Are some cars prone to windscreen chips?

thescouselander

So I've just changed the windscreen on my car for the second time and the day after a stone hit the new glass making a massive chip that can't be fixed.

It got me thinking are some are some cars more prone to windscreen chips? I've never had to change a windscreen on any other car I've owned nor have any of my previous cars suffered from significant chips. I also drive a lot of miles in hire cars through work and have never had a screen chip even when stones have hit the windscreen.

So what's the issue with my current car - it seems a chip is inevitable any time a stone makes contact with the glass?

agrinnall

If you told us what car it is then other people with the same car could tell you whether they have had problems - at the moment we're all peering through a shattered windscreen.

thescouselander

It's an audi A4 B8

jaydeeuk1

Are you driving it like an Audi driver? I'm guessing not, you should be causing the stone chips, not receiving them - also go faster and tailgate so stones only smack your number plate. HTH

InsideInsurance

The height and angle of the windscreen naturally will impact the chances but so will your driving style etc

thescouselander

InsideInsurance wrote: »

The height and angle of the windscreen naturally will impact the chances but so will your driving style etc

I don't think it's driving style because as I've said no other car I drive suffers from the same problem and I drive the same way whatever car I'm in. I also leave plenty of room to the car in front.

It's not even that my Audi gets a lot of stones hitting the windscreen - it just seems that when a stone does hit it's guaranteed to result in a chip while on other cars it might just bounce off.

Iceweasel

Please sign the e-petition at the bottom of this post.

My windscreen has loads of chips - several of which have been filled and 'invisibly repaired'.

Most of them seem to occur in the same area on both sides of the screen and in my opinion it's partly due to the aerodynamics of the vehicle.

I have 2 fold lines on the bonnet and most of the chips are in line with them.

But whatever car you drive, the chip problem is not helped by the local authority's ploy in using 'Surface Dressing' to repair the roads rather than a proper layer of blacktop.

Surface Dressing involves spraying liquid tar/bitumen or whatever they use and then simply pouring truck-loads of chippings on top.

That's all they do - they rely on the traffic to force the stones into the semi-liquid layer beneath and flatten the surface.

Obviously these chippings are in huge quantities and despite the warning loose chippings signs and slow 20mph signs - hundreds of windscreen are broken, cracked and chipped because of this process.

It's a short lived temporary thing and the process needs to be repeated again the next year and the next ...

It's cheaper in the long run to de a proper re-surfacing.

There is a live e-petition started asking the government to ban these Surface Dressings

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/67408

Please add your name to the 13,664 others who have supported it already - we need 100,000 to get it debated in parliament.

OnanTheBarbarian

I had an Alfa 164 years and years ago and they were well known for suffering windscreen chips and cracks as the glass was allegedly quite thin.

Mr_Mink

Iceweasel wrote: »

Please sign the e-petition at the bottom of this post.

Haven't had a problem with chipped windscreens since my old Pug 106 but this petition needs signing even if chips aren't a problem. We need properly laid roads.

PDC

Agree about 'surface dressing' - Not windscreen chips here but have gone through four fog lights in the last two years since they started doing it round here.

InsideInsurance

thescouselander wrote: »

I don't think it's driving style because as I've said no other car I drive suffers from the same problem and I drive the same way whatever car I'm in. I also leave plenty of room to the car in front.

It's not even that my Audi gets a lot of stones hitting the windscreen - it just seems that when a stone does hit it's guaranteed to result in a chip while on other cars it might just bounce off.

Well if your driving style is consistent in all the cars you drive then its only the other two factors effecting things.

I have to say that my merc is suffering much more from stone chips than my former VW. Had at least 8 in 18 months -v- 1 in 5 years with the VW. I suspect I am doing a bit more motorway travel and possibly a little faster driving (:A) but not any closer to vehicles infront etc so guessing its the lower profile of the car thats doing it.