Got home the other evening and as I parked up I watched a crack develop in the front windscreen top to bottom. No chips no other marks to cause it - it was surreal watching it spreading.

New screen being fitted tomorrow so there goes another £60 excess to pay.

In trying to find a reason for this happening I wondered if using the heated screen in the very cold and icy conditions we have been having on the Pennines has anything to do with it; but I would have thought LR had got that one covered before they were fitted. That is what the heated screen is for.

Not done too bad though as last windscreen I had to have replaced on a car was over 35 years ago. When that one went it was spectacular with small glass fragments going everywhere.

Doubt it was the cold temperature, i used my heated screen in -18 in France last year and -10 in Switzerland for a week without problems. There may well have a small chip in the screen that caused the screen to crack.

could have been a chip right on the edge or uneven fitting or a mixture of both

if you believe there is no, chip or anything that might have caused it and your on the original screen, take it up with LR if you are under warranty could have been installed incorrectly on the production line Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

I think the original fitting was OK as the car is just over 2 years old and has covered 40K on all sorts of surfaces.

I would have expected problems before now if fitting had been the issue.

Just had a call from the windscreen fitters telling me the screens are on back order and will now, hopefully, be Tuesday next week.

When they take the original screen out make sure theres no rogue spot weld flares or burrs that could contact the screen glass when its fitted in the body as this will cause a crack to start over time, it does happen!

Thanks for the heads up MG.

Not something I would have immediately thought about.

I had a scree once that just popped, no reason, no traffic about, was in the early hours, for about five minutes prior to it going I could hear something crackling, just as though someone was throwing shale at the screen, then it just shattered.

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I know a lad who had a Focus ST a few years back. His screen (heated) just cracked. No chip beforehand. Ford replaced the screen under warrenty. Is it not worth going to the local dealer and asking? Might save 60 quid and any increase in insurance premiums due to claiming? Black MY2013 SD4 GS Auto, Wood Company Armrest, Freel2 sticker.
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What's a erth? Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

FFS your both as bad as one another

I forgot which letter was missing when typing it  Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

Well I did tell them first thing this morning not to try and get to me today to fit the new windscreen as the weather was turning for the worse - again. Snow then rain then more snow. Then at about 2pm serious snow and high winds that blew the snow off the fields and onto the roads.

I then got a call from the windscreen company saying that their van was stuck on the hill above my home and they could not reverse and were scared to try and go forwards. They were right to be scared as the hill is 1 in 4 and 1 in 3 in places, single track, stone walls on each side and sharp bends.

I said that I would go up and try and pull them back onto the flat road at the top of the hill but would have to go down my 1 in 3 and go round and up to them from the top road.

Snow mode,HDC and Wintrac tyres got me down the hill through 2ft drifts driving blind as the snow was horizontal as it blew off the fields.

That was the easy bit...

Getting back up one of the other hills to come round to the screen fitters was much more an adventure.

Narrow road with steep up hill gradient, up past a school to a bus turning circle. The road bends and climbs even more before leveling off on the top road.

Got up close to the school to find a double deck bus stuck, several cars, parents picking up their kids, were either parked and going no where or were trying to go up hill/down hill and not getting very far.

I managed to squeeze through the gaps that were left hoping the LR would not slide into any of these motors. I did not have to worry as I slowly and carefully weaved through them. The Auto box was a dream as it allowed me to drive very slowly and just point and go.

The further I went up the hill it was like driving in a documentary at the North Pole. 300 yards steep hill with a sharp left hand bend 100 yards and then onto the flatter road at the top. LR went up as though it was dry tarmac and not and 6+ inch of very slippery snow. I took the left hander with ease and was met with absolute carnage with several cars stuck at various angles after hitting/sliding into the stone walls. Two cars had turned right off the top road to come down hill, one had managed to climb up the wall on its nearside and was leaning over at an angle, the other had managed to climb the 4ft high wall and ended up on its side in the field.

I did manage to get to the windscreen fitters van but a neighbour friend had already found them and, with his Discovery, was having some probs pulling them backwards up the hill. It was slow progress but he did manage it and we got the fitters onto the top road to head back to the M62 back to Manchester.

My only way back home was via Huddersfield town centre 6 miles away which, by the way, was totally clear of snow.

Two hours later I got back to my home still with the LR's windscreen still cracked and now runs from the top edge to bottom edge. At least it can't go any further.

Hopefully on Friday they will get to me this time and I will have a brand new windscreen fitted.

The present screen was a bit dirty anyway so it needed changing.

Will the windscreen ever get changed? Watch this space as anything can happen up the Colne Valley before Friday!

Sounds like you got it bad, I got about a quarter inch in leeds  Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

Now melting like mad - worse probs though in the morning as it is likely to freeze.

HDC & Wintracs can't help with that on a 1 in 3 hill!