compulsory telly are you? Wasting life away - surely not. An hour is a huge length of time to waste. I mean it. If I go for an appointment like that I'm prepared with my book and my to-do list - planning for the future. Good heavens if I've got 30 years left on this planet that's only around 263 000 hours to go. It'll be 8 hours less by the time I get up tomorrow. Life is for living not for wasting in waiting rooms.
Well, I am fast approaching the 'three score years and ten' milestone, so, statistically, I 've not much time left, however there are times when one just has to wait for things to happen and I usually, when I visit outpatients' depts. once a year, spend my time watching the myriad of people passing by - surely one of the best pastimes?
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Consider it an hour to yourself. ONe gets very few of these. Its a bonus hour.
Your good book is a start.
The last screen I had done, was - as yours is - left for a warm spell. The car was parked on perfectly level ground at work, appointment made for lunchtime, to enable 4 hours for the goo to cure before it was driven home.
It was an autoglass job, wasnt bothered about who made it. It was glass, it fitted, had the correct tint and you could see through it.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Interestingly or even, strangely, certain people, especially those on a VW forum that I frequent (for obvious reasons) say that non OEM replacement windscreens are inferior in so many respects to the originals in that they scratch more easily, are thinner and create more wind noise and can muck up your auto wiper mechanism's rain sensor functioning etc.
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