Windscreen replacement

[Scarlet O'Hara]

Hi, can any members recommend a supplier of bespoke road legal glass windscreens?

[Hedd Jones]

Technically on a vintage car a plate glass one is road legal. Any glass supplier will cut and supply a toughened pane to fit.

[Douglas Alderson]

My local glass supplier did a box screen for me for £30, Tower Glass Bournemouth, not sure where you are.

[Nigel]

My local glass supplier did a box screen for me for £30, Tower Glass Bournemouth, not sure where you are.

Glass suppliers are sometimes a bit sniffy about doing car windscreens ('elfnsafety mate). I take patterns marked port and starboard and they don't ask questions.

[Zetomagneto]

My local glass supplier did a box screen for me for £30, Tower Glass Bournemouth, not sure where you are.

Glass suppliers are sometimes a bit sniffy about doing car windscreens ('elfnsafety mate). I take patterns marked port and starboard and they don't ask questions.

In consideration of my passengers I would use proper laminated glass for a motor car.
Last piece came from Mobile Windscreens, I then had the long opening edge rounded/ground by Roman Glass as Mobile were unable to do the grinding.I think around £80 all in .
This was for the upper part of a 12/4 Clifton windscreen

[Scarlet O'Hara]

Thanks for the advice and I’ve managed to find a couple of leads for suppliers of classic car windscreens to follow up next week. Originally I had intended to cut my own from 6mm thick polycarbonate sheet thinking if it’s used to make canopies for fighter aircraft, most industrial safety glasses and track racing cars it should be safe to use for an Austin Seven if just more susceptible to scratching. That was before I found out that it’s legal on all other road car windows apart from the windscreen – don’t really know why?
The main reason I was going down the plastic route was that I suspect a new glass screen will fail in the same way as the existing screen which requires a cut out for the vacuum wiper where it has failed at the corners. Bigger radius corners required or I wonder if drilling a hole for the shaft rather than a full cut-out would be a better solution? Any other suggestions?

       

[Peter Johnson]

A local glazier did my screen for the cup model in laminated glass. Bear in mind that the finished article will be slightly larger than 6mm due to the laminate. Some glaziers are reticent to polish the edges as the laminate melts and clogs up the machine. 

The original glass was from a domestic glazier and came with an etched logo bigger than a 2 pound coin. Added to that, the edges were not polished which made it impossible to get into the frame. The rubber kept snagging. 

In the end, our local man did some research and found out the correct British standard to be applied for a car and put this in a discrete place at the edge of the glass so it would be under the frame. He polished and bevelled all the edges which made it easy to insert into the frame. I used some tyre bead paste which is super slippy during assembly. 

The cup model screen is 2 parts and I got change from £100 so was pleased enough. Happy to give the name of the original supplier and the final supplier by PM if anyone wants. 

Kindest regards

Peter

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Forgot to add...

The side screens in my RK kept coming out of the channel (for the wind up windows) so I used some silicone sealant. After a while this appears to have crept into or reacted with the laminate and shows up as small bubbles. 

Peter

[Peter Naulls]

My special has had a wiper slot in the top of the laminated screen for 25 years with no problems. It has an Ulster style frame with no top part. I did take some care in rounding and polishing the edges of the slot as well as the long edge to discourage cracks; I don't know if this makes a difference.

It has had 2 identical screens in that time - the first having been smashed by a stone.

Peter.

[Ruairidh Dunford]

S O-H, your wiper attachment is very interesting, it is the physical clamp that is causing the cracking issue for you?

Can you adapt it so that it clamps slightly lower down, onto the frame, instead?

[Scarlet O'Hara]

Hi Bearded Wizard, I’m sure you recognize the car so you’ll understand what I mean when I say that the wiper  mounting is just one of the many “interesting”  design features which I’ve been deconstructing, reverse engineering and re-fitting for some months. I don’t think it’s the clamp cracking the screen, I think it’s the frame that’s a bit flexible but I like the idea of moving the bracket lower and making the mounting more robust.  Just off to try and get the engine fired up today so will give it some thought. Strengthening the bottom rail of the screen frame to incorporate a new wiper mounting might be a possibility.