Windscreen Cracking

[kumaras]

Hi friends,

Some wood part has fallen on my car while moving and I notice very small cracking in the bottom of the windscreen. do I have to replace the whole thing or can it be repaired ? I'm helpless and pls advise me. Any idea about the cost, if I happen to replace.

Make/ Model- Ford laser BJ5 P

Tks in advance

[Watchman]

PM sylvi, he might be able to help you. This is his area of expertise. Or call him up on 2573690/0712222420. Tell him Watchman from autolanka recommended him to you:)

Edited May 28, 2012 by Watchman

[Sylvi]

Watchmen,

Thank you for reference.

Sylvi Wijesinghe

[NZer]

A new windscreen will cost 10,000Rs fitted.

[kumaras]

Many thanks for quick response, watchman. Will do.

[Watchman]

  On 5/28/2012 at 7:10 AM, Sylvi said:

Watchmen,

Thank you for reference.

Sylvi Wijesinghe

No prob bro.. Didnt see any posts from you so I thought you were away from the forum..

[anjulau78]

  On 5/28/2012 at 7:55 AM, Watchman said:

No prob bro.. Didnt see any posts from you so I thought you were away from the forum..

Bro..? Both of you from same era...? uncle wathman

[SeanD]

  On 5/28/2012 at 7:25 AM, NZer said:

A new windscreen will cost 10,000Rs fitted.

Huh? I thought they were around 10 times as much

[Rohnd]

  On 5/28/2012 at 7:25 AM, NZer said:

A new windscreen will cost 10,000Rs fitted.

These windcreens are not good. Will not give correct vision at nights with the glare of other vehicles.

Use used genuine windscreens that may cost around 15K to 20k which are available in used parts shops.

[The Don]

  On 5/28/2012 at 6:41 AM, kumaras said:

Hi friends,

Some wood part has fallen on my car while moving and I notice very small cracking in the bottom of the windscreen. do I have to replace the whole thing or can it be repaired ? I'm helpless and pls advise me. Any idea about the cost, if I happen to replace.

Make/ Model- Ford laser BJ5 P

Tks in advance

You can repair the windscreen using a bonding agent, so the crack does not spread. I don't think it warrants a replacement unless the crack spreads. I recently repaired a chip on my own windscreen using a kit from Abro and am satisfied with the results.

[The Don]

  On 5/28/2012 at 1:34 PM, Rohnd said:

These windcreens are not good. Will not give correct vision at nights with the glare of other vehicles.

Use used genuine windscreens that may cost around 15K to 20k which are available in used parts shops.

You maybe right but recently my family had to replace the windscreen due to an accident at home, and fore convenience they had gone to Samarasinghe, and while it was not original, I don't notice a difference in performance.

[Magnum]

  On 5/28/2012 at 1:34 PM, Rohnd said:

These windcreens are not good. Will not give correct vision at nights with the glare of other vehicles.

Use used genuine windscreens that may cost around 15K to 20k which are available in used parts shops.

Thats right, if you use replace with those cheap windshields, you will hate driving at night

[jdnet]

  On 5/28/2012 at 3:34 PM, Magnum said:

Thats right, if you use replace with those cheap windshields, you will hate driving at night

are you speaking out of experience? Just curious.

[The Stig]

  On 5/28/2012 at 2:59 PM, The Don said:

You maybe right but recently my family had to replace the windscreen due to an accident at home, and fore convenience they had gone to Samarasinghe, and while it was not original, I don't notice a difference in performance.

Most Original windscreens come with an anti glare coating and a UV coating, but visibility aside these cheap replicas have only one layer of glass where as the original comes with two layer and a polythene like layer in the middle (glass lamination) so that if in an accident the broken glass parts just stick to the cellular layer rather than being thrown everywhere and cause damage.

[Davy]

  On 5/28/2012 at 2:58 PM, The Don said:

You can repair the windscreen using a bonding agent, so the crack does not spread. I don't think it warrants a replacement unless the crack spreads. I recently repaired a chip on my own windscreen using a kit from Abro and am satisfied with the results.

Same experience here.

I have used a windshield repair kit on two different cars with very small cracks on the front windshield. Worked pretty well on both occasions; the cracks pretty much "disappeared".

[The Don]

  On 5/28/2012 at 4:42 PM, The Stig said:

Most Original windscreens come with an anti glare coating and a UV coating, but visibility aside these cheap replicas have only one layer of glass where as the original comes with two layer and a polythene like layer in the middle (glass lamination) so that if in an accident the broken glass parts just stick to the cellular layer rather than being thrown everywhere and cause damage.

