Hi people of the glass commune!

[screen-mate.co.uk]

Hi everyone. Great forum,found it when deciding to buy my new kit.Im a bit of a newby but have decided to try a bit of glass repair profession.Im a volkswagen trained technician and we have always done our own screen repairs which i personally have taken great pride in and got fantastic results from an esprit kit. i have also got friends in the windscreen repair/replacement profession.Ive just bought a complete delta kit with double bridges from the U.S and have already got 3 motor dealerships willing to use me on a daily drop in basis and sell direct to the insurance company or book to the sales side of the company if a sales vehicle.Ive also approached some logistic companies and awaiting replys.Ive got the domain name of screen-mate.co.uk but still awaiting web site build.Any hints or tips very greatly accepted.Im not a car park hawk and pride myself on good repairs.Look forward to hearing from you guys and hope i will be welcome!!!

[Layne]

Welcome screen-mate. You will find this forum to be of tremendous value to anyone engaged in windshield/windscreen repair. There are many "experts" in here including some from the UK. Join in and by all means seek comments from those that are here.

[Glass Doctors UK]

hello and welcome, you must be pretty good to get decent repairs from an esprit kit !

what area do you cover?

[screenman]

Why knock Esprit it is not that far different to the Novus system, the injectors could maybe need improving though.

[Glass Doctors UK]

we all know that the reason esprit is not too different to the novus system is that someone saw the novus system and just decided to copy it! yes the injectors are cheap and nasty and the resin goes yellow and falls out after a short time. but worst of all is the general idea that you can repair screens after half an hours tuition, that just tars us all with the same unprofessional brush. Bring on the new tests...

[screenman]

Whilst I would agree with the training standards, the resin is not a bad product it has passed the same tests as Novus. Mind you it is twice as expensive as the resin I sell over here, which has also passed BS standards.

[Glass Doctors UK]

the original BS was so watered down that most resins could pass. I have seen repairs with esprit resin that were definately two weeks old that had been out on the forecourt in the sun and had gone yellow and started to lift out and had shrunk really badly, thats why i dont rate it. I can only speak from personal experience. Resin price is not that much of a big deal when you consider what the cost is per repair, then you are thinking what you may jepardise for the sake of 50p

[screenman]

Maybe the resin the person used was out of date before they carried out the repair. I have seen many Novus repairs they did not look good after a couple of weeks, some of which I did myself. Yes I agree and have stated on here many times that the cost of resin is not worth getting worked up about. That is until you buy it by the litre like some of us do. Please state so all of us can know in what way is the BS standard watered down.

[Glass Doctors UK]

because the setting of a standard can only be reached if there is a concensus of all the interested parties then no party on the committee is going to propose a standard that they cannot themselves reach therefore it is set at the lowest common denominator which as we would probably agree is quite low in some cases, and by this process it is watered down. But A/g still failed and we laughed. Part of the testing was to do a crack which was started by a cutting wheel. we persistantly refused to repair the glass samples given to us because there was evidence of liquid contamination in the samples supplied. Can you guess why?...

[screenman]

The crack had been invaded by glass eating aliens masquerading as H2O molecules. I am happy to sell and use a resin that has been tested to BS standards however watered down you may think. That fact that a resin may fail this test shows it must have some value. Also all this was 17 years ago I thinks Autoglass may have improved their resins by now. I feel personaly that Novus by only selling to licensed operators may have even had a hand in holding back WSR in general. Although I always give them credit for the early days they do not seem to have come much further since TCGI purchased them. However I am sure you will correct me if I am wrong.

Have you tried Delta resin although due to your connections with Novus I suppose you still use the resin they sell. You will find it an excellent product easily matching Novus resin in all situations. From experience of using both for many years I think I am in a position to comment on quality.