Windscreen question - update

[Scouse]

Hi guys and gals

So a massive stone hit my windscreen and caused a big chip and 4 little cracks shooting off from it
Then my wife sends me a pic yesterday and it has now cracked right down from the top right through field of vision on drivers side and right down to the bottom

Anyways, contacted insurance yesterday and they are getting me a new windscreen which will be ready on Monday

Now here is my question, you get the windscreen with or without rain sensors on, now with rain sensors is R13 500 and apparently without is alot cheaper, mine has the auto wipers etc with rain sensors but would it make a difference if i fitted the one without the sensors as i never use the auto wipers anyway?

Also would this affect MP?

The only reason i ask this is because it looks like i may have to pay 25% of the claim in excess, if thats so then its about R3000. Now without sounding like a miser lol, if the windscreen without rain sensors is cheaper then the excess will be lower, anything to save a few bucks hey hahahaha

But like i said, i still dont know what the excess will be until they call my wife on monday and let her know and then i can take it from there, but thought id find out about compatability first from all you pro's :thumbs:

 

[P1000]

I might be completely wrong but how I understand it, the rain sensor will think it is always raining if it is not fitted correctly. But I don't think that is a problem, since you manually override it. I also think some windscreen fitters will attempt to transfer the lens from your original screen to the new one, making it possible to fit the rain sensor. This procedure is not always successful, though.

 

[Funky Toyz]

Best would be to fit the spec that your car came with. I wouldn't trust fitting a windscreen if it's not the same as the spec the car came with.

Just my 2c.

 

[Scouse]

Yeah i agree with you Funky toyz to be honest, dont want anything sub standard for my baby

 

[Philip Foglar]

How I understand it, insurance is only 'suppose' to fit the proper replacement part, so if your car has rain sensor then it has to be replaced in order to continue working. And in it's own way is a safety feature. If you are paying for the windscreen yourself then it's up to you, but since insurance is paying, they must fit the correct windscreen! :thumbs:

 

[Scouse]

How I understand it, insurance is only 'suppose' to fit the proper replacement part, so if your car has rain sensor then it has to be replaced in order to continue working. And in it's own way is a safety feature. If you are paying for the windscreen yourself then it's up to you, but since insurance is paying, they must fit the correct windscreen! :thumbs:

Yup thats how i see it too

The reason i asked was because my wifes cousin had a new windscreen put in her X6 aswell and the first one they came with had no rain sensors so she contacted insurance and told them to get the correct one :=):

 

[L~C~G]

R13500 for a windscreen? you have got to be kidding me!!! :thumbdo:

 

[Philip Foglar]

My father in law had to have the windscreen on his Z4 replaced some time ago and they also sent out the wrong windscreen - he immediately told them that is was wrong, so they had to return with the correct one. I think the same thing happened just recently with his E46, had to wait again for the correct windscreen...

 

[chrisc]

The lens should be able to be peeled off. It is stuck on with a similar adhesive to silicon. However, if the tinting band at the top is a dark, the sensor (which is a light-sensitive transistor) might switch on prematurely. Being a transistor, it has a threshold at which it starts to conduct. If I had the circuit, I could tell you what to alter.
If the tinting band varies in opacity from top to bottom and the rain activated wipers engage, you can move it down some if possible.
I did this on a 2008 Jetta which had a replacement screen fitted and the wipers activated immediately the aux was powered on. In the end I got a replacement sensor module and altered the power supply, thereby increasing the switch-off threshold of the device

Don't you love these unnecessarily complicated gadgets? The worst one I had to fix was the door closed sensor on a E46, a rotary magnetic contact. After several hours fiddling, some red silicon grease fixed it.

 

[Scouse]

So just got the price for my new windscreen for the X6

R17 600 :nonono:

Thank goodness for insurance....I pay R3200 :thumbs:

 

[netercol]

i know that on the e46 if you just unplug the rain sensor unit ,the wipers revert to normal intermittant working (like a e46 without auto rain sensor)

if you can remove the rain sensor lens from the old windscreen without damaging it, it can be refitted to a new windscreen , i normally use marine silcone, which is not acidic (else the silicone will corode the lens)

if you use the gel strips like autoglass repair shops use, you have to make sure there is no bubbles between the lens and glass, else it just wont work.

on the e46 the only difference between a rain sensor windscreen and a non rainsensor windscreen is the blackout strip around the sensor (unless you buy oem, which comes with the lens already glued on)

dont know how much of this applies to the newer beemers though..