Jkw

Woke up this morning to a broken Windsheild, Looks like some @#*$@ took a Hammer to it!
Mercedes wants $356 for Glass + $100 glazing kit + $330 installation ,
Safelite wants $354 Installed.
Besides not having the honor of having "Mercedes" eatched on the glass,
Is there a reason I shouldn't get the Safelite Glass?
Thanks Jkw

johnp

I had to replace my windshield and Safelite did it. I have rain sensing wipers and they got the proper glass from the dealer,who wanted $1200!!! to replace windshield. They did a pretty good job and it took about 1hr. You can go back to the dealer and for a couple bucks,replace the sticker so everything looks original.

CitronC230K_03

i still need to get the sticker installed on my new windshield.

Justinius7

I know from personal experience...

When I bought my coupe, whoever had it before me (i bought used) had replaced the windshield. WELL, the didn't replace it with OEM Benz, but some aftermarket one. Sure enough........ Auto wipers sometimes worked, but usually not... also auto lights were quite sparatic.

Fortuantly i noticed the auto lights were kinda funny when the salesman was "doing that show me how to drive the car speech mercedes requires them to do" So i had it written up. OTHERWISE, i would have been stuck with 2 AWESOME features that would be completly worthless.

If you don't have auto-wipers... Then save your money! as auto lights, well they just don't come on when you drive into parking garages or under bridges and tunnels. THEY do however still work at night and late dusk.

MJ50

it's not the windshield, but my driver's side window was shattered yesterday by some punk who took bunch of coins only (worth < $5)... i called up safelite and they are coming this afternoon for installation.

Justinius7

FYI... i think benz offeres 2 tints.... a blue and a brown... just make sure you get the right color.

MJ50

i believe it's green or blue...
installer guy cracked the tweeter speaker grille...

Moviela

MJ50,
Sorry to hear about your broken glass. Then the broken speaker grille. I bet the last time he worked on a Benz was never.

Bad part of the whole thing is that the cops could not be less interested in finding the culprit, or being visible in the area to at least deter street crime.

I am curious though, did the alarm go off when the glass was broken?

Cappa26

My alarm went off when my car was lifted by a shop life to install rims...

raymond g-

Some have cautioned that stickers found on Ebay are bogus. But for this
small sum I don't worry about the authenticity...depending on whether I
can get this from dealer or not. Just be aware that there are several
legit variations/names/signatures used at this time, depending on the
year/model.

MJ50

i don't think alarm went off...
i believe alarm goes off if the door is opened or car is lifted...
factory alarm doesn't have sensors and hittin' the glass or breaking it won't trigger the alarm...

safelite will come on saturday/monday to replace the broken tweeter cover...

Jkw

Thanks for your advice, I've decided to have the Windshield replaced by Mercedes, $910. This way if there is a problem it's there problem. The work will be done tomorrow, they had to order the windshield, I made sure it was Blue.

Safelite offered the Blue glass w/ a dark band across the top, I’ve had the dark band in all my other cars and missed it in the Benz, I haven’t seen it on a C class before.

About the sticker, mine has the Mercedes signature I think the new one says
Daimler-Chrysler. Oh well.

I don’t believe the Alarm went off.
Jkw

johnp

Dont be suprised if the dealer farms this out to somebdy like Safelite

integlikewhoa

LOL ill put money saying thats whats going to happen. People think the stealers are giving them some special treatment. (i work in a family owned tranny shop) They not much diff they any other indepently owned shop. Each does things a bit differently and each does whats going to make moeny. Same if the car came in here ill take that job in. But dont think im any magic glass worker. Im going to call the glass guy have him come out and put the glass in there chagre you 50-100 bucks more. i say 80-90% chance the dealer is going to do the same but mark it up around 300-400 more then what they pay for it. And all they did was make a phone call then make you a bill. Not bad for them. Some easy money. And people will pay for it.

Jkw

Didn't think of that,
I'm gonna sit there & wait and if I see a Safelite truck pull up I'll make a stink.
Jkw

Arn560

I'm in the same position & have been waiting to get some feed back about safe lite B4 forking $1k to MB whaen all they'll do is callup safelite to do the job for them.

integlikewhoa

Every dealer is different. One might do it the other might not. It all depends on which way they think is going to make them more money.

white_w203

my boy works for safelite here and he takes the old sticker from the cracked windshield and puts it on the new windshield. keeps the oem look.

Amy_fl

Is this the sticker on the passenger side of the windshield? What does the sticker say? The dealership scraped mine off along with the window stickers...

mbbodytech

Douglas, we can do that at the same time as your IMS. I have a few.

As far as buying the stickers, Saprissa did a really nice post on all of the different variations of the stickers that are available, including part numbers. Check it out. And, they aren't very expensive.

The main problem with the rain and light sensor not working correctly can be down to a few things:

1. Non oem glass may not have the correct lens for the rain sensor to attach to, thus it can't work correctly.

2. Anytime a windshield is replaced (even OEM), it is necessary to carry out an "initialization" of the rain sensor. This accounts for slight production tolerances in the tint of the windshield, lens, and attachment glue for the lens. If this is not done, the wipers will act erratic when in the intermittent mode.

3. There is actually version coding for the color of the windshield. I'm pretty sure the 203 only has two colors of glass, green and blue. However, there are up to 11 different versions of a windshield for a 211, and if the control unit reading in the rain sensor isn't set on the color of the windshield, then you can have big problems. If you just make sure to put the same one back that you took out, everything will be fine.

One more thing about dealerships and windshield installations: There is a specific adhesive to be used in replacing an MB windshield. If you take your car to Safelite, you aren't getting the right stuff. You are getting a $15 tube of whatever they have. And, that also goes for a dealer who sublets the work out. Do the research and find a dealer who does the work themself and suck it up an pay for it. That's the price of having a technologically advanced car.

CitronC230K_03

i will. once my car gets from the body shop, or when i know about how long, ill PM you to arrange the install date for IMS.

Jkw

Picked car up, all went well, My dealer says they do there own work, I didn't see a safelite truck in site. $468 for labor @ $95 a hr, so that's almost 5 hrs of labor, I guess the teck had to watch the glue dry. I'm in the wrong business!
I now have a Daimler-Chrysler sticker so I'm interested in a Mercedes one.
Jkw
Enjoy your weekend, another nice one here on the East Coast.

mbbodytech

Could you post a picture of the "DaimlerChrysler" sticker? I haven't seen one, and the thought disturbs me alot!

integlikewhoa

Yea lets see that bad boy! I wounder how much the value of the MB just droped with that nice lil chrysler sticker?

Jkw

Sorry this took so long. I guess it doesn't look that bad, at least that's what I tell myself.
Jkw