CLK windscreen help needed, please.

[DaveA]

Hi, I last posted here when we were unfortunate enough to have a tree fall on our CLK while it was parked . The damage at first glance looked minor, but we now have the car back, and the total bill has come close to £10k. Luckily the tree's owners/insurers have accepted full liability!

The repairs do seem to have been carried out to a very high standard and there are absolutely no signs of the damage. However, one of the parts replaced was the windscreen. The original screen was tinted green (matching the rest of the body glass) and had a sun strip across the top. The replacement is not green, only lightly smoked, with no sun strip. From inside the car the difference is very obvious.

My wife has just taken the car back to the dealer to look at the screen, and while they agree the colour is different, they insist it is the correct screen. They checked the part number to the VIN and said there are only two screens for our car, one with and one without rain sensors (ours is without). My wife protested that it is different to the screen it originally had and an officious "jobsworth" was called out of the workshop to tell her that she was imagining it. I will be making a complaint about this, as my wife was quite upset by this man's attitude and rudeness.

Anyway, I would appreciate it if any helpful person on here could confirm our suspicions that the wrong screen has been fitted. Are we imagining it or would our original windscreen have had the same colour and density as the rest of the body glass and a sun strip across the top?

The windscreen part number on the paperwork is 208 670 1101 and the VIN is WDB2084482T115485.

Thanks in advance,
Dave

Edit:
Just checked the Russian parts catalogue - it seems the part number is correct.

2086701101 - Windshield - Green heat-absorbing glass;with sun filter

So, what's the possibility that the wrong screens are marked up with the right part number IYSWIM? Or should the windscreen be a different shade to the rest of the body glass?

 

[Flash]

If your car was not purchased brand new by yourselves then my guesses are that the previous windscreen was probably not a OEM or the incorrect one fitted.

I very much doubt that the windscreen has been marked up with the incorrect part no. Does the Stealer not have another windscreen in stock or a W208 for comparison?

No disrespect but in fairness to the Stealer if a customer insisted to myself that the windscreen fitted on the vehicle was incorrect then I would probably get “fed up” and speak my mind IF I had the relevant info to hand to verify that it was the correct windscreen. Yesterday I had to deal with a very “rude” female customer and she looked rather silly when I had proved her wrong – she did annoy me and I was very firm with her but diplomatic! She looked even silly when I had proved her wrong and afterwards changed her tone of voice/attitude.

 

[DaveA]

Hi Flash, thanks for your input.

We're not the first owners of the car, it was 18 months old from Mercedes Direct so we cannot be sure the screen was original.

It has been 4 weeks since the car went in for repair but getting in the car in daylight it is really obvious that the windscreen is a different shade to the rest of the windows. I never noticed before. Is this normal? The dealers response is really quite flippant and condescending - "Yeah, we've checked - they're all the same - it's normal for the front screen to be different."

Well, is it? All the body glass on the car carries the Mercedes star. The rear window glass was replaced with the roof and matches the rest. Should the windscreen really be a lighter shade - is it a feature?

Dave

 

[Flash]

Hi Flash, thanks for your input.

We're not the first owners of the car, it was 18 months old from Mercedes Direct so we cannot be sure the screen was original.

It has been 4 weeks since the car went in for repair but getting in the car in daylight it is really obvious that the windscreen is a different shade to the rest of the windows. I never noticed before. Is this normal? The dealers response is really quite flippant and condescending - "Yeah, we've checked - they're all the same - it's normal for the front screen to be different."

Well, is it? All the body glass on the car carries the Mercedes star. The rear window glass was replaced with the roof and matches the rest. Should the windscreen really be a lighter shade - is it a feature?

Dave

I'll check my W203 if thats any use to yourself for comparison...

PS. Is your car an Avantgarde or a Elegance and I will try and find out as well. Could you pls PM me your chassis/vin details... Elegance/Avantgarde both have different shades/tints for the windscreen.

 

[DaveA]

Thanks again Flash.

I've been searching the internet looking for any information about windscreens - manufactuers, part numbers, codes etc. I now know a lot more about the rules and regulations than I thought I ever would but still very little about the part numbers and windscreen codes.

One particular post caught my attention. It is from a guy with a 1996 W210 (E230) who had a windscreen changed and thought the new one didn't fit correctly. The part numbers/windscreen markings he quotes in his post are exactly the same as mine.....

