Help needed with windscreen.

[Marcusd]

Hi,

I am in the process of complaining to a windscreen (windsheild) fitting firm after a very poor job of fitting a new screen and need a little help.
As well as the new scrren leaking, it has been poorly fitted, I have no rear view mirror as the plate has been attached upside down and all of the fasteners on the plastic plate between the bonnet (hood) and screen are either missing or snapped.

When I have lifted this plastic cover up to check the fitting of the bottom of the screen there is a 1cm gap between the edge of the glass and the metal of the car. I have been told by the firm that this is normal and that there is not normally a trim there.

I have attached a photo of the bottom of the windsheild with the plastic cover pulled out of the way and a large gap can be seen at the bottom of the glass. Can anyone confirm if this is normal or not as it does not look very safe at the moment.

Many thanks, Marcus

E34 525i 140K 95

Please could anyone tell me if this is normal on an E34

[Mas (UK)]

main road I travel on every day to get to work was resurfaced about 6 months ago by contractors who I can only assume to have either been cowboys (no disrespect to y'all good souls down in Texas! :) ) in their trade or have a standard for measuring road smoothness like hairy ar**d foundrymen. Instead of what you would expect from a newly surfaced road, of a beautifully smooth and quiet stretch of road a joy to drive our lovely BM's on, these guys decided to save a bit of dough by skimping on the tar that holds all the stones and surface together. As a result, the surface is as noisy as heck and has been falling apart from the day they finished ... with stones of upto an inch in size that are so loose that they get throw upwards and backwards by the tyres from any vehicle which is on the road ... and if you happen to be a normal distance behind someone it can mean smashing your windscreen when you're travelling at 50-70 mph. Not a nice experience I'd like to add! My windscreen has been smashed twice in this time and replaced 3 times (the last time because it wasn't sealed properly also).

In answer to your question about the gap between the bottom of the glass and the metal, yes it is normal to have a small gap there of about 1cm. You should have a couple cylindical rubber spacers (about 1cm diameter, surprisingly) in this gap that the screen rests on as the sealant cures.

A couple things I noted while my screen was being replaced:

1) The little black plastic fasteners (about 10 of them) that hold the 2 plastic covers just under the wiper blades just suck when it comes to good practical design, surely BMW didn't design these?! They are very brittle and once clipped on, there is almost no way to remove them again without breaking the little buggers. Mine had to be ordered from Germany and took about 2 weeks to get here ... meaning I had to drive around with those panels rattling and whistling at higher speeds. Has anyone tried to use an alternative type of fastener, like a twist-lock type?

2) Sealing a windscreen can be tricky. If you do get any unwanted wind noise in the cabin, you can check the seal by running a flat piece of metal (I used a key) from inside the car all around the inner edges of the screen where it should be sealed with the rubber compound. If it is sealed, your key will rub on rubber. If you hear a metal-on-metal sound, it's not sealed properly.

Just a final note on safety. The windscreen should be sealed properly as it is designed to give structural strength and rigidity to the car. If you think it has been poorly fitted I would recommend you get the fitting firm to refit it.

Regards,

Masood

[Marcusd]

Mas,

Cheers for the info - There was such a catalogue of disasters during the fitting of the screen that I had lost confidence in RAC windscreens, I'm glad that this is normal.

As well as the problems metioned before, it took 3 hours to fit, glass was left on the seats and steering wheel and to top it all off the bonnet popped up 2 miles up the road on a dual carriageway with no hard shoulder to pull over to!

Cheers, Marcus

[Mas (UK)]

I watched while the work was being carried out the first time. With these cars being tough as old boots, replacing the screen does look pretty demanding and should definitely be left to the professionals IMO ... even though your experience with RAC has been a bit uninspiring. They replaced mine in about 2.5 hours and I then left the rubber to cure properly for another couple hours before doing any driving.

With a cracked or worse still windscreen smashed to pieces, it seems incredibly difficult to avoid getting some glass bits in the cabin even though the screen is laminated. I admit they could vacuum the inside a bit more thoroughly though.

As for your bonnet popping open while driving, I suspect that it simply wasn't pushed down properly and locked. Just feel lucky the bonnet is hinged at the front of the car! :)

As for your rear view mirror, try holding it at a 90deg anti-clockwise angle over the plate and then rotate clockwise until it snaps securely into place.

Regards,

Masood

[Marcusd]

Masood,

I have checked the mirror plate and it is definitley fitted upside-down. Even the RAC windscreens manager confirmed that the metal socket should be like an upside down pyramid - mine is a correct way up pyramid.

I am still waiting for them to phone me back to arrange refiitting of the screen and mirror and replacement of the snapped/lost plugs for the front plastic trim - by the sound of it they may be struggling to find the fasteners for the trim.

Cheers, Marcus