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I replaced the tinted windshield with a clear windshield this morning. The difference is like night and day. I've posted a picture of the two windshields, side by side, to make a comparison. You can see that the new windshield is about 50 per cent thicker, and also heavier by about the same.
The windshield was designed for a 2008 190 Bay, so it wasn't an exact fit, and none of the holes on the new windshield matched the location of the holes on the old windshield. My 2003 190 Bay has a slight curve at the front of the windshield whereas the windshield for the 2008 is more straight at the front. I overcame this problem by using two of the spacers from the old windshield. The grommets/spacers for the new windshield were approximately 1/3 the thickness as the old spacers, so I placed the new spacers in the middle/front and at both sides of the windshield, and used the thicker old spacers on either side of the middle/front, which took care of fact that the new windshield was straight and sat further away from the center consolde on either side of the middle front.
I used a small drill bit that was only about a third of the diameter of the screw, not counting the threads, which served as a pilot hole. I started at the middle front, then the two screws, one each on either side of the middle/front, then after tightening the three screws in the front, I drilled the two holes on the sides, one each on either side. Tightening the three screws at the front made sure that the screw holes on the sides were all the way toward the rear prior to drilling the holes on the sides.
The only other problem that I can forsee is that with the center console being white, it creates reflections on the windshield, the same as if you were to place a white envelope on the dash of your car, which creates a distracting reflection. Of course, I'll have to give it a trial run to see how the new windshield looks out on the water. No matter what, I know that I'll have a lot better view through the new windshield.
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