Windscreens

[Kryten]

Alrighty folks :

Found a large crack on my windscreen today (no, my wife was not sitting on the bonnet before anyone starts) which is growing quite quickly.
Have arranged replacement from Autoglass but thats not until Thursday - in the meantime I'm a little worried the cracks gonna go from one end to the other and cave in on me.

Any reassurance that it will or wont? Even closing the passenger side door (nearest the crack) made it grow an inch :/ and living in a world with more speedbumps than I care to count increases the worry :/

Oh, and more to the point : any way of stopping it from growing? I remember an old trick involving drilling a small hole at the end of the crack, but thats a worrying prospect in itself :/

 

[old.user4556]

If it was me, I wouldn't drive Kryt.

All it would take would be a big bug, or a big pothole for it to go totally. Stay at home and insist the wife doles out oral sex to calm your nerves, that should see you ok until Thurs

 

[Tom]

It won't, because the screen is laminated. Don't worry, the screen is quite safe. You could chuck a brick at it and not much will happen.

 

[Kryten]

Thats what Autoglass told me, Tom - it's ok as it is but many more speedbumps and it's gonna grow to very annoying proportions - and everytime it grows my confidence is gonna shrink :/

It's a long way to walk to work too

 

[Tom]

Drive it as much as you like - it will not break or shatter, full stop. Ever.

 

[leggy]

Kryt,

What Tom says.

I did my car into the back of the lorry. The windcreen ended up with 8 million cracks in it but didn't budge. It just sat there taunting me with it's invincibility.

 

[Chilly]

Is it not against nanny's rules to drive with damage to the windscreen on the drivers side?

 

[Tom]

Its an MOT failure.

 

[Kryten]

Aye, Autoglass said "as long as it's not obstructing your view".
It's not, yet. Only 3 trips in it to make though, should be fine.

I hope :/

 

[Trem]

I think its the PSU

 

[tris-]

what exactly does it take for the screen to smash then?

 

[Mazling]

BBC NEWS | UK | England | Devon | Caravan damaged after cow fall

 

[Gumbo]

The old non laminated screens used to shatter nicely. I had one go on my Mini years ago. Driving along at night suddenly the windscreen was just white, so bung my fist through it to make a hole and bring the car to a halt.

I was finding bits of glass for years afterwards, and only some of them were in my hand...

Nowadays, with modern laminated ones, it's usually just a crack. As a rough rule of thumb, any crack or chip on the screen that can't be covered by a 5p piece in the swept area, or a 2p piece outside of that, is an MOT fail. It's more complicated than that, but that's the basic rule.

 

[Will]

The old non laminated screens used to shatter nicely. I had one go on my Mini years ago. Driving along at night suddenly the windscreen was just white, so bung my fist through it to make a hole and bring the car to a halt.

There is an old bike courier trick around that. Side windows and rear windows are not laminated, but tempered. If you put an automatic centre punch against them (used for marking metal before you drill it by making a small hole), it will shatter due to the balance of forces in the glass. This is why modern windscreens are laminated instead, so if a small rock hits them, they don't explode.

Well, not because bike couriers will fuck up your windscreen, but you get the idea.

 

[Chilly]

I have more and more dislike for professional cyclists by the day.

 

[Will]

Don't cut up the angry ones, you'll be fine.

 

[TdC]

tbh you should wonder more how they got that agressive than worry for them to take it out on you