Just watching some old rally footage on TV, and just popped into my head - how are the windscreens fitted to pro rally cars? Cos they smash the fuck out of em in accidents, yet half hour in service, the car is looking mint again and drives straight away...

I fit windscreens for a living, and a Subaru Imprezza, Ford Focus, Mitsi Evo - even a 206 all take longer than half an hour to change a screen over, and these things need to sit and dry for an hour for the bond to take to the metal otherwise they'll just flex and crack....

Do these rally cars all have some kind of quick release, ie not bonded, way of fitting the screens?

 

i doubt it....fixed glazing helps body strenght alot.....

 

Well this is what I thought too - windscreens can make up 33% of a structural rigidity of a cars shell. Course this is a stock road car, not a seam welded multi-point caged rally car, but when you see em landing after jumps and bouncing over the bumps, the screens have no flex - but fitting screens for a living, and I've been doing it some time now, I know these can't easily be changed in the time scales they have to change them!

 

yeah....ive done a few....they must have some hellish adhesive!

 

Quickfit can take up to 4 hours to fit 2 tyres to my van, yet F.1 teams can refuel and change 4 wheels in 8 seconds.

Manpower probably holds the key to the solution.
I would guess they are screwed in like aircraft screens, no adhesive or sealer, just a gasket.

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I cant speak for rallycars but on racecars its not unusual to have 4 retaining plates holding the screen in 2 at the top and 2 at the bottom , in fact a bonded in glass screen is a real pain in the ass with a seam welded car with good structural rigidity - they crack very easily when you jack the car up on 1 side only !!
To get round this Isoclima developed heated Perspex /polycarb screens that you could change in seconds , they were of course Ł2000 tho !

 

focusV8 - now whilst thats understandable, I can change a screen very quickly - I did a Hyundai Getz in 25mins earlier - but they are childsplay in comparrison to a Subaru Imprezza, or even a Focus. These take time, more to trip off / put back etc...

Now Ryan's on my line of thinking, but after seeing some up close, the appear for all intents and purposes, to be bonded as there's no screw/rivet's visible.

Thing is, the trims and fittings are immaculate, and these take time to remove and refit. Windscreen PUR bond takes time to set, and the whole thing simply takes time to apply!

I need to stop by Ralliart or Prodrive next time I'm passing and just ask em if they'll tell me!

Anyone have an email for Prodrive, Ralliart or Malcolm Wilson's M-Sport? I wanna know!

 

I found a contact page for M-Sport so I emailed Malcolm Wilson (well, addressed it for his attention )

 

they are just pushed in in the old style jobs with the string in to fit it mate

 

The escort WRC car has an extra piece of angle welded to the lower front edge of the screen frame, different 909 screen and 909 screen rubber is used, no bonding allowing you to change the screen easily.....i'd imagine the others are very similar....

 

Hmm - not by the looks of the Buru's and Mitsi's and Focus WRC's of today - can't see any "string-in" rubbers on them, and when you watch the crash footage, the screens wouldn't tear and rip in the way they do if they weren't bonded Non-direct glazing behaves differently from direct glazing (bonded)

 

i'm going to m-sport in a few weeks, i'll ask

 

I work at Prodrive on the WRC Imprezas. The screens are just bonded onto bare metal using strong adhesive that cures very quickly. During events they are cheese wired out at time controls if they are badly damaged, but we try and replace them in parc ferme at night so the adhesive can fully cure overnight.

 

Fordnut - thank you The stuff we use cure's "ready to drive" in 1hr, but I pressume that this is different stuff to what rally cars use, as I guess they need a bit more than "ready to drive" considering what they do Also, do you know how long the process takes on the current Impreza WRC? Lastly - trims around the screen etc - these differ from the standard items in terms of fit, as in, they fit differently but looks the same, or are they the same thing as a road car?

I did an 07 plate Impreza last week - took me an hour But I guess the WRC cars don't have scuttles etc to worry about - just curious about the side and top trims is all....