Windscreen price variation

[Tassie f100]

Had to get a new windscreen to replace the old worn out one in the old Ranger.Priced one at an independent co.I have bought from before,Their price fitted on site was $350.Rang the RACT recommended co,their price was $360 at the shop or $460 on site.Rang the big yellow O.co.and their price at the shop was $592.Told the lady? that she was nearly $250 dearer than the small co.She said I can knock 10% off down to $522.Still too dear.Then she said to be careful because the cheaper co might be fitting S/H screens.I said I was certain that would not be the case.She then put me on hold for couple of mins then came back at another 20% bringing the price down to $422, but still $72 more than the independent,so I went with the original lower price.Moral is,Don’t assume that the company that spends big dollars on advertising is going to be cheaper.

[PhilT2]

Somebody has to pay for all those ads.

[Jack91]

Youre lucky theyre still doing it on site at all. Only one father son local company is doing on site in my area. Because covid and somehow on site is too dangerous for the installers.
But happy ending anyway as I'd put up with crap installs and attitude plus bigger prices from obriens for years and will now never go back

[XR Martin]

Second hand windscreens? Bwhaha
That's a good one.
A classic/rare car maybe, but who's going to be bothered to try and waste so much time trying to save a relative cheap piece of glass.

[Citroënbender]

Me?

It costs me my time and a few blades to cut one from a wreck. Rear glass in good shape with visibly intact demister lines, or a recently replaced (before wrecking) front glass.

Yours etc,
Tightarse

[Mowdit]

I had quotes of $820-$840 for a px2 wildtrak windscreen.
Yours is cheap

[Tassie f100]

Yeah Citroenbender, the old rubber fit.Laminated you had to be a bit careful but the safety glass,you half lie on the seat and push like all hell with your feet,sometimes they would come out that fast they hit the bonnet and landed on the ground in front,just pick em up and away you go.

[Tassie f100]

Originally Posted by Mowdit

I had quotes of $820-$840 for a px2 wildtrak windscreen.
Yours is cheap

Is that a plain screen or does it have an aerial or other wiring in it? Did you shop around or just go to one of the “name” suppliers

[Itsme]

There is a difference in quality of screens which will mean price variations.
Cheers.

[Tassie f100]

Originally Posted by Officemanager

There is a difference in quality of screens which will mean price variations.
Cheers.

Do you reckon there are still different qualities or do they all come from the same place now.??

[whitelion65]

These are bargain prices.
Luckily had the Mondeo done on insurance.
Sensors plus front demist wire = big price!

[ebv8]

my windscreen guy would not even fit my supplied second hand windscreen in my kingswood, he said he will not fit it unless it was safety glass, new screen was only about $150 so suited me fine

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by Tassie f100

Do you reckon there are still different qualities or do they all come from the same place now.??

Sure is, your vehicle manufacturer will use top quality screens where most replacement screens are cheap unless you want to pay that extra.
I have seen it in my Ranger as I'm on my 3rd replacement.
Most insurers will fit cheaper quality windscreens.

[Blue Dog]

Recently had a windscreen replaced in an FG Falcon Cab Chassis, free of charge under insurance at Windscreens O'Brien.
The manager was from a panel beating back ground & was saying the windscreen in modern cars forms part of the structural integrity of the body.

[Crazy Dazz]

Bit of a funny story...
Back in the late 80's my brother had a Mazda 626 sedan. His son managed to turn on the rear demister on a hot day, and shattered the rear window.
When looking for a replacement, the genuine Mazda windows was excruciatingly expensive, due to the demister being embedded in the glass. However for less than half the price, he got Ford's Telstar equivalent. The demister was stuck on, but as the glass guy explained, that also meant there would be no repeat of the shattering.

[Blue Dog]

Originally Posted by Officemanager

Sure is, your vehicle manufacturer will use top quality screens where most replacement screens are cheap unless you want to pay that extra.
I have seen it in my Ranger as I'm on my 3rd replacement.
Most insurers will fit cheaper quality windscreens.

How do you tell the difference between a 'top quality screen' & a 'cheaper quality screen'?

[Crazy Dazz]

Originally Posted by Tassie f100

Yeah Citroenbender, the old rubber fit.Laminated you had to be a bit careful but the safety glass,you half lie on the seat and push like all hell with your feet,

Isn't it the other way around?
Windscreens used to use tempered "safety glass" that shattered into small fragments, and I think side and back windows still are.
But since the 80's they use laminated glass (unless there has been some newer innovation.)

Their was a Bathurst race in which Brock's windscreen became severely damaged, so at the pit stop they jumped in and kicked it out. After a few more laps, he figured it wasn't very aerodynamic, they they jumped back in and kicked out the rear window too!
(But I think he got disqualified.)

[Tassie f100]

Originally Posted by Crazy Dazz

Isn't it the other way around?
Windscreens used to use tempered "safety glass" that shattered into small fragments, and I think side and back windows still are.
But since the 80's they use laminated glass (unless there has been some newer innovation.)

Their was a Bathurst race in which Brock's windscreen became severely damaged, so at the pit stop they jumped in and kicked it out. After a few more laps, he figured it wasn't very aerodynamic, they they jumped back in and kicked out the rear window too!
(But I think he got disqualified.)

