Windscreen Replacement Warning

[Doug_RS2]

I just had my windscreen replaced due to cracking it. It was an insurance job so I had to pay the windscreen excess - £60.

They came yesterday to do it - arrived at 3pm, by 5pm the fitter had called his company for help, By 6pm I was calling the manager due to the state the car was in. The roof was scratched, the bonnet was scratched, the front outer black piller trims were scored, the alarm wiring was cut in the pillers. The manager came and finished the work by 8:30pm but now the car is getting a valet and polish, and if that doesn't take the scratches out it has to go to the bodyshop, the front outer trim has to be replaced, and I don't have to pay the excess. The fitter was useless - the manager knew what he was doing but they are paying for all the work to fix it. I just can't understand how someone can get away with butchering cars like that - why would anyone put tools on the roof of a car? Muppet.

If anyone needs to get this done I would watch everything they do and ask if they realise how hard it is to change the original screen.

[s2driveruk]

yep, Doug, its one of the wrst to change, only a roller is worse apparently. Make sure they have set the glass in place properly, you will hear a ton of windrush on the passenger side top corner of the screen if its not.

Also check they haven't broken the little retainer at the top of the a-pillar strip as it stops it from sitting flush with the roofline (as mine doesn't from a repair vefore i bought it). Also ensure they havent scored the paint away when they took the old seal off along the roofline as this will flare up with rush in a few months (as i had found out again with a previous repair before i had the car, I had to get the roof respayed and blended on the a and c pillars.

Hope you get it sorted out ok.....gits!

Cheers,

David

[Mark Halligan]

How about this then,

I had the windscreen replaced in 2000 and I had the same problem as Dave with the rust from where some T%sser had scraped the paint away with the glue during a previous replacment so I had to have this 'fixed'.
Anyways, since that was done in 2000 I have been plagued with everworsening creaking, groanings and rubbing sounds coming from the dash area. The car has sat doing nothing this summer while I was building the engine, and I noticed the day that I first got it going to drive again, that the screen was falling out.......I kid you not, the whole thing had slipped down and there was a gap at the top edge of the screen. The only thing holding it in was the foam inserts under those bits of trim on the A-pillars.
Well I am so skint at the moment, I could'nt afford to get it done, so I used one of those glass suction cup things and lifted it right out (I did this last weekend) I bought some of the proper glue for windscreens and fitted back myself. It doesn't leak yet and its a lot better job than the last **** did.

I can only assume that when it was fitted the screen was contaminated with something, as the the old glue was stuck solid to the car frame but not the glass?

Mark.

[Doug_RS2]

that is scarey Mark - I have to leave my car for 4 hours to set - I left it overnight - and I have not ot drive it fast for 24 hours. They had to fit it in my parents double garage - just becasue the rain contaminates it.

I am glad it is not just me who has bad luck - I will see what guarantee there is with mine!

[siV6Qcoupe]

Last year I looked out of the house to see a rock sitting on my dashtop, running out the door to greet the obvious I could see a fist shaped rock on top of the dash pod being dark I could just make out a few cracks on the screen but absolutely no hole I looked at all the side windows - all intact, the car was locked aswell. I was beginning to think David Blaine had walked down the street and played a cruel trick on me I never thought to inspect the rear screen as I could see it still intact.

On closer inspection and not one to believe in the supernatural I looked closely at the rear screen with a torch. I could now make out the screen was in a billion delaminated particles all hanging together . Just above the rear spoiler in the corner was a perfect outline of the rock .

All I could think was a drunken yob had blindly hurled a rock in the direction of my car and it had hit the rear screen - just, passed over the rear shelf and headrests, between the two front headrests and smacked the front screen, cracking it and then fell on the dash, incidentely cracking that as well .

I rang the insurance company who booked me into the Basingstoke Autoglass center to have both screens replaced under the £50 excess charge, the front screen was heavily pitted and cracked with stonechips and needed replacing so I wasn't too crazy but cleaning the zillion glass particles that had fallen in the boot, rear bench and carpet was a pain . Each screen was done on a separate day and each took about four hours. Luckily they just had an S2 in for a new front screen so luckily they got some practice in they knew it was a b*****d and were prepared. No problems at all with the fitment although the usual windnoise is a little worse on open roads with a crosswind especially with the sunroof open. I now live in a nicer neighbourhood

[rotoryboy]

Your so not on your own. Fourrings had the same deal. We started a thread on audifans re this an had an overwhelming response. So many of the coupe owners have had wrecked and damaged cars. This is the 2nd hardest screen to fit.

