swapping a bonded windscreen? Success, I think.

[dave21478]

So like the melon that I am, I managed to crack the screen in the escort. My chav-wagon donor car has an apparently good screen although the interior mirror has come off and made a wee chip on the inside where it glues to the screen.

 

What are the chances of success cutting it out and swapping it into the other car? I have no special windscreen tools.

 

I have done plenty of screens that are pushed into the seal with a fillet strip, but bonded ones......lets just say I havent had much success in the past.

 

Worth a try? My excess is €100 for a windscreen claim, so by the time I have bought sealant and maybe broken the donor screen its perhaps not messing about and I would be better off getting a brand new one fitted by an expert.

 

 

[danthecapriman]

Could you not get a windscreen fitter to come in and remove both screens for you then glue the good screen into the good Escort? Shouldn't cost much as they won't be supplying the glass?

[dave21478]

I live in the middle of nowhere - its literally a 45 minute drive to the nearest town where there will be windscreen fitters. In a country where all "customer service" interactions consist of shrugging their shoulders, saying "non" and blowing smoke in your face, there is no way anyone will come up here for less than the cost of getting the new one through insurance, sadly.

[danthecapriman]

I don't know what I'm doing with glass, I hate messing with it personally! But I don't think there's anything too sophisticated about doing it, I've seen someone do it by carefully making a hole through the old glue, threading a wire cutter (like a wire cheese cutter) through then using that to 'saw' around the screen aperture. Then it's just a case of cleaning off all the old glue from both surfaces. I think the guy I was watching used some sort of primer stuff on the screen aperture then loads of new glue. Then just need some of those suction glass handles to carefully place the new glass in with.

Apparently you need plenty of the glue in there to avoid shocks going through the car and cracking the new glass.

 

I think the hardest part for you will be removing the good screen in one piece, but if the donor car is scrap anyway then cutting or bending the metal frame out the way if needed to get the cutter through shouldn't be a problem!

 

Like I said though, I only watched someone else doing it so this could be a shite way of doing it!!

[320touring]

I would take my €100 excess and add it to the €300 scrap money for the escorts and move on

[doobietoo]

If you can get the old one out in one piece then re-fitting it in the new car will be a doddle.... Its something i would have to be really really poor to attempt again though even with the correct removal tool.......  

[Bren]

Piano wire is your friend a la the night of the generals.

 

I don't think adolf used to to remove windscreens though.

[mat_the_cat]

I've watched a few fitters closely, but only attempted (and succeeded) with one screen myself. In a nutshell, for a new screen and saving yourself the hassle, I'd pay the 100€. Especially if I had to remove the donor screen myself too...

 

The 'best' tool for the job seems to depend on the car/fitter - some use the cutting wire, some a long flexible knife, and some (most) a wheeled cutter with a right-angled blade which goes under the screen. The wire can run into problems if there are clips embedded in the adhesive to hold any trim on.

[John F]

I had a rear side window changed in my Cav SRi by Carglass in Chamonix... fella drove out from Annecy with a small van & did all the necessaries. It didn't take him long, and cost €120 including the glass. He said he did windscreens using the same van as well. Très bon.

[Christine]

If someone does a job and makes it look easy..... it usually isn't..

[Lacquer Peel]

Moar self-entitled ex-pat bitterness required.

[oman5]

Getting the good one out without breaking it is the hard thing. I did a successful screen transplant on an sd1 years ago, much care, patience and sharp knives/cheese wire needed. Then just use window sealing goop to glue it back in.

[dave21478]

Moar self-entitled ex-pat bitterness required.

 

 

Care to explain that a bit further?

[gordonbennet]

I've enquired about getting a good used  rear laminated bonded screen (made of unobtanium) on MB coupe's refitted,  no one wanted to know and i'd have been happy to have bunged someone a couple of hundred for the job...there must be good reason for this reluctance for what we think are easy pound notes from fitters.

[mat_the_cat]

/\ Similar situation on the Stellar...only one firm wanted to know, and they didn't rate their chances once they took a look. More profitable to charge insurance companies silly money, and not have to deal with pissed off customers when their irreplaceable screen is in pieces...

[alf892]

We used to have maestro/montego ones taken out for sealing and it was only about a 30% success rate for not cracking them.

 

But they were a new thing then and techniques have no doubt improved

[Lacquer Peel]

Care to explain that a bit further?

You're always complaining about the French.

[Dermist]

I did this on the rear screen of my passat. Bought the draper tool with the 90 degree 'knife'. Turned out the blade hadn't been properly finished and was completely blunt! Ended up using a Bowden cable and two handles and sawing it out.

Screen removed successfully and remaining glue scraped off with a Stanley blade.

I bought the bonding glue from a company off ebay.

