Peter Empson
PCGB Member
Where abouts are you? There's a good firm my indie uses for supplying and fitting, but guess it's only relevant if you're fairly local.
Windscreen
- Thread starter Peter Empson
- Start date
Wigeon Incognito
New member
As Peter says, it depends where you are. For reference re price, my new windscreen was £260+VAT with internal aerial and top tint.
Peter Empson
PCGB Member
Mine was about twice that from memory when fitted (I did post the amount here somewhere, but cannot face trying to search for it as it's probably over a year ago). Apparently there are (at least) two makes and we paid a premium to get the better one (shame it got broken again so quickly afterwards...). Mine had the aerial but not the top tint, which seems much more tricky to get hold of. The tint version is the standard one most places keep in stock and could have been a reason why it was dearer, but on a white car I just don't like the look of the tint... Just make sure the person fitting it has done a 944 before, it's very easy to get water leaks, no radio reception or to scratch the paint which will then start to rust.
That's interesting. I cunningly cracked mine with the corner of the bonnet and it really needs replacing before I sell the car (or ship it here if I decide to do that) - it got am MoT last time like that but only just and it looks scruffy. For £600 I wasn't excited, but for £200ish I'd probably get it done.
944 man
Active member
Having looked again at the far from clear email, I see that the sub £200 part does not include an aerial. The descriptions are slightly contradictory which leads to the confusion, but I believe that £200 screen suits a 924CGT, as it is described as: 924/944 encapsulated green. The antenna increases the price to a shade over £230.
Wigeon Incognito
New member
Nick, I did reply to your e-mail about this a couple of days ago. When I receive PMs through PH and hit reply I have no problem, but for some reason if I just hit reply to those from PCGB they don't seem to work. Anyhow, I used Direct Vehicle Glass: [link=http://www.directvehicleglass.co.uk/]http://www.directvehicleglass.co.uk/[/link] They were very helpful, happy to take the old screen out without payment and wait for the months whilst the work was done before they put the new screen in. It was £260+VAT for an original screen with top tint and internal aerial. Re the question of the work at the bodyshop: In terms of repair price, it was circa £300 for that part of the work all in although it is difficult to pin down the paint cost precisely as it was carried out at the same time as the rest of the paintwork. I was lucky because although there was rust visible, had had barely spread beyond surface rust.
Why don't you get it done on insurance for £50/£60, whatever your excess is? Watch the fitters like a hawk though, they made a right mess of mine & only got it right at the 3rd attempt having had to replace the complete dashboard as the 1st atempt cut a chunk out of it. Its the cheapest way, but a bit nerve wracking.
Black_JPN
New member
It's what I did. I used Autoglass after the chip repairs they made cracked. We met with the excess halfway after I made a fuss. They did an ok job in the end. It was done at their premises (dust free-ish environment, they're more likely to take their time etc) and I went to see if there was any corrosion around the frame after the old screen was removed. All this interaction and me bugging them they knew better than to mess up the job. It was there over a w/e too and I even took my Dad over on the Saturday morning to check on the car. Thankfully they did everything all ok and even put the windscreen stickers back where they're supposed to be. No wind noise, rattles, splurge of selant or any other problems to speak of. Screen was OEM too with aerial and sun strip. Cost me £15. Oh and this was the brand in Bracknell....
In itself not having an aerial isn't an issue for me as the car doesn't have a radio, but that screen isn't going to fit an oval dash car. My car hasn't been insured since 2006 so there is no option to use that avenue, and I broke mine taking out the broom handle I had propped the bonnet open with because the struts were tired [
]
944 man
Active member
Why do you say that? Im confident that it will fit, having had several similar screens fitted. I had a similar encapsulated screen fitted to an early 1986 hillclimber/sprinter that I built in 1995. You might be surprised to know that I have seen many early windscreens fitted to late cars too. They were fitted on a thick layer of sealer and finished with a Renault 5 Turbo trim. Im disppointed to see that theres a tendancy for people associate post counts with experience on this forum; and more disappointed to see that they also mistake low post counts for a lack of experience.
Why do I say that it won't fit? It's not the right screen for the car. You are now telling me that it can be made to fit, which is something I did not know and which I am surprised to hear. I'd actually like you to explain to all of us why I would want to replace my bonded and flush fitting screen with a rubber mounted one from a 924 beyond it's a cheaper bit of glass in case we're missing out on a beneficial modification. In terms of the rest of your post I'm not sure I follow. I was asking you in what I thought was a reasonable manner about a source of cheap screens you knew of. When you came back saying it was to fit a 924CGT I said it wasn't going to fit an oval dash car. It's a different screen to the one fitted to an oval dash car and it was my belief that it therefore did not fit as the differences are significant. I'm more than happy to stand corrected and learn something. Note however that while I agree making an "incorrect" part fit because it achieves an end result that is in some way superior to the "correct" part is a modification and a good thing, and that making an "incorrect" part fit because the "correct" part is not available is ingenious and also a good thing, but making an "incorrect" part fit for any other reason such as it's cheaper is a bodge. There are only 3 ways of doing a job right, in decending order: [ol][*]Make it better than original (possibly by shifting the original compromise more in the direction that suits your needs rather than an absolute and unequivocal improvement) [*]Make it as original [*]Make it acceptable (but only where 1 and 2 are not possible)[/ol] To pursue the discussion any further would be to discuss semantics. In spite of your assertion that an early screen can be made to fit a late car I don't currently think that what I wrote was wrong, and I know it was written in good faith not to in some way challenge or undermine you. As it happens I had formed the opinion that you very much know what you are talking about based on several of your previous posts, and while that isn't going to change it is going to be disappointing if you turn out to be over-sensitive. If I'm wrong then tell me I am, nobody knows everything and I can take it, but don't play up all wounded and put upon. I'm not going to hold back on telling you if you make a statement I believe isn't correct and I don't expect you to play by any different rules.
Posts made and opinions expressed are those of the individual forum members
Use of the Forum is subject to the Terms and Conditions
