Windshield Woes - Part 2

I wrote a blog last week entitled:

Winsheild Woes - Why Listen to a Woman?

 Please read that one if you want to catch up before you read this blog.

We got the call from Tri City glass on Monday that the new windshields were in and I was assured that they were measured and were the correct ones. I made the appointment for Wednesday morning 8 a.m. to go in and get them done.

Of course on Wednesday, we woke up to the most humid horrible day of the year so far. EWWWWW

We fired up the generator and cooled the motorhome down with the roof air conditioners before I took off and drove it to Tri City Glass in Appleton. Steve had to go to work, so this was all on me. I got there in time and carefully backed the rig along the shaded treeline of their rear parking area. The roof airs were still going to keep the interior nice and cool. I had my coffee and my knitting to keep me occupied until 8am when they opened.

They were ready for me right away at 8 am and had me maneuver the rig carefully into their loading bay to do the repair.  I snugged up the nose right tight to edge of their loading dock so they could reach easily.  It's much better than trying to do it out in a hot steamy parkinglot, for sure!

A guy named Neil came to prep. I asked him to actually hold the passenger side windshield up to the front of the rig and dry fit it against the glass--- even with the old glass in place. I insisted it was to make sure the curve was right on each side plus the measurements correct.  He agreed, after I told him what happened last week.

WINNER WINNER 

CHICKEN DINNER! 

The window was RIGHT this time! 

Everything was good to go, Neil started removing the old passenger window and prepping the area for the installation. There is a thin bead of rubber rope material that is removed first from the outer surface of the seal. It helps wedge the rubber right tight to the glass.

If you cut the seal crossways to look at it from a side view it would be like a fat letter K. The bottom opening in the K sets over the fiberglass opening of the body. The upper opening of the K is where the glass is set into. And the groove along the side is where the thin rubber beading is tucked into place.  The backside of the K is facing the interior of the motorhome.

The seal looks like this: 

He had to run some primer around the edge of the fiberglass and then a very thin bead of some Dow 4200 fast cure marine sealant. This was for the edge of the fiberglass where the bottom portion of the rubber seal would meet. The upper portion where the rubber meets the glass does not require any sealant.  He cleaned up and softened the rubber for the installation of the new windshield piece.

Now it was time to put in the new glass! 

We had to wait a little while for Randy to get there from the Green Bay factory where our son works. I had firmly requested on Monday that he come back for the installation because he really seemed to know what he was doing last week. He was skilled when it came to the actual window removal and replacement. I was confident he would do a good job, knowing that now the window was the RIGHT SIZED one.

Randy came soon and joined up with Neil to get to work. Once these two got started there was no stopping them!

With some grunting and groaning and shifting and tapping they were soon able to get the new piece into place. I got to help by holding back the windshield wiper mechanism, and then from the inside by helping to hold back the rubber in places while they worked to adjust the windshield into the correct position. It was very interesting to watch them work.

They have little claw like tools

 that run along the edge of the window

 that does not harm the glass.

 It pulls back the rubber seal just enough 

to get the glass to settle into place. 

It's important to get the glass centered in the opening,

 so it is not binding against the frame in some spots

or popping out of the rubber seal in others! 

There we go!

One done --- one to go ---

This was sure going a lot better than last week, for sure. 

Now it was time for the driver side window.

I stopped the guys midstream and asked them to measure and dry fit the second piece too.  Just in case.... because it appeared the box had not been opened nor the second windshield removed to be measured yet.  (I had been told in advance on the phone that the manager Craig had verified they were both right and measured correctly.. hmmmmm?) 

I was not taking ANY chances ... and was not satisfied until Neil and Randy held up the second windshield into place to be sure that BOTH pieces were correct... not assuming just because one was correct, that the other should be too! 

This one was tougher to get out and it broke in two different places during the removal process. Hearing the glass crack is sure scary!

Boy oh boy, am I glad they didn't start with this one last week because we would have sat with a broken windshield for a week while waiting for the correct replacements.

They got it all out and were prepping the area for the sealant and put the rubber seal back into place.

It was blazing hot and humid outside, but we were pretty cool inside the loading dock area. I still had the generator running while inside because the back large door was open. They said it was okay to leave it running.  The interior of my motorhome was nice and cool.  (even with big gaping holes of windshields missing from time to time... LOL)

I got to help with the wiper and the rubber around the edges. Randy got it shifted right into the exact spot and soon had all the rubber back into place. Once the windshield was in, then the extra thin rope beading of rubber is inserted to the seal all of the way around to wedge the rubber even tighter against the glass.

Both guys carefully inspected the Rubber seal all the way around inside and outside on both windows to make sure it was snug and fit tightly.

My oh my ---

Men who wash windows! 

That is every woman's dream

I went inside to sign the final papers and pay the $500 deductible that our insurance required for the windshield replacement. The total bill was just under $3,000!  Thank you, American Family and Leah Burg and Sarah Kopf!

