Windscreen
Hello
I think that as of Friday, I may need a new windscreen. I heard something hit it whilst driving up the A3. It was only last night I found out where. There is a deep chip the size of a pound coin with two cracks now branching out, right by the seal under the drivers wiper. I gather they are not too expensive being a flat sheet of glass and wondered if anyone can recommend anything. Am based in Hampshire. It might be fortuitous as Gav has been suggesting that a leaky windcreen seal may be the cause of the permanently wet passenger floor pan. Maybe now is the chance to find out?
Any ideas anyone? And spider, I meant SENSIBLE ideas....
please pardon the pun, splash out on a new genuine merc windscreen rubber when you get the window fitted the original rubber has more than likely gone hard with age and will not be performing at its best ,i had experience of a 461 lwb needing some super sealant injected all around the entire surround in one continuous bead to cure a leak problem- are your wiper spindles 100% good have you got any rusty drips coming down from the area above the damp footwell- the seal kit is not expensive if there is even a hint of a leak as the shape of these vehicles forces water into the potential leak areas due to windpressure against the front of the g at high speed. wiper spindle seal kit part nr. A 000 820 10 40 i don't know the screen seal part number but gav certainly will!
Use some frosted sugar? Would work well.
On a more serious note - would first look at your insurance. A number of policies cover windscreen replacement or at least repair, though I would have thought that where the chip is it would be an MOT fail and warrent a replacement. When you get a replacement, make sure its an official Merc one as they should then supply the correct surround. Auto Glass should do the trick.
Spider1V
Frosted sugar indeed. I am NOT that much of a girly!! Wonder if I can get a pink diamente seal? Seriously though, I will definitely get an official Merc seal put on. Both you and Axel make sense on that one. May buy it and get whoever does it to fit that one. I have dug out Autoglass' number so will give them a call. I feel a PM to Gav coming on......
By the way, I think I can do it on the insurance, will have a look later this afternoon
I had a new screen fitted i december ...green tint /tinted top band ....seem to remember it was £90 +vat fitted..
hth
Steve
Iirc not only does a windscreen claim not affect your NCB, but I don't think any excess applies. So give 'em a ring!
Bonne chance!
Hi :-)
The windscreen will probably last until next week and if you ask Jane@Hawthorns they should be able to organise for Addison glass (based in Guildford, competitive in my experience) to come and do your windscreen at the same time as everything else.
I think what Axel says is sensible too. I don't have a part number for the seal to hand but will find one later. Also worth applying 3M glazing sealant at the same time (again I'll find a part).
I think you will only be able to buy a new genuine seal at about £106? Windcreen is cheaper than seal, Man who did mine rang autoglass and they couldn't supply seal but could supply a windsreen.
I hope there is not rot under the seal. A good chance to see when they remove seal.( Fingers crossed) Man who replaced mine reckoned they very easy to do, probably a good idea to use sealant as well.
Can you find any play on wiper spindles if you "rock " them with wipers of the glass?
Windshield seal is A4606710320 - around £110+Vat
The sealant (not specified by MB, but what people seem to recommend as the solution to avoiding water ingress/ rot) is made by 3M called 08509 and is available from spraygunsdirect for about £8
On the subject of windscreens - I have been wondering about the use of low-iron glass having used it for a tradeshow counter last .
By removing the iron content from the manufacturing process you get a glass that is optically much clearer - viewed edge on it is typically white rather than the green colour normal glass is (see attached).
Based on the 12mm stuff we had, I'd imagine it was a noticeable difference to regular windshield glass. Whether it would be worth the 30% premium only to see another stone crack it, I don't know :D.
Ben...
You need a job as an MB partsman....lol
Mrs Minx...
Screen Seal A460 671 03 20 £104 + VAT MBUK have 2 in stock
Windscreen A460 671 05 10 £113 + VAT MBUK have 1 in stock
The screen is the standard UK specification Heat Absorbing Green Tint
Not much margin in these and obviously the glass wont ship too well, so maybe a local dealer job and look to get 10% off both will be about all you should expect.
I would also try to get the insurance to use a genuine MB screen if possible.
