Aftermarket windscreens?

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FISH BOY

FISH BOY

Well-Known Member
Got a foot long crack in my Ranger windscreen starting from a stone chip - defo an MOT failure so needs to be replaced.

Phoned my insurance company and it’s £115 excess for an Autoglass equivalent.

When I asked for a Ford direct replacement, I was told that it would incur additional excess costs and approval (don’t know what they are yet).

Never had a windscreen replaced but heard drama stories over the years about cheap copies - can’t live without my heated screen!

Lol woman at Autoglass tried telling me the difference was only a “Ford” sticker…

Thoughts on whether to pay a few extra quid to get an original part or anything to watch out for if going Autoglass special if the cost is prohibitive?
 
FISH BOY said:
Got a foot long crack in my Ranger windscreen starting from a stone chip - defo an MOT failure so needs to be replaced.

Phoned my insurance company and it’s £115 excess for an Autoglass equivalent.

When I asked for a Ford direct replacement, I was told that it would incur additional excess costs and approval (don’t know what they are yet).

Never had a windscreen replaced but heard drama stories over the years about cheap copies - can’t live without my heated screen!

Lol woman at Autoglass tried telling me the difference was only a “Ford” sticker…

Thoughts on whether to pay a few extra quid to get an original part or anything to watch out for if going Autoglass special if the cost is prohibitive?
Click to expand...
I ran a windscreen business along side my panel shop for 4 years suppling/fitting glass from a Mini right the way to Lorry tractor units only thing I turned down was coaches with a polite "NO"

Ford make cars/trucks not windscreens as they will have a deal with a glass manufacturer to supply them.
My D-Max windscreen is not made by Isuzu but AGC
AGC Automotive is the world leader in automotive glazing, supplying high-performance glass solutions for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and the aftermarket.
Fitted Triplex Ppg all the others, the "go fast" gang used to want bronze blue top tints fitted in the "go fast" cars so we took out a perfectly good screen to fit one of them :doh:
A new OEM fitted windscreen will crack just as easy.
 
Read your insurance documents.
A friend had a ding-dong a few weeks ago with his insurance company. They wanted to fit a cheap Chinese screen into his Porsche, but he just laughed at them. Made them fit a genuine screen that was the same make as the original screen. A Chinese copy would have devalued his car. They kept trying to wriggle out of it for months... barstewards.
 
Had a new heated screen fitted to my VW T6.As Soon as I got in to drive away I could see the wires in the screen when I told the fitter this he more or less said they are all like that you will get used to it.Needless to say I didn’t and they had to change it.pretty sure it wasn’t my imagination as the next one was perfect.
 
On this subject, both of my cars, one 1991, the other 2016, have the windscreens glued in. Is this common practice now?
They used to be popped in with a rubber gasket......

D.
 
Demetrius said:
On this subject, both of my cars, one 1991, the other 2016, have the windscreens glued in. Is this common practice now?
They used to be popped in with a rubber gasket......

D.
Click to expand...
It would be a very small amount which are fitted with a windscreen rubber, I was working on Austin Rovers in the late 80 and they were bonded as the windscreens were often taken out/replaced in the crash work.
Put my first heated front screen in a Cosworth in 1994 as we looked after 2 of them just a normal job until you looked at how much it cost back then.
Ppg supplier who I got mine from..£££ :eek:
 
Demetrius said:
On this subject, both of my cars, one 1991, the other 2016, have the windscreens glued in. Is this common practice now?
They used to be popped in with a rubber gasket......

D.
Click to expand...
Modern windscreens have to be bonded in as they are laminated screens (a legal requirement under the construction and use regulations). They have been doing this for the last thirty plus years. It was the old toughened (tempered) glass that was held in with a rubber gasket.
A pity in a way as we could remove the old screen in less than a minute using just your knife or a screwdriver, far move involved in cutting out a bonded screen. However from a safety point of view laminated are much better.
 
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Pilkington used to make high quality aftermarket windscreens. They used to be based in Kentish Town (NW5).
 
finnbear270 said:
I was informed the laminated & bonded in screens are part of the structural strength designed in.
Click to expand...
I was also taught that the full structural integrity of the passenger cell on a car is to some extent compromised if you drove with the rear hatch open such as when carrying a long or oversize load. (Less rigid and liable to flexing in a collision.)
 
8x57 said:
I was also taught that the full structural integrity of the passenger cell on a car is to some extent compromised if you drove with the rear hatch open such as when carrying a long or oversize load. (Less rigid and liable to flexing in a collision.)
Click to expand...
Plus it sucks in exhaust fumes
 
I did a year before I retired at Neovia Logistics in "Inspection". Who at that time were the spares parts logistics company that held and handled parts distribution to the Land Rover dealership network.

The amount of genuine Land Rover OEM windscreens that were scrapped was maybe at least ten a week as the forklift drivers would mishandle a stillage they were putting back, the windscreens still in it would fall fowards and crack. Because the pickers hadn't secured the ones left in after the drivers had brought the stillage down to be picked from.

As far as I am aware there is a slight difference in that replacement windscreens and/or the rubbers used to be slightly thinner than the ones fitted when the car was made? That may not nowadays be the case. But I'd demand that if the OP wants a genuine factory OEM that he has the replacement done through an authorised Ford dealership.
 
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My Eunos roadster has an additional rubber surround like the old gaskets which clips in to the metal frame and protects the edge of the glass where it's glued to the frame.
The disadvantage here is that water can get under the rubber and rot the frame...
The Skoda hasn't, so moss tends to appear around the exposed edge of the glass a few weeks after washing the car.

D.
 
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