E1 43R-001047
AS 1M 83-3 DOT25
VSG WD 2121

Unfortunately, this post was in June 2003 and there is no follow-up or resolution. I've checked the Russian parts catalogue again and the part number for an E230 windscreen is completely different (as you might expect) to a CLK - but why would the on screen numbers be exactly the same?!

Dave

 

[Dieselman]

Because the niumbers you mention are to do with production factory and safety rating not part number.


A CLK can come with two basic screens if you ignore rain sensor. They are either green for Elagence or blue for Avantgard.

Place a piece of white paper behind the glass to check the colour.

 

[DaveA]

Hi Dieselman,

Holding a piece of white A4 paper up to the windscreen and the side windows clearly shows that the windscreen is a completely different shade! It is very difficult to tell that the windscreen has any colour in it at all.

 

[Flash]

From all the info that we have to hand I too am now beginning to believe that the windscreen is definitely incorrect and the correct one has not been fitted.

Which body shop did it go to? My theory is possibly that the body shop has invoiced the insurer for the correct OEM windscreen BUT fitted a "generic" cheaper one instead.

 

[Howard]

It should be very obvious if there is a tinted screen and what colour it is ...

Our CLK ( 430 Avantgarde ) has a very blue tint to the screen .....

 

[Dieselman]

Hi Dieselman,

Holding a piece of white A4 paper up to the windscreen and the side windows clearly shows that the windscreen is a completely different shade! It is very difficult to tell that the windscreen has any colour in it at all.

Spray it with water, the colour becomes very obvious.

If it is a genuine MB screen it will have an MB logo and part number on it.
Could it be a solar reflecting screen which will appear grey from the outside?

 

[DaveA]

Hi Flash, Dieselman, Howard thanks again for your help/suggestions.

I feel like I'm banging my head againts a wall here! The insurance company were supposed to be sending an independent engineer out to examine the windscreen tomorrow (Wednesday) but he has just sent an e-mail to say he's not coming now. He does not think it's necessary - he is going to contact the previous owners of the vehicle via Mercedes Direct to see if they ever had the windscreen replaced. I didn't have a problem with the old windscreen! It's the new one that's the wrong colour!

I feel a very strongly worded e-mail coming on. To date, the only person who has looked at the screen is Bob on the service reception at the dealers. Nobody else seems interested in trying to detemine if the right one has been fitted. Everyone else just looks at the paperwork and says, "Yep, it's the right part number guv."

To answer Flash's questions - The dealer the car went to was Mercedes Benz in Canary Wharf but they seem to have subbed out the entire repair process to Avonstrand, part of Balgores Motors in Romford.

 

[Flash]

Dave,

In the mean time send a firm/strong email stating that you are not happy and their response is not good enough. What is the actual part no. on the windscreen now fitted to the car - does it even have the MB star?

 

[DaveA]

Flash,

I've just been over the entire screen, inside and out, with a torch and I cannot see anything on it that looks like an MB part number. To my untrained eye it does look like a genuine MB part though. In the bottom nearside corner of the screen there is a small MB logo with the following numbers below it...

SIGLA
|| E1 (circled) 43R-001047
AS 1 M 83-3 DOT 25
VSG WD 2121
barcode

In the top offside corner there is a hologram sticker (outside) that someone has crudely tried to remove but it is still readable. It carries the MB logo and the code DTF1A002137.

I will rattle a few cages tomorrow, and try and get someone to actually look at the screen to see if it really is a genuine MB part, and more to the point, the correct one. I can't believe it is though, as the tint is so different to rest of the car's glass.

 

[Flash]

as the tint is so different to rest of the car's glass.

The tint should be the same for all windows/glass all round including the windscreen. Do not back down Dave.

Ladies/Gents:
In the mean time if any other W208 owners (especially Cabriolet) on the Forum could please check their windscreens out and the printed details on it then that would be a great help.

 

[pluggers]

I doubt it will be of much use but will give it a go.Just checked mine and its got the same "E1" didn't find any MB logo's just "splintex" and a code 43R 00 8599.Couldn't really tell if its tinted or not so will look tomorrow at work.

 

[Dieselman]

The tint should be the same for all windows/glass all round including the windscreen.

The tint of the screen will almost certainly be lighter.

 

[pluggers]

Have had a good look today and also got a second opinion,Yes the windscreen has a very very slight green tint that was very hard to spot at first. I had a piece of white A4 and had it straggle the drivers door window and the windscreen at the same time and could just pick out the green tint.