In response to the above comments, if your winscreen aperture is in very good condition with no missing paint and no rust, then there should be no need for any extra sealing other than the rubber, if there is any rust at all you will have difficulty getting a good seal even with any extra sealer applied! It is also very difficult to remove any rust with any lasting effect, other than cutting it out and replacing the metal.
As for the glass being covered under the insurance, most will cover smart repairs FOC, but nearly all have some sort of glass excess, it will almost certainly be different from the standard accident excess and be a smaller amount. If you have a truck covered on classic or specialist insurance it will usually not cover glass at all.
With reference to my above comment about the genuine screen, if you do have, no excess glass cover, you will probably not have a say in where the screen comes from as it will be down to cost, if you pay excess then you should have some say, having said that, due to the low volume of G's out there, it may well have to come from MB anyway?
These are my recent experiences and obviously I will stand corrected.
Bizarrely the later 90's 463's use the same windscreen and the same windscreen aperture frame, but a different seal?!? The early 463's list the 460 type seal that was used across all the 460's, the later 463's use seal number A463 671 02 20 AT £56.50 + VAT MBUK have 1 in stock. MBUK have sold 12 460 type seals and 11 463 type in the last 12 months but only 13 screens. There is also a crystal clear screen available that was more commonly fitted in the European market, part number A460 671 02 10 at £83.50 + VAT MB Germany have stock and MBUK have sold 2 in the last 12 months, if your feeling skint, i would stick with the tint however.
One last note, please make sure that the windscreen fitter, whoever he is, takes extreme care while removing and fitting the glass, most paint damage and therefore following rust will happen during this process, obviously it is a greater risk when cutting out a bonded screen but the lack of care needed to remove a rubbered one usually causes them to not pay attention and damage the paint under the rubber, you will not usually see them do it, or see it after with the screen in place, but underneath it is festering away!!! Now thats cheered you up no end hasn't it!!!! Just find a reputable firm and if possible one with a recommendation from another G user,
Good luck!!!!!
Hope this helps
Gav
Gav - AFAIK, the window frame has not changed 460>463? On that basis any reason not to use the cheaper seal for either?
Re. Crystal Clear - is this a low-iron glass I was talking about I wonder? Have you seen one of these windscreens?
Insurance windscreen cover, as already mentioned, is the first port of call and will cost only the excess (£60 - £100). My experience with Autoglass was good very easy and quick job so I was told.
However if any rust is found in the windscreen area the fitting company may refuse to fit the new screen. Major problem if the old one is out and car is not undercover. This is all to with the warrenty terms that they give.
This was the case with a friends car using Autoglass.
Has anyone else encountered this?
Also I don't think that windscreen supplied by Autoglass are original MB !!!!
I agree Fred,
It may have come from the same factory but it will not have come from MB. I am not going to start the debate about any difference in quality etc. between the two as i think several court cases have been there before.
I know where my money would be going though....
Hi
Actually the window frames are different part numbers on 460 and 463....
They do however look identical as far as i can see....
However as i posted if 2 types of 463 (1992 300GD and 1999 G500) can use the same screen and the same frame, then surely both rubbers will fit fine?
As for crystal clear, that means its just a plain clear laminated screen the same as was standard in 1979 so no new tech.
It refers to it like that as opposed to a heat absorbing tinted laminated glass, these are Green in colour on the G but can be Blue (C Class Avantgarde models etc.) and other colours too.
If you hold a piece of White A4 on the other side of the glass, if it looks White its a clear screen if it looks Green then ....guess and so on.
Gav
I can confirm - not MB screen - and another few years (if it does not break first) will confirm the quality of the product!!
I had my windscreen replaced a few weeks back under Insurance by Autoglass and as i havent been using the G i have only just noticed today that it is leaking. Glove box insert was wet and water in footwell. This is especially annoying as I just got it (the G) leak free when i replaced my wiper spindle a few weeks before the screen was replaced.
Does anyone know if Autoglass will sort this or will I have to fork out again?
Did you get your windscreen fixed Ms Minx ?
As luck woudl not have it, mine cracked this week too :-( must be the season for it.
Anyway, lemon and lemonade etc - I've taken a punt and bought the screen seal Gav mentioned that is listed for the 463 and is half the price of the 460 seal. If it works it will be a bonus for all 460 owners I guess.
