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MG Midget and Sprite General - Auto glass question (NMC)

Been wondering this for a while - on pretty much every modern car, the borders of the windshield and any other bonded-in-place windows are printed with a black layer with a screened effect.

Any idea why? I can understand why you'd want to hide the bonding from view through the glass, but the screen-print bit? Is it a thermal thing?

Thanks,

-:G:-
Gryf Ketcherside

Gryf,
On my daughter's BMW (business car!) the fit of the edge of the dashboard and A post pillar trims is not that neat. It looks OK from inside the car but from the outside it is poor where the trim tucks in around the edge of the opening. This was apparent when she was having a broken screen replaced. I think the black border to the glass edge, and the way it fades out towards the screen is to hide that edge as well as the glass bonding which was also of variable quality. If this is the case on a BMW where they supposedly take care about assembly quality then it no doubt applies to other makes as well.
Guy

The black edge is primarily to prevent UV from getting to the glue. I think the "fade" is just to eliminate a sharp visual edge which would possibly clash with styling; not all cars have the "fade". The sharp edge would also draw attention to any variance in alignment between glass and other parts, or even the placement of the black on the glass.

FRM
FR Millmore

it also provides a better surface for the glue to adhere to
Mick - still wiring!!

Don't think so, all the ones I've looked at the black is between the layers of glass. Of course, that is laminated glass, but it does indicate that the black has no function with the glue adhesion.

FRM
FR Millmore

the black is a ceramic which is chemically bonded to the surface of the inside of the glass and IS used to give a good surface to bond to as well as being decorative to hide the bond line.
Mick - still wiring!!

The black edge is called a frit and it keeps uv rays from degrading the urethane bonding agent. It is covered in Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS)# 212 I think.
WHU Underwood

Thanks for all the answers! Very interesting stuff... I'd wondered why this treatment appeared to be universal, and now I know.

Cheers, all -

-:G:-
Gryf Ketcherside

Mick, I like it that you haven't let slip that you work for Autoglass... :-)
Tarquin

Wouldn't mean that he knows anything about it Tarquin. Most people don't know much about what they do!
Guy



I'm pretty sure that Guy forgot to put l.o.l.


Happy Christmas , everybody.

Arthur.
A Jessop

Hi Arthur,

Quite right! Most of my postings imply LOL. It goes with the name. Life is too short to take too seriously and certainly there is no intention to offend or pick an argument.

Happy Christmas all!
Guy

was gonna put ceramic frit but didnt want to sound like i knew too much about it!

cheers tarquin!!! ;-)
Mick - still wiring!!

Arthur! you missed our xmas party on sat, i emailled you but no reply?
Tarquin



Thanks , Matt, nothing from you in my Inbox. My e-mail address is firstname.secondnameatgmail.com

Sorry I missed it, always a good do. Did Onno make it this year ? I know poor old Martin didn't for sure....

Regards to Liz
Arthur.
A Jessop

This thread was discussed between 08/12/2011 and 19/12/2011

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