BANG! Busted windscreen.....advice anyone please?

[carole]

Well here we are in sunny Dorset, enjoying a nice weekend break....went out for a ride in the bus this afternoon, driving along a country lane quite happily and then....

BANG!

and the windscreen went like this:

as you can see the co-pilot wasn't bothered..... :roll:

so we gently came to a stop by the side of the road:

Called the AA who said don't worry, it won't crack, just take it easy.... :shock:

They called Autoglass who called us back straight away, but can't do anything until tomorrow, marvellous.

fortunately we were only about 3 miles from our campsite so drove it back very gingerly, with the screen cracking all the time.....very bizarre....!

no sooner than we drove back and parked up the screen finally gave way and shattered into a zillion pieces everywhere. 3 hours later and we'd just about cleaned it all up, and then a bit of emergency first aid with some gaffer tape and a couple of bin sacks, and at least the bus is now watertight, if looking a bit sad....I've taken the screen rubber right out and removed the wipers as well.

so my question is, are Autoglass likely to have a screen available tomorrow or am I better off getting him relayed home and then sorting out a screen when I get back?

by the way we're insured with Peter Best classic car insurance, so I'll be ringing them 1st thing tomorrow.

all advice greatly appreciated peeps.....

Carole :wink:

 

[rob-stone]

i should imagine the glass people will bring a new screen and fit it for you.

 

[slammedkustom]

bay screens are still avalible from glass suppliers, you may even get a top tint screen! very nice :lol:
you cant beat a new screen, ive put an NOS laminated one in mine and it makes such a difference, no twinkling lights at night and it clears better in the rain.
good luck :wink:

 

[VWAIRCOOLED]

That must of been a bit of a shock,was it cracked before or did you go over a bump for that to happen?

 

[The Monkey Bus]

:shock: Blimey Carole, when you said in your pm that your windscreen had gone you really meant it had gone!

As you know, I'm not far away so if there is anything I can do to help just shout. Funny thing is that we have only just got back from Sandbanks after breaking down in our bus. Suddenly discovered we could only get 4th gear. So we checked it out and the bracket that holds the guide pin that goes into the front shift rod had broken off on one side. We eventually managed to get the pin back in, bend the bracket back to the position it's supposed to be in and then drive home with very gentle gear changes. At least we could get it home though and it should just be a quick bit of welding at the garage nearby.

I really wouldn't know if Autoglass would have your windscreen or not for tomorrow, but if it was me I'd prefer to get it sorted at home, at least that way it wouldn't be such a pain in the ar$e if there's any "the computer was showing we had one in stock but..." tomfoolery. :roll:

Glad you are still smiling and enjoying the fine Dorset weather, and give me a call if there's anything I can do. :wink:

Take it easy matey, hope you get sorted one way or the other tomorrow

H

 

[carole]

Thanks for the advice guys.... :wink:

a top-tint screen, now that sounds interesting! I'm just a bit worried that they won't have one for a few days....

as for the screen I'm pretty sure it was ok before we left, I only cleaned it the other day and don't remember it being damaged at all. we're pretty sure it was a stone thrown up by a passing car, who knows?

it was really odd as it shattered immediately, it went from being perfectly ok to how you see it in the photo in about a millisecond, thank god we were only pottering along, it could have been a lot worse.... :roll:

and yes, it was a shock, it was a really loud bang, frightened the kids half to death, bless 'em....

Carole

 

[slammedkustom]

thats the problem with toughend screens they just pop, at least you werent bombing up the motorway or in bad weather

 

[carole]

Sprouty!

You must have been posting at the same time....

The joys of old vans eh? Your bus and the 4th gear problem reminded me of the scenes in the movie 'Little Miss Sunshine'.... :lol: :lol:

Glad you got it fixed enough to get it home though, at least having the bus at home makes life easier....the joys of old buses, eh?

Thankyou for your offer of assistance, that's very much appreciated. The campsite is pretty secure so we should be ok, hopefully I'll know more in the morning when I've spoken to Autoglass, I'll keep you all posted!

Carole :wink:

 

[Araon]

Brown pants then :lol:

I've had nothing but probs with screens through autoglass, always been sucking through teeth and the cant get one of those till monday...and that was with modern motors...

fingers crossed for you....

 

[ianscooby]

Carole

Sorry to hear about your bad luck, not much help up here but a friend of mine has his own windscreen buisness and the screens are readily available, so autoglass should be able to get one tomorrow.

 

[carole]

Thanks for all your help guys....

Autoglass have already called us this morning, they have the glass in at Bournemouth, but can't fit it until Thursday..... :shock:

So the AA are picking us all up in a recovery truck this afternoon and taking us all the way home.....!

