It's been an awful weekend!

Last week a crack appeared on the windscreen of my 2007 XKR after a stone hit it. A quick call to my insurance company and I had a new windscreen fitted yesterday afternoon.

The fitter pointed out that the new screen was a full heated screen, whereas my old screen wasn't. He showed me the heating elements in the screen, which gave me some concern, but he assured me they wouldn't be that obvious while driving the car.

Before taking out the old screen the fitter wanted to ensure my car had the connectors for a heated screen and he found these in the pillars, although they looked like they had never been connected up. As the car had the connectors it made me wonder if the previous windscreen replacement had put in a screen without the heating element by mistake and that maybe I had bought the car (from new) with a heated windscreen (6 years ago).

Anyway, the new screen was fitted and he connected up the heating connections. Everything looked great until I took the car out for a drive an hour later. All I can see is rows of wavy heating elements and I absolutely hate it! It is SO distracting, I can't ever imagine getting used to it.

To make matters worse, I checked my original invoice and the sales brochure and realised that the heated windscreen was an option and I hadn't paid for it, so didn't have it. The handbook clearly shows that an extra button is required to operate it and my car doesn't have this button. The fitter had suggested that the de-mister button would be used to turn it on, but clearly this isn't the case.

So I have a windscreen that I can barely see through and I can't get the benefit of the heating element as I can't turn it - the worst of both worlds!

As I live in the UK and park my car in the garage overnight it is very, very rare (maybe a couple of times a year, when my car is parked at work) that I would actually need to clear the screen using a heated windscreen.

I'm going to talk to my insurance company on Monday, but I have a feeling they asked me if I had a heated windscreen and I may have said yes, thinking mine was heated around the outside edge (it has a black area all the way around). The demister button also looks similar to the rear windscreen heater button and so I thought maybe the heating element was turned on at the same time as the blower! I also had every opportunity to refuse to have the windscreen fitted when I saw the elements, but didn't realise they would be so visible and thought I might be getting an improvement. I suspect they won't allow me to replace it and it may be difficult for me to complain if I gave them the wrong information!

My other option, if possible, may be to replace the single large rear windscreen wiper button with two buttons, so that I can actually use the new heated windscreen. Does anyone know if this is possible? Would it need to be done at a dealers, and therefore possibly be expensive?

What a weekend - my beautiful Jaguar XKR ruined

 

talk to the insurance cause it is also their responsability at the shop to do the thing right. I will think. the errors you've done are legitimate I will say....due to the circunstances. have it changed right away.

 

See what you can do with the insurance company, but you're probably at their mercy if you gave them the wrong info.

But what I can tell you from experience is that you're unlikely to notice the lines once you stop focusing on them. I didn't even notice mine during a test drive until the sales person pointed them out, and then I found them so obvious I wondered how I could have driven it for 15 minutes and not seen them. Elements in windshields are extremely popular in upscale brands, and wouldn't be if they were considered annoying.

I've been very seldom aware of them in the year since, and I really don't mind having them, even though I'm unlikely to need them with the driving I do. If however the elements couldn't even be turned on I might feel differently.

Good luck removing, and if not, good luck connecting so you feel they have a purpose.

 

Do you wear varifocal specs to drive ?
It may sound odd but head movements with varifocals cause the 'close up' part of the lens to magnify the elements.

 

My Range Rover has a heated windshield and as much as I do the see the lines, I really love how well it clear up the windshield! Then again, I live in the snow belt and Range Rover has that as a standard equipment.

I would finish the job and get the right electronics to complete the transformation. Tell insurance it that it would be less expensive to finish the job than do it over again.

 

Thanks for the understanding feedback guys, I really appreciate it.

I confess I have calmed down a little today, but have decided on a plan of action, which involves calling the dealers in the morning (Monday am) to confirm the price for adding the missing switch. I will then call the insurance company and explain the problem and then play it by ear. If they offer to replace the windscreen I suspect I will go with that as I've managed for 6 years without needing a heated windscreen.

Today I went out on a few drives and I confess for one of them I forgot about the windscreen for a short time. My wife didn't even notice until I mentioned it and then she struggled to see the lines. I've worked out that I see them more easily due to my sight prescription.

About 4 years ago I had laser eye surgery to correct my short sighted vision (couldn't see distance without contacts or glasses). As a sporty 48 year old, this was the best thing I have done and should have done it years ago. It is so liberating not to have to mess about with contact lenses or spectacles. The laser surgery didn't fully correct my vision and left one eye weaker than the other, however, this has proved to be beneficial as it ensures I can still read without reading glasses (an inevitable side affect of getting older) and I can see distance as well. A couple of weeks ago I had an annual sight test and was prescribed some very week glasses, mainly for driving at night (I don't need to wear them by law, but they help a little).