If it doesn't, I'll have a 460 windscreen seal available to anyone who needs one! We'll find out tomorrow..
I bought MB glass in the end.. in theory I am covered by comp insurance too, but both Autoglass and National windscreens (Adrian flux's underwriters prefered suppliers) wouldn't fit MB supplied (even if I supplied it, they wouldn't even bill the insurance company for just the fitting).
Worse still the policy excludes seals etc.. and with a £90 excess to pay on top, I got fed up with them in the end and just bought the seal and glass. Around £200 all in - I'll fit it myself and take photos for anyone who is interested.
Well, sort of. I got a new screen put in with the original seal as the chap from Autoglass told me it was in quite good condition and as a genuine one it was better than the patent one he had. But I will need to get a new seal from Gav as this will need to be cut out to save the new screen when I have what I found underneath sorted out. It's just one thing after another. Oh and I had another problem with that damn window regulator yesterday too. Accidentally opened the window and couldn't push it back shut this time. Had to really force it in the end.
If you are going to fit it yourself, you woldn't fancy fitting another one at some stage would you? Just for practice. Just think how good you will be at it then? Otherwise I am going to have to get Autoglass out again to take it out and put it baxck at no doubt ENORMOUS expense
Let me see how I get on with this one ;-) It depends what the swearing:productivity ratio is.
I was caught up with things for work today so I didn't tackle it.. If I can finish writing the presentation tonight that I've been putting off for weeks, I'll have a go at it tomorrow.
Right, well that answers that.
It is an awful job and tomorrow I am going to phone Addison Glass and get them to come out and do it.
Probably not helped by freezing cold and ther eis also the possibility that my punt with the 463 seal will turn out to be wrong (though they look substantially the same).
But the idea that the new window will just pop into place.. well I couldn't for the life of me get the lip to engage and gave up in frustration.
I know when I'm beaten :-(
The good news was no rust on the frame :-)
AudioMinx,
Can you not get a decent bodyshop near you ,who can remove the windscreen ( its easy if you do them on a regular basis, or so they tell me) and then do the corrision at the same time.
Shouldn't be that bad a job if they can nip it in the bud now.
Removing it was easy
Its the putting it back :-(
Was going to ask. It IS the putting it back that is worrying. Are you still doing it or have you managed to do it by now?
Bit of an undertaking, although well done for not breaking it!!
That's what I am hoping. Gav showed me the photos of yours. The first one I asked can't take it out and put it back but I am going to go and ask another one when I have finished my run or nightshifts
No, I gave up.
It was one of those situations where it was too cold and I was getting very cross with it! Sometimes I manage to haul myself back from these situations, knowing from experience that frustration often leads to broken parts.
had it been a warm summer's day with lots of light and time I might have done it (though once again I'm not 100% convinced that the new seal is right).. anyway for £70 I'd rather just not have to worry about it this week and I'll get Addisons in Guildford out to do it.
Call returned from Addison Glass at 8am, Chris their MD had someone at my place in farnham for 8.25 and the screen fitted with the new seal (the cheaper 463 version fits the 460 perfectly by the way - thanks Gav), 3M glazing compound and my MB supplied glass by 9am for £75 inc.
Amazing service :-)
The chap who did it said that he has done many Gs over the years and the newer seals always require a lot of pressure to get in - I think we were on the right track yesterday but without the experience to know how hard to push it I am pleased that I got them in to do it.
Hi Gav,
I put up a note on the forum yesterday asking for advice re the fitting of a new windscreen on my '91 300 GE GW. I was recommended to read this thread and also one of the replies said that I should get a seal from you first before going to Autoglass. Autoglass aren't cheap, and I do want them to do it well, so I was wondering if you knew where I could source / or had a seal for my car please?
Thanks.
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Thanks for the advice. WIll do. Makes sense. Gav has already supplie me with a wiper spindle repair kit which will be going on when the MOT is done next month. Was trying to alleviate the pain of hte cost, which is why if I need a new screen, it will go on this month! Will ask Gave if he can get me the seal and I will just get whoever does it to put it on