Lancia Motor Club

Hi all,

My Fulvia SII '73 Coupe windscreen has a couple of small cracks in one edge.  I think it is original glass and am wondering if it is worth trying repairing the cracks rather than an expensive replacement.  Has anyone any experience of this? 

My main worry is that the glass may be toughened rather than laminated but I can't tell from the Sicursiv codes.  Can anyone confirm which it will be?  My TripleX windscreens of the same period are marked 'toughened' so I just wonder, having no knowledge of Sicursiv.

Thank you for your help!

Robert

I don't think toughened glass can crack? It just shatters into an awful lot of bits that'll rattle around the car forever. You can never get the last few bits...
Guy

I think you will find it is a laminated screen, as far as I know all Fulvias are laminated. It might be repairable in that case.

I've had chips repaired in the past, if it is a big chip you might still be able to tell where it was but it shouldn't be an issue. Quite likely if you don't get a chip repaired it will crack and a replacement screen will be needed.

I seem to remember that some toughened screens had a strengthen zone in front of the drivers  field of view.
This was designed to allow some vision in the event of a broken screen. This area of glass could be seen if screen viewed at an angle.
Had a brand name of safety zone ??
Maurice

Thank you all.  You are confirming what I was thinking and it's always good to have more expert opinions.  A lot of British cars, like my Triumphs, had/still have 'zone-toughened' TripleX screens that are clearly marked but the Sicursiv screen on the Fulvia has only some codes that I can't track down.  The cracks are about 70-90mm and I will find out if a repair can stop them growing (which they haven't done so far).  Thanks again!

I doubt a repair is available for a crack especially that long.

What about widescreen insurance?

Laminated for sure.  If the screen is otherwise OK and not badly scratched then a repair is eminently doable and worth it.    If it all goes wrong, Omicron have screens though I do not know how much as mine was replaced under insurance (Hit a moorland pony which galloped off so I guess it survived!).  Go down to your local windscreenist and ask!

Update: Thank you again, everyone.  Encouraged by your comments, I got our local SuperGlass man to take a look.  He advised that the cracks were in the underside layer of glass and they were told not to repair in that case but, as this was a one off, he'd give it a go and hope that a layer of tape on the underside would retain the resin.  In the process, we confirmed that (a) it is laminated, (b) the tape did retain fluid, and (c) that, due to refraction, it is difficult to drill accurately through the upper layer into the crack below the plastic layer.  However, in the end he succeeded in rebonding both cracks without causing more damage at a cost of £60 +VAT so well worth the experiment.  We both learned a lot!  Happily, the cracks are in front of the mirror/tax disc holder and so any remaining blemishes are not very visible.  We'll see how it goes.