My windscreen is getting very difficult to see through especially at night. Lots of small fine chips. So I'm think it will need changing soon.
The question is. Does the special windscreen for the rain sensing wiper come with the fixing bracket ready glued to it?
My rain sensor has not really worked since the last replacement. I think the muppets at the insurer's nominated fixer chiselled the bracket off and stuck it back in the wrong place. To get it working it has to be set exactly in the right place. There's a 1/8 inch diameter "eye" in the black paint that has to be aligned to the sensor exactly.
If the bracket is stuck on at the factory, how can I make sure that the fixer uses one? I doubt the insurer cares, and I don't want the hassle of keeping on taking it back.
I imagine that the genuine part is supplied with the bracket already fitted as is expensive aftermarket glass, I don't have a parts catalogue available right now so I can't check if the bracket is available as a spare part though.
Anyhow, I would see if you can avoid using an insurer to have it changed as the company they use is most likely to use cheaper glass that won't be as good optically as the original and won't have a bracket on it. Try and find a local independant windscreen fitter and ask them how much to do the job, we used to pay about £100 to have a screen replaced using quality glass, pilkington or saint gobain and used to charge it out to customers for about £130 (covered the cost of booking and the use of the workshop). This is not much more than insurance excess and very often would be a better result. I'll have a look at WIS and EPC when I get home to give more of an indication on how it should be done.
I couldn't see the bracket as a separate item in my EPC, but sometimes these things are hidden in obscure places.
When mine was replaced it was an insurance job via Autoglass. I fretted: [1] about the quality of the aftermarket replacement but they used Pilkington and assured me it would be fine. [2] about the fit, as I remember some bad stories on here, but their very experienced fitter knew all about the need for the little blocks underneath to get it right. And [3] about the rain sensor, but he assured that it would be fine and it's not missed a beat.
So, I've taken a look at the EPC and the bracket is not listed as a part and WIS doesn't tell you how to fit one so I believe it is part of the screen (and i'm sure this was the case when they were fitted in cars with a rain sensor).
I'd call up a few local fitters and ask them and get a price. Surely the insurance won't replace it anyway if it's just scratched, unless you were unlucky and have a stone hit it...
I recently had a stone chip repaired and asked the (very experienced) fitter about exactly this issue. He assured me that the correct screen comes with the bracket bonded on, so fitting isn't a problem.
Will
Might be work getting the screen repolished? It will not remove all the marks but does make quite a bit of a difference. ;)
Before you do anything though, pop in to Sainsburys and get a bottle of Bar Keepers Friend - I keep one on the shelf. It is a dry powder in a tub. Get a damp cloth, sprinkle a tablespoonful on the cloth and rub over the screen. After a couple of minutes of rubbing, swill off (don't forget the wiper blades as well) and you should see a noticeable difference.
Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7fBF9fX0xI
Hadn't thought of that! I did some hand polishing years ago and the view through the screen got all "wobbly". but a professional job might be OK.