I think the fact that I have one weak eye causes me to see the lines in the windscreen much more clearly than a perfect sighed person as this eye has a shorter focal point. I believe this because when I put on my new glasses, this shifted the focal point for both eyes to the distance and the lines "disappeared". Glasses off and there they were again!

So, I suspect it is my slightly less than perfect vision that is causing me to see the lines more than would be the case for most people, however, I can imagine that in time I would start to ignore them, if I had to keep the windscreen.

 

I know what you mean with seeing those lines.
My xkr was the first car i owned to have the heated front screen. Must admit i noticed the lines............at first. Now though, never give it a second thought.
However having the heated screen and not being able to use it. Your right doesn't make sense. I hope the insurance company see your predicament and sort it for you.
Goodluck.

 

i remember one day arden in germany, sent me a module i bought, but they sent it with the wrong measurements, instead of lowering the car of 1 inches it was lowering it of 2 inches. the tecnician who advice me this module was a jag tecnician and we set it up at a jag dealership.

2 months passed until we realized we had the wrong measurements, i contacted arden and they right away told me the responsability of the person who installed it was engaged. Arden never did anything else and leave me with the problems, a problems that not even one shop jagaur could diagnose in france, i needed to come here in spain to have it fix. cylinblocs related.

so in this case, a third party sent a product with the wrong settings, and they put it on the jag tecnician, after calling the jag tecnician and the owner of the dealership , after hiring an expert for 1200 euros, they all let me down, with a 2007 facelift I could not drive with winds.

 

It might be that also the relays might be missing if you want to connect the heated windshield, so just the switch might not be enough.

 

I spoke to my Jaguar dealers today about the possibility of having a front windscreen heater button installed and after a couple of hours they called me back and said it wasn't possible. They seem to be suggesting there wasn't a kit for the buttons, fuses and relays that were required and that it also affected the software used by the touch screen. This surprises me as I don't believe the existing rear heated windscreen function can be controlled through the touch screen, only using the button, so I wouldn't have thought the front windscreen heater could be controlled using the touch screen either. They were suggesting this was the case on the newer models, so I'm not sure if they were getting confused as mine is now 6 years old - the one with the 70's electric ariel!

I was a little disappointed, but may try calling some other dealers just to see if I get the same reply.

On the plus side, I also spoke to my insurance company and after being passed around 4 or 5 people, explaining the issue, I finally got a call back from AA Autowindshields just as I arrived home from work. They have agreed to replace it with a "normal" windscreen, suggesting that the fitter shouldn't have installed it as it was obviously different from the one that was on the car.

I hope I haven't got the fitter into trouble as he was a great guy - we spent an hour and a half chatting while he was fitting it. I've asked for the same fitter, as with 13 years experience, he appeared to know what he was doing and was extremely careful to avoid any damage.

 

great! but I think it's just normal.

 

This thread raised a question in my mind. I've got an 07 and don't believe I have the heated windshield (not a listed option) and I have a slightly "wavy" windshield....thought it was due to how the glass was made, but now I'm wondering what I'm seeing.

Particularly with polarized sunglasses, I sometimes see lots of very faint, very wavy lines...I don't think I have the button (left side large button for rear defrost, right side 1 blank, 1 half size button for front defrost).

Anyone else who doesn't have the option see this too? Not sure its the same thing.

Thanks!

 

There are people who have done non-stock installations by using relays and a manual switch. The windshield only needs a source of power and a way to disable that power by means of a switch and ignition so that it can be turned on and off, and be off when the ignition is off.

 

faint wavy vertical lines = heated windshield glass

 

Great, thank you, I'll check it out.

Have a good one.

 

Had my windscreen changed yesterday afternoon by AA Autowindshields, which took over 2.5 hours!
When I tried to start the car, lots of warning messages appeared and flashing lights. Tried a number of times, but nothing - it wouldn't start!
The fitter suggested the battery might be flat due to the doors being open for so long.
Ended up having to remove the rear number plate to access the manual key hole, so that I could access the jump points. I then realised I wouldn't be able to get the car out of the garage as it was in Park and the gears wouldn't change! I've got two weeks left on my extended 3 year warranty so called Jaguar Assist and they are due out this morning.
I suspect they will need very long jump leads (the car is parked in my garage - reversed in) or they may have to remove the battery to charge it off the car.
What a farse! On the plus side it's nice to be able to see through a clear windscreen again.
Thanks AA Autowindshields for leaving my car in an unuseable state!

 

I checked, and I appear to have very faint ripples....they run roughly from the bottom left to the top right....googled it and found threads for various makes complaining about this as a manufacturing issue with glass. This is the original windshield. Can only see it from certain angles and distance.

So I don't have the wires, but have "roll wave" distortion which is evidently inherent in tempered glass creation.

CT

 

You'll know for sure looking at the windshield if it is heated. Looks like the rear, but the heating element lines are tighter and vertical.