Better really as I can now get the bus home and deal with it properly. As the screen is missing now would be the time to fit that colour coded dash-top that I've got in the garage... :wink:

And I'm going to have to take all the air vents out at the front to get all the glass out, every time we shut the doors we can hear glass tinkling through the bus...but having him at home will give me the time to do all that properly.

som not all bad....something good comes out of everything they say, and the kids will have a ride home in a big truck!!

Thanks all...

Carole

 

[Araon]

nice outlook on life

 

[Scampi]

 

[carole]

Well, we're home!

Beeglebus is nicely tucked up in the garage ready for his new dash-top and screen (hopefully....)

We got home ok, the makeshift screen repair held all the way home and it didn't rain, hurrah!

It took 2 recovery trucks to bring us home, one from Dorset to Fleet services on the M3, and then another truck from Fleet to home. The first truck driver was great, the second not so great....

He hardly spoke a word except to say 'no food or dogs in the cab, company policy', which meant the kids had to eat their tea sitting in their car seats in the lorry park at Fleet... :shock:

and our poor 15yr old dog had to sit in the bus, on the back of the truck....all the way home! :shock: :shock: :evil: bless him.....

and..... the truck driver drove like an idiot as well, so not the greatest journey in the world, but we're all home safely now.

on the phone to Autoglass in the morning....

thanks again to you all for your advice and offers of help.... :wink: :wink:

Carole

 

[ProfessorWheeto]

Might be worth ringing the people doing the brazillian vans, danbury is it?
Pretty sure we got some vw logo-ed laminated screens from them,

Non-Genuine screens tend to be a pig to fit. Status should also have some geniune rubbers that will make a world of difference, which is handy when fitting a laminated screen.

 

[The Monkey Bus]

Hi Carole,

Nice to here you got home safe and sound eventually, albeit minus your windscreen but it's great that you are still looking at it all so positively. I always try to find an opportunity to get something good out of a bad situation, I don't always manage it though and end up resorting to swearing instead. :roll: actually I swear anyway, it's just the severity that changes.

Sorry you had to put up with the miserable breakdown guy, not very enjoyable for the kids I would imagine, and your poor doggy stuck in the bus. The consolation is that you will probably never have to see him again but he's stuck with himself for the rest of his grumpy life, totally bereft of any veedub love.

Hope you get your screen sorted and have a problem free dash fit.

H

 

[Guest]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BRAND-NEW-VW-TYPE-2-CAMPER-VAN-WINDSCREEN-GENUINE-VW_W0QQitemZ320166317190QQihZ011QQcategoryZ27385QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

saw this on ebay, genuine laminated VW screen, in the bristol area i think.

not a bad price.

 

[Justin & Muttley]

...Sorry you had to put up with the miserable breakdown guy, not very enjoyable for the kids I would imagine, and your poor doggy stuck in the bus. The consolation is that you will probably never have to see him again but he's stuck with himself for the rest of his grumpy life, totally bereft of any veedub love.

Hope you get your screen sorted and have a problem free dash fit...

Hear, hear!
Sorry you had such an 'eventful' trip - hope the bus looks as great as it used to once it's fixed!

 

[carole]

Hiya H...

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Well, that truck driver was certainly bereft of something......he clearly doesn't have kids or animals, or anyone for that matter. total moron....

anyway, keen to seize the 'something good comes out of everything' moment, I cracked on with removing the old dash today, which is why I laughed out loud when I read your post, as I was swearing even more than usual.....pretty high on the severity scale in fact...thankfully the kids were at school :roll: :roll:

the screws holding in the front part of the old dash were nicely rusted in, and the bolts holding the padded bit in place were a bugger to get to.....you need to be triple-jointed and have magnetic hands the size of postage stamps.... :shock: :shock:

but I got there in the end..:

put it this way, there is no way I would have got that dash out with the screen in! While I was there I also fitted the blue and red heater knobs, which I've been putting off for months, as they are a real pig to fit. Much easier with no top dash! And then cleaned up the underside edge of the screen and added some hammerite and waxoyl while I was there as well, seemed daft not to really, won't have the opportunity again....well, hopefully not!

All i've got to do now is rewire the tacho but that can wait until the new screen is in, and refit the vent covers, but they need cleaning up a bit before I do that. Autoglass are coming Friday afternoon to do that, I'm a bit nervous about that one.......they've ordered me a new screen rubber but I'm going to get a german one from Cool Air in the week, otherwise god knows what they will turn up with....I'll keep you posted!

Thanks also to Johnny and Justin for the tips and stuff!

Carole

 

[gninnam]

I'm glad that you managed to turn a crisis into your advantage and good luck with the replacement screen.............

The things we do for our vans :wink: