broken windscreen - available??

[Ade]

Hi,

My windscreen has an almighty crack in it and needs replacing and I'm wondering if new ones are available or whether it's a case of sourcing (and removing without breaking) one from another car?

I guess mines not the first 480 to have had a busted screen and I'm hoping someone's going to tell me that they've had a windscreen replaced recently with a new one from autoglass or the like.......

[glasgowjim]

autoglass did all of my busted windscreens so there is no problem with replacements

[Martin Mc]

They are available on eBay from this chap http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VOLVO-480-COU ... xyzi9SjlAi for £150 a pop! You'll also need to consider the vagaries of getting the old screen out and the new screen installed - not an easy task, by all accounts!

My windscreen has a couple of cracks in it, and I too considered replacement. However, at the moment neither crack is within the 'Swept Area' for the windscreen wipers, and as such are not considered MOT failure points.

It must be one of the main design flaws of the model, that so many windscreens seem to crack - perhaps the scuttle flexes or there is movement of the body-shell along the top edge - either way it is always the first thing I look at if a car comes up for sale.

Can you post any pics of your crack? No pun intended!!

Martin

[aidanmorris]

Autoglass replaced mine about a year ago and didn't make any mention of it being a difficult screen to source.

[brinkie]

Beware that you take out the plastic strip on top of the windscreen in one piece, they are unavailable new!

[Alan 480]

Autoglass replaced mine about a year ago and didn't make any mention of it being a difficult screen to source.

not a problem as far as I've found, had a couple done , due to rust along top edge of screen pressing in a SMALL localised area, forces the outer layer to crack

[nicklee]

I had mine done about three weeks ago by autoglass for the £75 excess on my insurance. They did a good job, fitted a pilkington screen with top tint and the vin reader window. The guy gave me the impression there were plenty of screens just sitting around in warehouses. I also took the scuttle and top strip off a few days before to hunt/treat rust. found some too...

[Martin Mc]

This is great news! I'd love to get my screen sorted for the new year, and will be checking the small print on my insurance documents a bit later. Fingers crossed!

[dragonflyjewels]

Don't worry about sourcing replacement windscreens - Pilkington have a template for every windscreen for every make & model of car since the early 1900's. Screen replacement is quite tricky - they buzz if not located correctly (we've had several over the years that had to be re-seated). The sealant is what makes the screen watertight and locks it into position - the covering black trim is for looks only but needless to say very difficult to find.
Hope this helps

[Swanny]

I had mine done for the first time a few months ago, the only advice I would give is to check and double chck with the windscreen fitting company that their fitters are happy to fit the screen single-handedly. I booked the day off, cleared the driveway and rolled out the car only to be told by the fitter that he couldn't do it alone and would have to re-book the appointment. I wasn't happy about this as it was a waste of a good-weather day. We re-booked it for 2 guys to come and remove the screen, as they found a lot of rust I asked them to leave it with me for a few weeks so I could do a decent job removing the rust and treating/filling it. They came back a few weeks later but only one guy turned up, I kicked off but he assured me that he could cope alone, and he did a great job to be fair. The black top strip survived and was refitted no problems. Some fitters class this car as a special case and book longer time slots (with 2 fitters), so check just in case.

[Alan 480]

I had mine done for the first time a few months ago, the only advice I would give is to check and double chck with the windscreen fitting company that their fitters are happy to fit the screen single-handedly.

I had a chip repaired on C30 yesterday and the guy had turned up with a new screen 'ready to fit, (just in case) I'm not quite sure how the glass company reckon one guy can carefully lower that weight of glass into correct location, he wasn't built like Arnie!! they use two guys in the dry of factory with no wind / rain