champaigntaste

There is a caution inside my Escort radar detector manual which reads:

A few vehicles (including some Porsches) have windshields with a soft anti-lacerative coating on the inside surface. Use of suction cups will permanently mar this coating. Consult your dealership or the vehicle owner's manual to determine if your windshield has this coating.

Anyone know whether this coating exists in the 2004 E500 windshield?

scorchie

Obviously Escort, in recommending that you check with the dealership or owner's manual, didn't know that "everything you read on the internet is true" or they would have suggested checking internet forums!

I think the Valentine One manual does say something about checking forums online for information, so maybe that's why it is the preferred choice of detectors.

Sorry, I don't know about the coating... I am not much help.

-s-

champaigntaste

Your humor was more impressive that what I found in the owner's manual. Perhaps the lack of any information means it doesn't exist. I plan to call my dealership, but I would feel better if what they said was consistent with what other people on the forum might have learned. I'm sure you've noticed that sometimes the dealership (depending on who it is) doesn't know anything either.

scorchie

Trust me, I certainly have seen that the dealership sometimes has some interesting information... like "try some fuel additive in your E55 to stop it from stalling."

To add more uncertainty, my memory indicates that the Mercedes windshields are two sections of glass fused with plastic. But on the otherhand I thought that all windshields had a plastic inner coating. So that would be conflicting info... you may want to try calling a REPUTABLE glass replacement shop?

-s-

BoSoxFan

I think that the inner coating is the coating in between the two layers of glass. I guess it depends on what the meaning of "inner" is or to quote a famous American, "it depends on what the meaning of 'is' is." Anyhow, I always understood that safety or windshield glass consisted of two layers of glass bonded by an inbetween layer of plastic. One of the purposes of the plastic is to hold the glass on impact and prevent it from splintering and flying off in all directions. I believe that the glass is also tempered to increase strength and prevent splintering. The anti-lacerative coating must be another coat of plastic on the outer surface of the part of the glass on the inside of the car which is also intended to prevent splinters from flying off and causing lacerations. I've never heard of it before though and it was certainly not on any of the 4 Porsches that I've owned.

TPAbnz

I'd never rely on verbal representations by the dealer. Send MBUSA an email and ask if suction-mounted accessories will damage the windshield. You'll get your answer and they've committed their position in writing.