As I alluded to in Peter's windscreen thread, the TDS came to me with a fine but long, vertical scratch on the outside of the windscreen and right in front of my eyes. On a dull day - and all the days when we visited the car, even the day I picked it up, were dull - it's not noticeable, but it catches the light badly when the sun comes out.
Anyway, the dealer's been good about it. They had a look last week when the car was in to have a couple of other minor items attended to, but said they needed their pet specialist, who was away. He's coming to my house in the morning to deal with it there. My first time with a service like this, so I'll report back.
One other thing: what might have caused the scratch in the first place? It runs almost the full height of the screen, and is the wrong shape to have been caused by the wipers. Car wash, I wondered, but wouldn't there have been paint damage too, of which there's no sign?
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Is the mark at the point where the wiper blade reverses direction and the rubber "flips"?
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No. There is a slight mark there but the one I'm concerned about is in the area swept only by the offside wiper.
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I can't remember how old you said the car is, so forgive me, but assuming it's seen a winter could it be enthusiastic scraping of frost/ice perhaps?
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It's from March 2012, so it's had three winters. But the scratch is very long and almost straight, which is what makes me think it may have been something mechanical.
I'll ask blokey in the morning, not that it really matters so long as he can get rid of it.
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I got a stone chip from which a crack grew necessitating a windscreen replacement and all that aerial palaver once. Expensive as usual, and as usual a pain. God cars are loathsome.
Cars aren't as rigid as they should be. It's slight body flexing that causes those cracks to grow as often as not. Or so I think in my doddery wisdom.
I bet Lexuses and RRs are just as bad, and the replacements will cost more too.
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I once had to drive a car about 50 miles with a temporary plastic windscreen, it is surprising how much the body flexes without a windscreen.
Edit
It would probably be illegal these days.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Tue 23 Jun 15 at 20:22
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I remember my parents carrying those emergency screens rolled up in the boots of their Renaults. Seemed to be quite common in those days to hear a clonk and find the screen all over the floor.
There was some magic new Triplex laminated glass that appeared first on the Rover 3500 in 1976, but it took a while for laminated screens to become universal. I presume they were by 1989 because the Escort I bought then had one and it was the bargain basement model. Anyone know when the last toughened screen was fitted - and what to?
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>> Cars aren't as rigid as they should be. It's slight body flexing that causes those
>> cracks to grow as often as not. Or so I think in my doddery wisdom.
I once drove a fibre-glass bubble car after I'd just rolled it, flipping out the front, glass screen.
The flex of the upper body was unbelievable.
I'd suggest the rigidity of modern car body shells is much greater than olden days. IIRC the old BL 'land crab' 1800 had one of the stiffest of its day.
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>> I bet ... RRs are just as bad, and the replacements will cost more too
Replacement 'screens for a Cheshire marque of similar prestige are sent from the factory on the parts run, to the dealer nearest to Autoglass's warehouse. We then transport them, half a dozen at a time in their individual boxes, the last twenty miles or so. The accompanying paperwork leads me to believe the trade price for six Continental GT 'screens runs into five figures.
I would imagine RR will come out from the factory to fit their own glass.
Last edited by: Dave_C220CDI on Tue 23 Jun 15 at 21:37
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For the home polisher, a dremel (or similar) with a mop attachment and jewellers rouge does the trick. I polished out the scratches in my aeroscreens after a supposedly professional windscreen had cut them from sheet.
Bloke on desk said he he could have done a better job, but as I paid very little as a result, I didn't mind the hour's work they needed.
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>> a
>> fine but long, vertical scratch on the outside of the windscreen
I've got one on the inside of the screen in our Mazda. Always been there since I bought it, only noticed it a while after getting it. I wonder what causes such a thing inside? One careful lady owner before us......
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Possibly clearing the screen when misted and catching it with a ring.
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Good thinking. I was thinking stilettoes.
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>> Good thinking. I was thinking stilettoes.
One legged careful lady owner?
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Let's have a look at the V5.......
Here it is....previous owner, one Ms H. Mills.
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Whatever caused it, it's gone now. Took about 20 minutes, a good chunk of which was to shroud the front half of the car in protective sheeting. Bright sunshine here, so it was easy to see the scratch before he started and easy to check afterwards that it had gone.
I can now fill in my BMW Customer Experience questionnaire. There have been a couple of minor glitches with this car, but I've been very impressed by the dealer's attitude to correcting them. OK, so I've paid for a bit of TLC through the Approved Used process, but it makes a big difference to the overall experience of ownership.
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>>Bright sunshine here, so it was easy to see the scratch before he started and easy to check afterwards that it had gone
Fill in the gaps a bit! How did he do it?
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Well, there wasn't much to see and I didn't stand over him as he worked. Once he'd protected the car, he produced what looked like an angle grinder - may well have been an angle grinder - but with a soft white pad instead of a cutting disc. He fluffed up the surface of the pad with the point of a knife, sprayed some clear liquid from a trigger bottle on to the glass, and polished away. He thought it might take 20 minutes to an hour but he was done in much less.
He invited me out to check it over, I looked from multiple angles and worked the wipers and washers to show up any irregularities, agreed it seemed good and sent him on his way.
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Almost certainly, IMO. Back of hand wipe to clear condensation, diamond ring, 'nuff said. I've seen it on several cars.
Glass contributes hugely to overall stiffness, which I suspect is main reason that front and back screens are glued in - they don't pop out as with old rubber fixings and thus help crash resistance. Appearance too, course, but it makes life a lot harder for Autoglass and their friends!
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Windscreen polishing - Old Navy
