RS4 Windscreen

[P_G]

Can someone with an OEM windscreen (i.e one that has not been replaced) have a look at it and tell me who the manufacturer is please?

Ta muchly.

[Steve_C]

mine was made by Saint-Gobain

[P_G]

Ta Steve,

Anyone else just to see if they are pretty much the same?

[Terry1948]

PG mine was also made by Saint-Gobain

[MB2]

Saint Gobain here too !

[JHT]

Saint Gobain here too !

Ditto...

[scaghead]

+6.

[P_G]

A cautionary tale for you all then. Today I have had to have my windscreen replaced for the third time by Autoglass and although the spiel is that the manufacturer is the same one Audi use the windscreen is made by Solarshield.... and they ain't good.

First replacement is because I had a stonechip in the OEM screen and I wanted a new screen for the Eurotour. So I went to Autoglass depot in Middlesbrough. £60 windscreen excess later through my insurer and I have a new windscreen. But there's a problem because once they had fitted it, it was found that it was scratched which they only found out once it was being final inspected.

So I was booked back in to have a replacement when I got back from Europe. Fair enough you would think, except when driving home the driver side wiper starts lifting off the screen! I stop to subsequently find the wiper arm has been refitted incorrectly and has been bent to make it sit on the screen. Back I go, they suggest it was like that when they got it and when told in no uncertain terms it was not agree to replace it, but don't have the parts there so have to get it in.

Part comes in a few days later and it is fitting and humble apologies.

When I get back from the Euro tour I book to have my replacement under warranty screen fitted. I get a mobile fitter this time who then proceed to tell me the scratches were not caused at the factory but because the screen had been scratched when being removed from a van because he has seen those type of scratches before. So not only did they bend my wiper arm but told me porky pies about the damage they had done to the screen.

So new screen in. Great.

10 weeks later I go out to my car one morning to find a 5 inch crack in the screen from the driver side and phone Autoglass. They suspect it hasn't been fitted properly but happy for me to drive around 4 days with a cracked windscreen until they have someone to look at it. So they arrive today,30 minuets late and a stone chip has cracked the screen. So another £75 excess to the insurer to replce it. BTW my insurance premium renewal after the first replacement increased by £200, don't say that on the adverts do they?

Now I have been driving 19 years and never replaced a screen in a car, yet in the last 4 months I have had 3. And I suspect the crack is because the replacement screens are poor quality and cannot withstand the same impact as Saint Gobain, hence why I asked who made them.

So use Autoglass at your peril, they are not OEM screens and even in the installers own words, 'don't keep you fingers crossed it won't happen again'. Reassuring eh?

[Steve_C]

Very interesting. I have some very small stone chips/dents on my screen - hardly noticeable and certainly not cracks and much smaller than the chips on the Autoglass advert which are fixed with a resin injection. Was wondering whether to call Autoglass out but may leave it now and just pay the £75 excess if and when they develop into a more meaningful crack.

[P_G]

In hindsight I wished I had done the same. The stone chip I had was so near the edge they couldn't resin inject it. That said a colleague at work had that done and she can still visibly see where it has been injected moreso that when it was just chipped.

[adsgreen]

To be fair most resin injection is designed more to stop the crack spreading. Done properly it can be almost invisible but thats a secondary aspect.

I do think it outragous that a cheap windscreen is fitted.

I have a small chip on the passenger side I'm getting round to - I'd say to get it done before winter as the resin is affected by temperature. If this winter is like last year then it could also mean a long wait if the crack develops.

[mark758]

Not strictly on topic but maybe helpful....
When I needed my windscreen replaced 'out of insurance' Autoglass quoted £850 for a non-genuine audi screen....the dealer under £300 for a genuine Audi item

[ArthurPE]

wow, darn helpful

Not strictly on topic but maybe helpful....
When I needed my windscreen replaced 'out of insurance' Autoglass quoted £850 for a non-genuine audi screen....the dealer under £300 for a genuine Audi item

[P_G]

Not strictly on topic but maybe helpful....
When I needed my windscreen replaced 'out of insurance' Autoglass quoted £850 for a non-genuine audi screen....the dealer under £300 for a genuine Audi item

Mark, prices are all over the place as Autoglass quoted me £560 for a replacement screen if I didn't go through the insuers. Now given my premium increased by £200 last time I'm fully expecting the same thing again but at least it is somewhat cheaper than buying at cost from Autoglass. That said, the moral of the story is shop around and if Mark's price is correct perhaps Audi would be the cheapest option. It is only a 1 hour job to fit after all so circa £400 all in?

[P_G]

Not strictly on topic but maybe helpful....
When I needed my windscreen replaced 'out of insurance' Autoglass quoted £850 for a non-genuine audi screen....the dealer under £300 for a genuine Audi item

Mark, prices are all over the place as Autoglass quoted me £560 for a replacement screen if I didn't go through the insuers. I phoned them ad hoc yesterday and was quoted £700. Now given my premium increased by £200 last time I'm fully expecting the same thing again but at least it is somewhat cheaper than buying at cost from Autoglass. That said, the moral of the story is shop around and if Mark's price is correct perhaps Audi would be the cheapest option. It is only a 1 hour job to fit after all so circa £400 all in?