Well Stig, the so called cheap replicas might have them. But to be honest the replicas I've seen have this layer of lamination you are talking about. I am not going to test it to see if it cracks in the way you said above but I've noticed no difference between the original and the one we have at present. And in our case at least it was not an issue of cost, but rather the car needed to run and Samarasingle had the part. My mother accidentally dropped something on the windscreen from the floor above. I think the technology you refer to is called "lamisafe" is it not?

Toughened glass used in windscreens are layered anyway I believe to give with lamination on the outside and not in the middle. I'm yet to come across a windscreen of a car made in the last 20 years without lamination unless the label was lying.

Edited May 28, 2012 by The Don

[The Stig]

  On 5/28/2012 at 4:51 PM, The Don said:

Well Stig, the so called cheap replicas might have them. But to be honest the replicas I've seen have this layer of lamination you are talking about. I am not going to test it to see if it cracks in the way you said above but I've noticed no difference between the original and the one we have at present. And in our case at least it was not an issue of cost, but rather the car needed to run and Samarasingle had the part. My mother accidentally dropped something on the windscreen from the floor above. I think the technology you refer to is called "lamisafe" is it not?

Toughened glass used in windscreens are layered anyway I believe to give with lamination on the outside and not in the middle. I'm yet to come across a windscreen of a car made in the last 20 years without lamination unless the label was lying.

Well we had to replace the windscreen of the k11 cause of some cracks and from what i heard the ones sold locally dont have the layer in the middles and the glass density is much less. Things might have changed now cause that was like 5-6 years ago though

Edited May 28, 2012 by The Stig

[Magnum]

  On 5/28/2012 at 4:37 PM, jdnet said:

are you speaking out of experience? Just curious.

i do have experience with them, bdw what i meant as cheap windscreens are those ones that are NOT original. after you use them for a while they give you trouble when driving at night

Edited May 28, 2012 by Magnum

[The Don]

  On 5/28/2012 at 4:58 PM, The Stig said:

Well we had to replace the windscreen of the k11 cause of some cracks and from what i heard the ones sold locally dont have the layer in the middles and the glass density is much less. Things might have changed now cause that was like 5-6 years ago though

I think that is just used parts dealers trying to encourage people to buy their products. And to be honest I'm sure there are bad quality ones as well. But in the UK you very rarely replace windscreens with originals as even the big companies like Autoglass work with stocks of replacements made by other companies. But given the choice even I'd suggest going to the genuine item as the replacements sometimes wont have features like "UV Cut" or the tints the original came with.

[jdnet]

  On 5/28/2012 at 5:07 PM, Magnum said:

i do have experience with them, bdw what i meant as cheap windscreens are those ones that are NOT original. after you use them for a while they give you trouble when driving at night

How would they give you trouble later? If there's something wrong you would notice on day one right?

[NZer]

The one i got from Samarasinghe was awesome and was a two layer one. No difference compared to the original one.

[Magnum]

  On 5/28/2012 at 5:42 PM, jdnet said:

How would they give you trouble later? If there's something wrong you would notice on day one right?

I dont know the exact reason behind it but it sort of becomes oily, maybe it has something to do with that tint you get on the top bit of those windshields

[Davy]

  On 5/28/2012 at 5:42 PM, jdnet said:

How would they give you trouble later? If there's something wrong you would notice on day one right?

A friend of mine replaced the front windscreen of his Mini and it was fine during the first couple of years. But later it started going white at the edges. This is due to delamination and there is no other solution but to replace the windscreen because it consumes the entire windscreen with time.

So as The Don has explained above, even the replicas have the lamination, but I guess it's just not built upto the standards of the genuine thing. This should be just one of the issues.

An example of delamination... Sure you've seen this.

Edited May 29, 2012 by Davy

[kumaras]

Lot of learnings about the topic,in short time.It is wonderful and appreciate all your valuable inputs.I will visit one place mentioned in the post in the weekend.

This might be a silly question to ask, but I want to know whether cracks are visible after repairing ? I mean can it be noticed at a glance ????

Tks

[jdnet]

  On 5/29/2012 at 7:53 AM, kumaras said:

Lot of learnings about the topic,in short time.It is wonderful and appreciate all your valuable inputs.I will visit one place mentioned in the post in the weekend.

This might be a silly question to ask, but I want to know whether cracks are visible after repairing ? I mean can it be noticed at a glance ????

Tks

Cracks don't just disappear. What happens is that a glue is applied so it won't spread. If you don't like seeing the crack, the only thing you can do is to replace the windshield.