Replacing the rear glass

Anonymous · August 20, 2003, 12:44

Somebody helpfully decided on Saturday that they would put a brick through the rear screen of the MR2. No problem, I thought (little did I know!), off to RAC Autoglass for a replacement. The replacement they ordered arrived and it was for the hard top, apparently you can't get the soft top glass. bother.

After lots of phone calls to the insurance company, various glaziers and Toyota it appears that a whole soft top has to be bought and fitted only by Toyota at a cost of £921 s:crazyeyes: :crazyeyes: s:crazyeyes: It's going to take a week for the part to arrive so the car has to sit on the drive with no rear window.

All I have to do now is fix the broken pieces of plastic around the soft top clip and get the body work repaired. s:roll: :roll: s:roll: It's not been a good week.

...All because someone thought it would be fun to throw some bricks at my '2.

dave.

Comer · August 20, 2003, 13:01

B*STARDS. I really hate people who do that. That sounds terrible. Any idea who did it? Was it parked somewhere dodgy?

The fact that you need a new roof sounds like a major achilles heel in the replacement glass situation. I've had 2 windscreens on other cars for £50 excess each time.

Anonymous · August 20, 2003, 13:06

Gits! unlucky mate.

I too heard that you have to buy a new roof if you need to replace the rear glass... not the best design in the world is it! s:? :? s:?

Anonymous · August 20, 2003, 13:07

Something I'll bear in mind next time I try and slam-dunk the roof.

Anonymous · August 20, 2003, 13:24

ITs odd that because when you look at the back of the roof it looks as if the rear panel can come off.......?

Any ideas why it looks like this but wasn't made like it?

It'd cut down cost MASSIVELY!!

Slacey · August 20, 2003, 14:15

I'm 99% sure there was talk on SC quite a while back about a guy who had had his rear window replaced 3 times - apparently the glass is glued to the hood and CAN be replaced seperately.... unfortunately, I can't find the thread, I think it was on the old board that was lost s:(

s:(

Anonymous · August 20, 2003, 16:29

Quote from: "Slacey"I'm 99% sure there was talk on SC quite a while back about a guy who had had his rear window replaced 3 times - apparently the glass is glued to the hood and CAN be replaced seperately.... unfortunately, I can't find the thread, I think it was on the old board that was lost s:( s:(

Yeah it looks like it could be replaced but the glaziers said they can't buy the glass itself. Sounds like Toyota have the market stitched up until someone makes a third party one. I've managed to get it done under the windscreen policy but it took some doing.

The car was parked on a driveway which is hidden away from the road. They didn't even take any of the CD's that were in the car!

The brick has smashed the plastic strips into which the hood falls when it is down so I will have to track down replacements for those and the body work is quite badly dented from the brick hitting it - but I'll fix that as and when funds allow.

dave.

Anonymous · August 20, 2003, 16:32

if your going through insurance wont they fix the whole lot or are you just claiming for the window (so you only pay a bit?)

Anonymous · August 20, 2003, 16:40

Quote from: "krisclarkuk"if your going through insurance wont they fix the whole lot or are you just claiming for the window (so you only pay a bit?)

Kind of. s:wink: :wink: s:wink: I can't really afford to loose my ncb and the excess on my policy is £500. This way I get the window repaired for £50 and sort the rest myself. It needed quite a bit of bodywork anyway as there was some previous vandal damage to the rear deck and a parking ding on the back s:oops: :oops: s:oops:

Any bets on how much MR. T want for a random piece of plastic to sit on top of the rear bulkhead? I suspect it's an awful lot!

dave.

Anonymous · August 20, 2003, 16:43

Oh i see - thats fair enough then!

Mr T would probably charge a small fortune to repare your car, but you can always get a quote to base any further quotes from bodyshops from.

Peter Laborne · August 20, 2003, 18:50

Quote from: "davejevons"This way I get the window repaired for £50

Hmmm, interesting.

So the window is covered by your insurance, however, technically, a new rear windscreen comes with the surrounds and fixings (ie the soft-top). In the end you will end up with a new rear windscreen and soft-top for £50!!!

And on top of that you get to keep your NCB. Nice one!!!

This does remind me of one local company that has just started making a supercar (can't remember the name). IIRC They had to change the front end as it was one panel including the front and rear windscreen. If you needed your front windscreen changed you would also have the rear one, the roof, bonnett, front wings and bumper changed at the same time. And the insurance companies were not happy.

Tem · August 21, 2003, 07:10

Quote from: "Slacey"apparently the glass is glued to the hood and CAN be replaced seperately

You're right, it's just glued on. My glue started to come off about a year ago and the dealer reglued it under warranty.

And I'm 101% sure you can have a custom glass to fit there for less than £900 s:shock: :shock: s:shock: After all, it's just a level piece of glass. Over here a custom glass like that would be around 50 euros...that's £30. Obviously it won't have the defroster lines in it, but if you can save £900 by leaving them off s:roll: :roll: s:roll:

Don't buy the full top, if there's nothing wrong with it.

(once had a broken side mirror glass and Toyota wanted to sell the whole mirror for about 500 euros. A new glass for it from local glass store was 10 euros.)

Anonymous · August 21, 2003, 07:16

I think Tem's got the secret here... it's to stop looking for a direct replacement, and find a specialist who'll make/cut you some glass to size. As Tem says, this is just a flat rectangle (ok, so it's auto-safety glass too I guess). Wouldn't be surprised if someone would fit the demister too.

Autoglass et al. Aren't specialists, they're just dealing with bulk, easy to deal with, and making a mint off the insurance companys.

Tem · August 21, 2003, 07:54

Quote from: "phil4"Wouldn't be surprised if someone would fit the demister too.

You can buy demister kits for about 20 euros. You just put the "stripes" on the glass like it was a window sticker. Bought a set for one of my previous cars that didn't have one at all.

GSB · August 21, 2003, 08:12

Quote from: "Tem"And I'm 101% sure you can have a custom glass to fit there for less than £900 s:shock: :shock: s:shock: After all, it's just a level piece of glass. Over here a custom glass like that would be around 50 euros...that's £30. Obviously it won't have the defroster lines in it, but if you can save £900 by leaving them off s:roll: :roll: s:roll:

Don't buy the full top, if there's nothing wrong with it.

In this case I'd have to say, Get the full top on your insurance for £50, keep the old one, and in the end there will be a softop company taking the initiative and manufacturing direct replacement glass. Then you can have your old top repaired, and keep it in storage or sell it to the next unlucky member...

Tem · August 21, 2003, 08:57

Quote from: "GSB"In this case I'd have to say, Get the full top on your insurance for £50

Btw, can you get a refund from insurance to repair the damage yourself?

Over here insurance companies offer some 50-75% of what it would cost if Toyota repaired the damage. Cheaper for insurance company, cause they don't have to pay the full price. And cheaper for the customer, if he can get it fixed for less. I was thinking about this, as it's quite normal in Finland...didn't realize it might not be so common in UK..?

spyderman · August 31, 2003, 15:46

ive got an extra glass if anyone is interested.