My parts truck has a good heated windscreen and I'd like to salvage it for one of my other trucks. I have a local glass guy who's done a few of my other cars but they are old school gasket-type installs. He tells me that the Disco is "not a real friendly windshield to remove without damaging" but also that he doesn't have a lot of experience with them. He suggested calling the dealer, who gave me the name of who they use but he's pretty far away and would have to come to my house.

Have any of you been down this road? I've heard of a special tool, a "kern knife" or something, but what are my chances of success here, having never done a glued in windshield before? Appreciate any advice, horror stories, etc.

 

I think you're thinking of a "kent" knife. At any rate- yeah I've heard of the difficulty of removing an old screen without breaking it. I have windscreen insurance ($5/mo) on my truck so when a crack developed on the non-heated glass the PO had put in I brought it in for replacement and only had to pay the $100 deductible to have a heated screen put in because that the OE on my truck. Given the foibles of replacing the A-pillar trim and the "one and done" finishing strip on top of the windscreen I would much rather have insurance deal with it! I knew it would be a bit of a pain so I left a little gift/thank you for the glass tech who was kind enough to route some wires up the A-pillar trim while he was in there to clean up an install that I had done.

 

Yes they are bonded in place to remove them, they use a piano wire on a winding gear, that the attached to the screen as they whined up the wire it cut through the bond

you may get it with one of those wire cutting hand saws

 

Having watched a few youtube videos I think this is definitely something I can handle. However, on a whim I figured I'd call my insurance company to see if I had glass coverage. Yep, comprehensive covers it for a $100 deductible and Safe-lite is coming out next week. I think I'll do them a favor and remove the plastic bits myself, I'm actually getting pretty good at it and hoping to minimize the collateral damage. The driver's A pillar is already cracked and I have a replacement on hand.

Here's a pretty good video on the process. Looks like a D1...

 

On my 03 when I had a non heated and leaking windscreen replaced with a heated one, I had that work done at a Rover shop. Glass tech came there and did the work on site. I wanted to make sure water ingress points were sorted and the side plastic pieces were not broken.

I have a recent set of cracks from a huge rock hit and need to get the windscreen replaced again.

 

Glad to hear you were able to get it sorted out for cheap- I can't believe that you were able to get an appointment that quickly, there is a 3 week minimum here...I don't think most people realize that the windshields adds significantly to the frontal crash strength of a vehicle so insurance companies will often cover "glass only" damage with comprehensive coverage without a rate increase. I highly recommend everyone looking in to your insurance to double check!

 

My insurance company paid for new heated glass, both A pillars, rubber seal at the top, and the cowl. Pretty amazing. Was like a $1500 job.