Watched the linked video and there a certain way to cut the nozzle to create a 'v' shape.

Ran the bonding glue around the car, ran and applicator around the window and dropped it in to position. Left it overnight using masking tape over the roof to stop it slumping ( like the proffesionals!!).

It was all water tight afterwards. So wins all rounds.

[dave21478]

I complain about everything - The French get their fair share. Im not bitter, I am just generally of negative character.

 

 

As for the screen - I guess I will have a go at getting it out, which seems to be the hard part. I have seen fitters do windscreens in the past but since they were changing screens that were broken anyway they were not bothered about cracking them further.

[lisbon_road]

I removed the side windows from a Sierra by cutting the shell so the window came out with about two inches of metal.  Then patiently cut through the metal in slices and pulled them off.  Then cleaned them up, cleaned up the shell and glued them in using glue and primers off ebay.

 

Of course the windows were more or less unobtainable and very expensive if you could find them.

 

But it worked.  I did the windscreen myself also, but with a new screen.  Wasn't very expensive.

[sierraman]

I wouldn't get involved with a bonded screen replacement, even Ed'just take the gearbox out'china gets the pros in for this. I've refitted tailgate glass that sits in the rubber, doing a bonded screen isn't DIY.

[Station]

Bought a screen for £60 for an old car years ago. Scoffed at people offering to fit for an extra £30. Put it in the boot fully supported. Drove home and heard a weird sharp noise from the back, which was the screen cracking right down the middle.

Had to put it in as I had already taken the old one out, and cracked it in three more places!

I bought the screen for my MR2 and had it fitted professionally on the weekend for £30. Don't be a skinflint by thinking you are saving money, it will probably crack.

[Chas4545]

Moar self-entitled ex-pat bitterness required.

Complaining about service in France is obligatoire. Cos its often true. IMHO of course.

 

PS Dave  Pay the man to fit the glass. He can do it Tuesday morning, around 10 am, but he will either forget you are coming and not be there  or will be so hungover he did not get in to work at all, or will ask you to wait until the afternoon after his 2 hour lunch including a bottle of wine, and then he will crack the glass and shrug. But you know this already eh?

[Chas4545]

Dave 21478, PM sent about Froggy stuff

[Lacquer Peel]

I don't know, I thought one appeals of the old French was their relaxed attitude.

I think British people move there to set up a British colony but with lower house prices and nicer weather.

[Skizzer]

 

I complain about everything - The French get their fair share. Im not bitter, I am just generally of negative character.

 

It would be a shame for this thread to degenerate into a row, which now seems quite likely, as actually you two apparently have a great deal in common.

[dave21478]

Relaxed attitude is one thing, but when people are so relaxed they barely bother doing their jobs it gets a bit annoying after a while.

British colonies exist all over the place and thats pretty depressing if you get involved with them - people moaning about not getting decent bacon or HP sauce in the supermarkets and watching Eastenders on a communal pirated satellite feed....I take active and sometimes extreme steps to keep my distance from these types, fortunately they are rare in my area....They are the kind of folk that would be first to moan about "BLOODY IMMIGRANTS"  in UK coming over here, taking our jobs, claiming dole, not paying taxes blah blah blah while completely failing to see that this is exactly what they are doing themselves in France.

 

 

 

Anyway....topic has derailed pretty far now, so back to Windscreens - Nothing to loose, so I will attempt removal of the good screen. If it breaks, then so be it and I will pay for a pro job.

[tooSavvy]

... and if it breaks...well, you'll get a Cheese eating Surrender monkey to sort it for you 

 

WCPGW

 

 

TS

[dave21478]

I tried. I broke it. I took the axe to it as stress relief.

[dave21478]

Well, yesterday was interesting.

My insurance company have decided that they wont cover it because complicated reasons and mostly because they are robbing bastards.

I did the tour of windscreen places in town and they all said my particular insurers are known in the trade for this sort of hassle.

So, fuck them. How much for a non-insurance job?

Cheapest price I got was €640

 

 

HAAHAHAHAHAHA.

 

no.

 

 

So yeasterday I took the old screen out, and did it without breaking it further**

I have one of these oscillating cutters...

Which I hadnt thought about previously. Turns out its ideal for the job and buzzed right through the glue on both sides and the top edge. The bottom is trickier as the dash is in the way cutting from the inside and there are metal lips in the way of the blade cutting from the outside so I did that with a gear cable liberated from my bicycle, sawing through the glue.

 

**I did then crack the screen as I lifted it off the car, but I wasnt particularly careful doing so and just lifted it by one end on my own so it cracked under its own weight.

 

Just need to repeat the process down at the scrapyard with someone to help me lift it off now. I have ordered a tube of adhesive and primer from ebay so hopefully get this done during next week.