I was cautioned not to drive on the road for a couple hours just in case, to let the sealants set. It's not that the sealant was actually holding in the windows itself, it's just that it was along the inside edge of the rubber seal by the body opening.

One of the guys stood out back as a spotter and stopped traffic for me. I could back out into the road and reposition the motorhome alongside the shady tree line again.

From start to end, the job took about an hour and a half. These guys really did well and I am very pleased. The job looks good. They didn't damage anything, and I think the first flub with having the wrong windshields shipped by the third party company was frustrating for everyone all around. Yes, they didn't measure the first time before removing a window, like I had asked.  But this time they were really very, very cautious!  (with myself being a WatchDog might have something to do with it?)

~~~~~~~~

Well, with two and a half hours to go I decided to walk over to my favorite little thrift shop that was a few buildings down the road. I found a few little treasures but up near the front I found some wonderful large cones of Shetland wool from a factory in Scotland! There were also cones of another favorite brand called Jaggerspun wool and then even a cone of cotton and linen blend.

Yarns like this are generally in the $20 to $30 a pound range. Most of these cones were three to five pounds. They were marked $6.99 for the large ones and $4.99 for the smaller ones. I asked the manager when was their pink tag 50% off day so I could come back and get them for half price. I explained I lived 30 plus miles away and was just in town for service on a vehicle. She said it wouldn't be until Friday, but she gave me the half price deal today if I bought a bunch of cones to get them off her shelf!   LOL ... gladly!

I went home with all of these for less than $40!

The cone of cotton linen blend is great for kitchen towels woven on my looms. These cones of wool yarn are good for making socks on my sock knitting machine. Thin strands can sometimes be combined into combinations to be thick enough for the sock machine. They make interesting patterned socks.

I hauled the cones back to the motorhome in the heat of the noonday tropical blast of humidity.  ICKY!


Not only was it a wonderful day that the windshields got done, but I found a bargain besides.

At noon I fired up the rig and drove on home with no incident. It is now safely parked in the yard and Steve was able to come home from work and examine the fine job that was done. He is pleased and we are happy to say we now have two new windshields that are free of chips or repairs.

I am happy to have remained with the rig during the repairs and able to take photos too. I explained to the workers that I write a travel blog with over 20,000 visits a month.  Yup, over 20,000 times, people tune in each month to read the words I happen to type!  Amazing to me-----

As for the post about the actual replacement work, I found it interesting and hope my other RV readers enjoy reading about the procedure.  By reading other RV blogs and posts, we often learn a lot of what to do or not do when faced with a similar situation.

I hope that Tri City Glass, American Family Insurance and Safelite companies work well for everyone, not just someone documenting and publishing their process.

I also hope that next time someone pays attention when a customer makes a suggestion of making SURE things that the new items are double-checked before dismantling someone's property!!

Whether it's a man or a woman shouldn't make any difference in today's world, but sometimes it does.  **Sigh**  Next time I am faced with this type of situation, I am going to have to be even more forceful. Too bad that women who are forceful are labeled as "B*tches" in our society, while in contrast, a forceful man is considered being "Strong and has Leadership Qualities".  Just something to think about in our present society and political climate.

As a fellow Safari-owning friend Mel stated: "Karen...Happy to hear that they finally got it right....(Sadly we have to become an expert at everything to get any coach work done correctly by "professionals")."

Windshield Woes - Why listen to a Woman???

It's an interesting world we live in.

Now this is going to sound like I'm complaining, but actually it could have been much worse.  I thought I would write about it anyhow.

Why listen to a woman? Especially when she says the most sensible thing? My goodness, what would a woman know about motorhomes, or windshields, or cutting and pasting and replacing? Making sure pieces fit BEFORE you start a job?

Our motorhome has two very large (and expensive) windshields. 

The morning started out with Steve driving the motorhome and I followed with the car up to Tri City Glass in Appleton. Both of the windshields that were ordered had finally arrived and were going to be installed. We had food and dogs aboard because we had to stay for 24 hours afterwards before moving the rig to drive it home.  I stated in yesterday's blog why we hesitate to ever leave our rig anywhere without us supervising.  So it was our choice to stay in the rig in their lot overnight.

Bear in mind that there are four different companies involved here.

1. American Family Insurance which approved the windshield replacement due to the rocks and debris that flew up when a semi truck tire blew in front of us. 
2. The second company involved is Safelite which actually handles the windshield replacement process. They of course do not carry large special-order windshields in their inventory so the actual acquisition of the windshields is farmed out to a third company. 
3. Some unknown person at a third company took the order and had the two windshield pieces and new rubber trim seals shipped out to our state. 
4. The fourth company is Tri City Glass which has been contracted to just remove the old windshields and install the new ones. They are the closest location able to handle such a large installation. 

So since mid-May all four of these companies had to coordinate and work together to approve, find, order, accept delivery, and now finally do the replacement. This is quite an expensive process, and we are paying a $500 deductible.  The total cost is about $2,000-3,000 ~!~~!