[Graham]

Mine took 1 day at auto glass in Middlesborough, they said it was among the hardest ones to do with having all the trim to remove, but they did a good job and i have no wind noise at all, the only thing is the velvet trim what the door seal mounts to has a kink in it, but hardly noticable. The bloke said the rear screns are even harder with the boot being plastic.

[S2 Ant]

Blimey.... i was thinking of getting a new one for my car thru the insurance cos of all the pit marks etc on my screen, think i might skip it now!

[Jas11n]

Your so not on your own. Fourrings had the same deal. We started a thread on audifans re this an had an overwhelming response. So many of the coupe owners have had wrecked and damaged cars. This is the 2nd hardest screen to fit.

yep,,,they totally butchered my old 2.3 coupe screen,,,,left the A-pillar strips hanging off, when I complained, they fixed them on with only 5 rivets each side (should be 14/15) and the manager had the nerve to call me pedantic,,,passenger side was so bad, the guy doing it was trying to close the door so hard, the window was moving out about 20mm
They put the wrong rubber strip along the top, put no rubber strip along the bottom, scratched the roof, took a chip out of the dash and got balck bloody goo all over the bonnet (after the guy tripped up walking towards the car)
Honestly thought I was in a circus.
The worst part about the whole thing for me was I had to pay the best part of £600 for the pleasure of watching these monkey's perform,,,,,long story short, I only had 2 months left to run on a TPFT policy with a crappy old rover, they wanted £90 to switch it to FC on the Audi,,,,but no charge to keep it the same,,,,,guess which road I took?
Oh,,,,,and before they started they asked if I would like them to replace to front and rear wipers,,,ok! yes please,,,,,,then they added that to the final bill,,,,,told them to take the wipers and stick em where the sun don't shine,,,,,they let me keep them,,,no charge,,,,,wouldn't care but they were crap too

[Doug_RS2]

Audiman here, my screen got done earlier in the year and my job is pretty much perfect. They put the a pillar strips in fine with loads of rivets. Mine doesnt leak of creak!! Guess I was lucky. Wasnt funny watching a muppet taking 5.5 hours to fit Dougs damn screen. Plus it was also very cold!!! Cant beleive the amount of damage they caused. Its gonna cost them a bomb to sort it out! W$nkers

[Keeper of The Kitten]

Jeez, I feel for you guys - my screen has one quite substantial bullseye chip in it (repaired but still obvious) and has since picked up a smaller chip and crack, and has all the usual pitting (******* road resurfacing, always cheap and nasty tar+chipping jobs in my area) - but I too am thinking "leave well alone!!!" now after all the stuff folk have said.

My old CQ looks like it had a ****ty repair done on it, some minor rust on the upper edge in a couple of places.

Rear screens - what a pain they must be! I always thought a new tailgate looked easier?!! Especially painful if (like me) you really must have the "quattro" lettering in the heater elements!!!

__MDC__

[stevieyid]

had my Screen fitted yeserday and guess what, they have messed it up. The Padding they have put in on either side of the screen is uneven, the screen does not sit correctly in the bottom seal and just taken it out and a considerable difference in road noise! Needles to say not happy, im hoping to get it done before GTI.

[Keeper of The Kitten]

I think any coupe owner with a screen repair looming should get a print of this thread and show it to the repair people before they get within fifty paces of the car!

[adamw]

you guys must be pretty unlucky when it comes to having your windscreen's replaced?! or 90% of the garages on the mainland are full of half ****d amateurs!

i've seen my fair share of botched repairs and poorly fitted screens...... only last week i did a 2008 toyota rav4 180 (the fast one) and the ONLY thing holding the windscreen in was the bottom trim and wipers!!! i literally lifted the window out!

it doesn't make the windscreen fitters sound very professional when they rate coupe's as being one of the hardest. thats my opinion anyway.

shame i dont live on the mainland ..... S2FORUM WINDSCREEN REPLACEMENT SPECIALIST its got a certain ring to it!

[Tonks4x4]

when i took my s2 for paint i knew that screens were a pita to replace. Can you imagine my amazement that not only had they fitted it 100% perfect. The fact they actually managed to remove it in one piece! I must have broken at least 4 in the past trying to remove them out of old coupes.