The safety glass that shatters into small pieces is very hard to break,you can hit it quite hard with a hammer but it won’t shatter whereas the laminated is simply two sheets of plate glass glued to a piece of thin plastic and really does chip easily

[XR Martin]

Originally Posted by Blue Dog

How do you tell the difference between a 'top quality screen' & a 'cheaper quality screen'?

You can tell by looking at them on an angle.
The cheap ones can have a blurry/wavvy look to them.

[Wretched]

eh I just have it under insurance.

[383hq]

Just had my first ever screen replacement on a FG mk2 at a well known screen repairer, lets just call them Oscar Bravo for now.

Paid extra for an acoustic windscreen. Pretty ordinary job, and very cocky owner.

Left adhesive on both front guards, two scratches at base of screen one about 50-60mm and one 30mm across about 70-90mm long.
Windscreen itself is not OEM, and of course has the required waviness in it compared to OEM.About every 150-200mm across.

Advertising (and price) does not automatically equal quality !
Same business put the incorrect $2000 windscreen into a friends SUV, and tried every excuse under the sun to not replace it. Technically unroadworthy without demisting in that case, I had been warned so I didn't bother taking it any further...

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by Blue Dog

How do you tell the difference between a 'top quality screen' & a 'cheaper quality screen'?

Lot of the cheaper ones have a ripple effect or slight imperfections when looking through glass at angles, this was shown to me from a couple glaziers in the windscreen trade many years ago.

[pundit]

I had to get prices for a car yard on replacing the back window on my VF wagon, and i was suprised.. $350 fitted for a aftermarket window, and $403 for a genuine holden one fitted..

[Blue Dog]

Originally Posted by XR Martin

You can tell by looking at them on an angle.
The cheap ones can have a blurry/wavvy look to them.

Thanks for that, you can learn something new everyday!

Just checked the replacement screen in the FG at various angles from inside & outside & no wavy lines apparent.
As far as identification, near the bottom of the screen is the wording "Australian Autoglass".

[Tassie f100]

Originally Posted by 383hq

Just had my first ever screen replacement on a FG mk2 at a well known screen repairer, lets just call them Oscar Bravo for now.

Paid extra for an acoustic windscreen. Pretty ordinary job, and very cocky owner.

Left adhesive on both front guards, two scratches at base of screen one about 50-60mm and one 30mm across about 70-90mm long.
Windscreen itself is not OEM, and of course has the required waviness in it compared to OEM.About every 150-200mm across.

Advertising (and price) does not automatically equal quality !
Same business put the incorrect $2000 windscreen into a friends SUV, and tried every excuse under the sun to not replace it. Technically unroadworthy without demisting in that case, I had been warned so I didn't bother taking it any further...

Yeah I would be pretty sure the O’B screen at $592 reduced to $422 will be exactly the same as the one I am paying $350 for

[Crazy Dazz]

Originally Posted by Tassie f100

The safety glass that shatters into small pieces is very hard to break,you can hit it quite hard with a hammer but it won’t shatter whereas the laminated is simply two sheets of plate glass glued to a piece of thin plastic and really does chip easily

err, no.
Safety Glass is tempered, and VERY easy to shatter, by design. For that reason, it hasn't been used for windscreens for almost 40 years.
Laminated glass doesn't shatter. It's not as brittle, so it will crack rather than shattering, but the laminate is very strong.

[Mowdit]

Originally Posted by Tassie f100

Is that a plain screen or does it have an aerial or other wiring in it? Did you shop around or just go to one of the “name” suppliers

Two quotes, one a local guy, the other a larger state/national.
Yes, Wildtrak, so rain sensor and camera compliant screen.
A "very very" long time ago I worked at a window manufacturer, not every piece is perfect, but A grade went to manufacture, B grade went to replacement sellers, others went into recycle bin.
There is glass and glass, the laminate layer, glass quality and additives can vary greatly, back then Mitsubishi used to pay for the better quality and Ford didn't.
I got to 120k klm before replacing my 2012 Ranger screen due to sandblasting, only 60k klm on the 2017 Ranger, the quality is getting worse

[Tassie f100]

Originally Posted by Crazy Dazz

err, no.
Safety Glass is tempered, and VERY easy to shatter, by design. For that reason, it hasn't been used for windscreens for almost 40 years.
Laminated glass doesn't shatter. It's not as brittle, so it will crack rather than shattering, but the laminate is very strong.

ER NO tempered glass is very hard to break except if you hit the edge of the glass.You can have a fair sized rock hit a safety glass screen at 100km/h and bounce off.The laminated will chip and or crack.The advantage of laminated glass is it doesn’t completely shatter but rather stays intact.

[roKWiz]

Had windscreens replaced last year in 2 Ford trader's which are a big lump of glass.
One replaced in Benalla, Vic. $370 (independent), 3 months later one replaced in Coffs Harbour (Obriens) $390
Was quoted in Sydney before leaving for Coffs $610 ?? and told it would be cheaper than in the country.

Exact same quality, only thing different was the location.

[Tassie f100]

Got new screen fitted midday,no ripples that I was told may indicate why it was cheaper than.O’B