Are motorhomes rougher on windscreens than cars are?

[Folkranger]

Today Autoglass are going to repair my windscreen, it has a 6mm size chip. This was picked up as an advisory on my MOT last year. I had not noticed it before as it was very small, maybe less than one millimetre. So, in 10 months it has grown considerably.

My last car had quite a number of small chips when first bought and 5 years later they had not got any bigger. I wonder whether the hard suspension on the motoorhome plays a bigger toll on any existing chips.

 

[ivorantony]

In a word yes, a larger area will obviously be more susceptible to stone damage,
And I’m sure glass thickness is reduced on large screens to keep weight down so would also make the screens more likely to crack from impact damage,

 

[EuroTrotters]

Our frankia windscreen was like chocolate.

Had numerous chips and was repaired twice and eventually replaced.

Our current old Hymer, we have had twice as long, not a blemish.

 

[franknjan]

We're on our 4th windscreen in 13 years.

 

[Jez1966]

To me the key difference is windscreen angle to road.
A class, near vertical, B & C windscreen steeper than most cars so impact into windscreen, for the same "stone", will be greater than car.

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[nicholsong]

I was interpreting the OP's question as were MH windscreens more likely to spread a chip more quickly.

I do not know the answer but ask Autoglass and others.

I may depend on how much residual pressure is left on the screen after fitting.

 

[Montezuma]

I have had to have new windscreens fitted on every motorhome I have owned.

Mind you that is only three vehicles in over 25 years, BUT, of all the cars that I owned I have never had to have a screen replaced, ever; . . . . . and there have been quite a few cars over the years.

I have had repairs carried out to a car windscreen on just one occasion.

In each case, the motorhome windscreens were damaged by stones thrown up by passing HGVs, and in each case the impact was near the edge of the screen.

Similarly, in each case the initial damage slowly grew into a crack that slowly, but surely, spread, in some cases seemingly exacerbated by the hot Spanish, or French, sun.

I have had a hefty windscreen-strike in the 'passenger-view' area without the damage being too severe. It was repaired.

One of the 'Windscreen Repair Artists' who replaced the last screen, enlightened me with the information that the windscreen is designed to take a proportion of the overall structural stresses and strains which are inevitably placed upon upon the vehicle. So I dunno if motorhome screens are any thinner, or thicker, than would be a screen on a car. I would be inclined to think that there ain't a lot of difference. I could be wrong, . . . . the wife says that I often am.

Regardless,this leads me to think that the rigidity of the screen's periphery, compared to there being a little more flexibility (?) in the central area, contributes to the fact that a failure occurs. Maybe that's cobblers ?

There are obviously many contributing factors in this issue, the speed at which the vehicle is travelling, the size of the object that strikes the screen, the angle at which the screen is pitched, whereabouts the object strikes the screen, and umpteen others.

I would conclude that motorhomes are more susceptible to windscreen damage, (where the screen has to be replaced), than are cars.

 

[Folkranger]

I was interpreting the OP's question as were MH windscreens more likely to spread a chip more quickly.

I do not know the answer but ask Autoglass and others.

I may depend on how much residual pressure is left on the screen after fitting.

That's right. This is my fourth motorhome in near 20 years and the first one with windscreen damage so I wasn't questioning their ability to withstand chips, just whether they would spread a chip more. The repair has now beeen carried out and looks good.

 

[Badknee]

After contact with debris resulting in a bullseye chip flexibility of the windscreen frame will put pressure on the damage. If the frame twists so will the screen causing cracks. I had a small crack in one and went over a horrendous pothole and it went from top to bottom in an instant.

 

[Folkranger]

We're on our 4th windscreen in 13 years.

You'r e an animal

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[Folkranger]

After contact with debris resulting in a bullseye chip flexibility of the windscreen frame will put pressure on the damage. If the frame twists so will the screen causing cracks. I had a small crack in one and went over a horrendous pothole and it went from top to bottom in an instant.

That sounds entirely plausible. At least mine didn't crack. The initial speck simply became a bigger shell like indent. I believe this may have happened over winter lay-up as I noticed it on the first van wash in March but hadn't notice it on my last trip last October.

 

[Tonks]

I've never had a car windscreen replaced, but the van had to have a new one last year. It had had a chip in for a long time after a bolt hit it on the M4 in 2017, but last year it developed a crack at the base of the screen, and one day I noticed that it had lengthened considerably, to the point the screen had to be replaced. Which turned out to be a massive hassle because the insurance-approved screen replacers made a massive fuss about the hardwired dash cam and insisted it was removed before they would do the screen replacement. I thought this very odd since dash cams are hardly rare, and I was even more annoyed when I took the van in, and the vehicle in front of us had a dash cam which was removed and re-fitted as part of the screen replacement process!

Anyhow, one screen in 13 years of van ownership isn't too bad, I feel. However, with the shocking state of the roads these days I think my chances of going another 13 years are probably rather slim as the potholes and smashed up road edges have a tendency to supply all kinds of windscreen damaging missiles.

 

[cyberyacht]

As stated earlier, impact is more direct off relatively vertical motorhome screens rather than ricochet off car screens which have a considerable slope. Presumably coaches and lorries face a similar problem or does their increased height mitigate it. Any Concorde or Morelo or other vertiginous RV owners care to comment?

 

[Pausim]

I have watched a windscreen chip spread into cracks in cold weather. The fitter who replaced it said the cold air on the outside and the warm air from the screen vents on the inside increased the stresses in the glass. He also said get the chips repaired as soon as possible so the damage doesn’t spread.

 

[Folkranger]

I have watched a windscreen chip spread into cracks in cold weather. The fitter who replaced it said the cold air on the outside and the warm air from the screen vents on the inside increased the stresses in the glass. He also said get the chips repaired as soon as possible so the damage doesn’t spread.

Except they wont repair them under the size of a match head.

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[Vanman]

I sometimes wonder if people who drive too close to the vehicle in front suffer more chipped and broken windscreens. Thrown up debris does seem the likely culprit, but if there's open road ahead of you

(Fingers crossed that I haven't just jinxed myself )

 

[Folkranger]

I sometimes wonder if people who drive too close to the vehicle in front suffer more chipped and broken windscreens. Thrown up debris does seem the likely culprit, but if there's open road ahead of you

(Fingers crossed that I haven't just jinxed myself )

I'm definitely not that guy. I keep a good length of braking distance. Problem is others take advantage of this and seeing a motorhome, have to pass, at which point they usually cut right in front of me and cause me to have to drop back.