I have a 125 mm (5 inch in old money) crack in the windscreen. It may have been there for a while as it's cunningly concealed behind the tax disc and holder. For various reasons (one of them being 3 glass insurance claims in 3 years) I really don't want to make a claim just yet and don't fancy spending a few hundred quid either.
It may pass a MOT - advice please, and the MOT is not due for about 10 months anyway.
Is there away to stop the crack getting longer? A dab of glue or drill a tiny hole in the glass surface at the end of the crack ?
PS I don't use water (warm or cold) to defrost the screen so that's not why it happened !
|
|
I don't claim any expertise, but I don't see how it will pass an MoT. Drilling a windscreen looks like a quick road to disaster too.
|
If you believe the telly ads, you need to sort it now. ;>)
However: www.motuk.co.uk/manual_830.htm
|
|
If that's in the swept area it will certainly fail.
|
www.motuk.co.uk/manual_830.htm says:
"In the remainder of the swept area:
d. damage not contained within a 40mm diameter circle"
Is the crack in your screen in an area of glass swept by the windscreen wipers?
EDIT: Do I really type that slowly??
Last edited by: Dave_TD {P} on Mon 10 Jan 11 at 23:39
|
|
It's hidden by the tax disc and holder - you can't see it from the driver's seat at all.
|
" propagating ?" ??
The crack is only going to spread further. No chance to save. Bin it.
|
What a boring, boring lot you are.
Where's the make do and mend attitude ? Where's the spirit of adventure?
|
Go to a windscreen replacement company for an opinion. They might be able to fix it and what normally is free through insurance could be paid for? Although if it's fixable then the insurance company might pay anyway.
But the crack sounds quite big and could get bigger quickly. It also sounds bigger than the tax disk holder could conceal ;-)
|
.... It also sounds bigger than the tax disk holder could conceal ;-)...
Might be time to join the National Trust, and the Institute of Advance Motorists, and visit the local safari park, and....
|
|
I found out that Ford's glass warranty is only for 1,000 miles when my Focus had a similar problem after I had owned it for a couple of months. Once a crack starts spreading it's new screen time. If you have ever driven a car without a windscreen you will realise how much stress it is under and how much it contributes to the cars rigidity.
|
>> I have a 125 mm (5 inch in old money) crack in the windscreen (snip) concealed
>> behind the tax disc
>> Is there away to stop the crack getting longer? A dab of glue or drill
>> a tiny hole in the glass surface at the end of the crack ?
Just leave it. You'll never successfully find and drill a hole at the end of the crack, windscreen repair resin won't penetrate, and ii may not get any worse anyway. Wait until the MOT test and deal with it then if need be.
|
|
Thanks FT - that's what I was probably thinking to do all along. I just thought someone might have a better idea.
|
|
Fit a shorter wiper blade so that it isn't in the swept area.
|
>> Fit a shorter wiper blade so that it isn't in the swept area.
I love the lateral thinking!
|
|
I drove a 4x4 in Kenya for 2 years with a major crack in the windscreen (no MOTs out there). Local replacement windscreens were available, but only in tempered glass, and the one fitted was laminated. Loads of offroading but it never grew beyond about 10 inches!
|
Why not visit nearest Autoglass and get an opinion? They won't charge for inspection.
|
a cracked windscreen is a scrap windscreen
no opinions needed
depending on the vehicle it could have an affect on the structural rigidity of the shell if it got worse
|
|
Having a windscreen shatter at speed is not an experience I'd like. You wouldn't drive on a tyre with known structural damage, why take a chance with a windscreen?
|
...Having a windscreen shatter at speed...
Hands up anyone who remembers Zebrazone screens.
What were they?
|
|
Virtual hand up. Fitted to a austin 1100 I think. It had an area in front of the driver which crazed into larger sections to give a better view when shattered.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Tue 11 Jan 11 at 18:02
|
...it had an area in front of the driver which crazed into larger sections to give a better view when shattered...
Makes sense.
In an unbroken screen, you could see the Zebrazone as shadow marks in certain light conditions, or maybe you needed Polaroid sunglasses.
|
Do you know, I did think about a shorter wiper blade to reduce the swept area. The tip of the current blade only goes halfway over the tax disc so a mere inch should solve it.
As for the panic, by some, about lack of structural rigidity - well yes the screen does give a bit more torsional rigidity but please if you are truly worried about the effect of a 5 inch crack I would recommend giving up driving, giving up using stairs and then only eating soup to cut down risk of accident as you never know when fate may strike.
As for driving a soft top - forget it.
Last edited by: Dulwich Estate on Tue 11 Jan 11 at 19:58
|
|
If the MOT is due in ten months but the insurance renewal is before that, time your claim for a new screen to coincide with the few days when you've paid your new premium in advance but the old one hasn't run out. They'll probably not be smart enough / bothered enough to up your premium retrospectively. Or if they are, it was worth a try eh ?
|
>> Do you know, I did think about a shorter wiper blade to reduce the swept
>> area. The tip of the current blade only goes halfway over the tax disc so
>> a mere inch should solve it.
>> >>
Told to a friend by an MOT tester. I'd like to have been able to claim it was my own idea.
|
Humph,
"If the MOT is due in ten months but the insurance renewal is before that, time your claim for a new screen to coincide with the few days when you've paid your new premium in advance but the old one hasn't run out. They'll probably not be smart enough / bothered enough to up your premium retrospectively. Or if they are, it was worth a try eh ?"
That has to be the best solution the panel has come up with - truly brilliant.
|
It just comes naturally I find. We all have our crosses to bear...
:-))
|
Depending on what car it is you could ask around for someone the local car trade uses for screens.
I did just that when the MB's screen was getting badly scored by years of wiper blade strokes, could have got an insurance job done but my insurers play fair...
Think it came to £170 cash for a relatively rare car.
The real price of screen replacement is worlds apart from the retail (insurance) prices quoted by the main companies.
Don't know what the MOT tester will make of it, but as a rule of thumb with trucks if the crack goes from edge to edge it's got to be done.
|
|
See now those were the days eh GB? Now you won't even stump up for a few gallons of petrol for the poor old neglected thing. Sheesh...
|
>> the poor old neglected thing. Sheesh...
>>
She's still here though.
Unlike Betsy who's dying slowly in the hands of Cruella's henchmen, unloved, unwanted, neglected, beaten, hammered, thrashed, abused, subjected to oil deprivation and caked in the winter's salt which eats into her very soul, the poor wretch.
Helga on the other hand relaxes on the drive, spotlessy clean in pole position, taxed, insured, MOT'd, battery charged, clean fluids, safe and still loved in hibernation waiting till the warm spring air arrives when she will be gently awakened and allowed to run free again.
Still looking as lovely as the day she was made.
:-)
Last edited by: gordonbennet on Tue 11 Jan 11 at 21:55
|
|
No, I feel sure she will have become the pride and joy of some young father who while not in a position to afford an expensive car will be so filled with joy at his fortune in happening upon such a fine motor car in which he can take his family to the seaside this summer and which he will look after to his very best ability for years to come. Rather that than let her gradually crumble through disuse and a fleeting dalliance with some fragile little french hatchback.
|
|
I thought that propagating took place on the back seat?
|
|
Maybe it's what professional fencers do when they fix gates.
|
How to stop windscreen crack propagating ? - Robin O'Reliant