We weren't in any super rush because the existing repaired chips were still holding. They had been repaired in May, as well as seven other repairs in the past. One spot was spreading but not too bad yet. Of course, at any time, it could crack the entire windshield. That is why Safelite recommended replacing both of the windshield pieces on each side because they are so compromised.

We arrived early for our appointment at Tri City.  We chatted with a worker, and then with the supervisor, and they told us where to park to wait until it was our turn to pull around back into the loading dock. That was the only facility door that was tall enough to accept us.

We were sitting in a shady area with the generator running and the AC conditioner on the roof going. It was getting very hot but we were quite comfortable inside with the dogs. Steve finished his second cup of coffee with me and headed off to work so I was on my own.

The workers at Tri-City were very nice I am not trying to diss them by writing this. They are only doing what their boss tells them to do. They came over and wrote up a report, and inspecting any pre-existing damage and making sure that they wouldn't get blamed for any old damage to the front of the rig.

From there I was instructed to drive the rig straight on into their shipping and receiving bay. A worker helped guide me in and we got it placed in a good position so they could work on it.

This is where things got a little goofy. I was talking with their supervisor and he was informing me about the process. I asked him pointedly--- "Are you going to measure the new windshields before you pull out the old ones to make sure they are an exact replacements?" I feel like my question was sluffed off and didn't have any credence or value.

We had been forewarned that the rig would have to stay overnight at the lot. We had been making arrangements about where to park in their small lot afterwards.... We couldn't stay in the shipping bay around back because they had more trucks coming in.  The workers were trying to find a spot that we could plug in and not be in the way of their regular automotive bays. There was another motorhome along side the building getting worked on and they hoped we could move into that spot once the work was done. They don't have a lot of room on their lot, so we were a bit concerned.

I didn't want to have to run the generator in the high heat.  I was worried about a 20amp plug not being enough to run at least one roof air.

But, now I was nicely informed that we would NOT have to spend 24 hours on site for the seal to cure, because the seal is the type that doesn't need adhesive.  That was good news. So this set my mind at ease about not having to sit there for 24 hours in the heat with the dogs.

Little did I know, that should have been the least of my concerns.  LOL

I went back over to my rig and snapped a few photos with permission from the workers.  Joking with one of them who also happens to work with our son at the Green Bay plant. I went inside only to find the workers already removing the windshield. I had assumed their boss had instructed them to measure the new windshields before removing the old one, ya know, like I had asked.

It was kinda nice being able to stay in the rig anyhow rather than sitting in a waiting room.

Little did I know...

Well, they got the window out and inspected the rubber seal. We were hoping to reuse the same seals so we didn't have to adapt new ones to all of the curves. It looks good. They soaked everything down with a spray to soften the seal and proceeded to put in the new windshield.  I REALLY liked the dark blue sun visor section, which will match nicely with our rig.

Everything was looking good until they realized the new piece of glass was TOO WIDE!!!! The entire windshield was fitting top to bottom but the side to side was about three to four inches too wide!

The guys scrambled and measured and fitted and then went and told their boss what happened.

This is where we are extremely fortunate and why I am not overly upset. Why? Because --- luckily ---the original window had not broken while they were removing it nor had the seal been destroyed.

These two guys worked really really hard to get the original window back into place in the seal all back where it needed to go. I even helped in some parts by holding the windshield wiper out of the way or helping to guide the seal into place. I even held the flashlight for a while to see up underneath the edge of the overhang for them to finish tucking the seal back where it belongs. They worked really hard and got it all back into place. Fortunately no additional cracking or spidering of the chips.

They went back and forth with their boss a couple times trying to figure out what to do, and the boss was on the phone back and forth with the other companies involved in the chain of command! LOL

I got apologies all around from them, and the Safelite company, and our insurance company. The only ones being a bugger are the actual third party windshield suppliers themselves. They are trying to point fingers at everybody else --- but they were the ones supplied with the exact replacement number printed on the original windows.

The two hardworking guys packaged up the two new windshields to be shipped back to the company.

The manager was very apologetic and was going to try to force the issue with the supplier and get two new windows shipped there of the correct size overnight and I could wait for them. Seeing as we are due for hot miserable horrible weather I said don't push it. Get the right windows. And let me know. And I will come back. Now that we know we can fit nicely into their loading dock bay and the work will be done by these two very hard workers.  I drove the rig back home to our yard, safe and sound.

I did ask my great insurance gal Sarah what would have happened if the original window would have been broken and unable to be put back into place?   Just curious. We assume it would have been a huge hassle with forcing them to secure our rig at another location in a weatherproof storage facility and have it towed ($$$) because it would not be safe to drive with a windshield missing!  Or else tow it all the way back 30+ miles to our house and let us tarp and tape it all off with plastic until the new pieces would arrive?  Either way, it would have cost time, trouble and bad feelings all around.  Sooooo glad the original was able to be put back in!

I just wish they had listened to a woman first.