Rant- Windshield

[Colourwolf]

I wonder what is the "glass" made off.

My poor 5 months old GTI,the windshield has millions of small chips...like it was sand blasted or something. I also notices some fine scratches and a few deep ones on the side windows as well.

Even worst, I got a rock chip last week on the highway. I had it repaired professionally right away.

Today, while i was stucked in traffic on the highway, some cocksucking trucker decided to passed everyone on the shoulder and it kicked up all the dirt and chips. Guess what... my windshield was hit by some of those chips and cracked from the bottom up to the wiper.

My previous car, 10-yrs old civic, highway driven everyday, and there only some nicks on the windshield. Hell, the front bumper and hood have more chips than the windshield. It made me wonder if VW glasses is weaker/brittler than the others.

I always take good care of my stuffs, especially my car.It is very disappointed to see my car getting all these nicks and scratches. And i guess the Stage 1 tune money is going to a new windshield now

Sorry for long rant

 

[littleazn248]

My friend which is an owner of a 08 GTI told me that VW glass is weaker. I'm not sure if its true or not but he's been through 2 windshields. I hope this is not true.

 

[Rotaryknight]

Ha. So I'm not the only one! I swear my 17k mile GTi has more pits than my Ford Explorer that had 260k miles.

 

[ps23]

It is purely luck. A taxi in front of me making a left turn kicked a 3/4 gravel and chipped my windshield. Was going to have it repaired this week but on the way home the other night I hear a thud and the next morning, I saw a circular crack and so had the windshield replaced under mechanical damage for a $50 deductible. My comp/collision is $500 deduvctible. Safelite came to my house and did a good job - basically OEM glass with 10 year leak warranty.

 

[ElectricEye]

There was a thread on here a while back where several posters said that the car has soft glass.
Don't know if that's true or not.:iono:
Does auto glass come in different hardness levels?

 

[mkvince]

Perfect! Just when I was about to make a thread about the windshield, I find this thread.

Yesterday, after parking the car under a street light, I noticed there are many scratches here and there on the windshield. I've had this car for only 6 months, and the windshield has more scratches than my Lexus with 100K miles did.

 

[veedoubleme]

They probably focused more on it's ability to resonate soundaktor noise than deflect rocks.

 

[SwiftGTI]

Yeah I've noticed this as well.

 

[danielj1]

I've said dozens of times on here, I'm was on my 3rd windshield at 1 year into ownership. Zero deductible on glass, thankfully.

 

[HaveBulldogWillTravel]

I always take good care of my stuffs, especially my car.It is very disappointed to see my car getting all these nicks and scratches. And i guess the Stage 1 tune money is going to a new windshield now

Have you checked your Ins. policy? Comprehensive insurance should cover glass breakage and usually the deductible is very low...like $50-100.00. If you have a high (comprehensive coverage)deductible then look into how much it will cost to lower it...it's usually not that much. It won't help you in this case but it may help "down the road".
Concerning the soft glass. I've never seen any documentation but I've read similar complaints on the Audi and BMW forums that I frequent. Maybe it's a German thing.
If you do replace the windshield, make note of what glass you have...usually AGC(Asahi Glass Co.-Japan based firm) or Pilkington(NSG group Co. in UK)...maybe even PPG(US). Request a different brand than what you are going to replace. There may be a difference in hardness from one brand to another.

 

[Veedubgli]

When I had my windshield replaced in my MKIV, the glass guy told me that new windshields are much weaker than older ones. He explained it to me, but I can't seem to remember what he said (it was years ago).

One week after getting the windshield replaced due to a chip that expanded into a crack with temp changes (this was on my GLI), I got another big chip in it and had to get that filled. I was so pissed, as that's the car that I was showing at the time, and now only has 32k miles. My 20th (with 124k) still has the original glass, though it's really pitted and I should probably have replaced.

 

[czhao1009]

Hmmm..a little disappointed to see this
I will keep an eye on mine...

 

[cantdrive55]

I've noticed with my '01 A4 the glass looked like it had been hit with a sandblaster by the time I sold it. When my dad had a '97 A4 his glass was real bad too. Must be a VW/Audi thing...Pretty annoying to be honest

 

[finklejag]

I went two years and 20,000 miles on my oem windshield. I drove down to California. I also drove to Montana twice, even driving on gravel roads.

A rock hit my windshield locally. It hit hard enough to get pass a few of the safety layers. I had to fork out $350 for a new one because my Comp deductible is $500. Not three weeks later, another rock hits my new windshield and makes a huge chip. So I have it repaired for free. It looks like shit!

I called my Insurance company and lowered my Comp deductible to $100.00. It raised my monthly premium $2.60. I will be getting another new windshield this summer. The repair job and location of the chip bothers me.

 

[bmxr]

I have a big pit where a rock hit mine when it was a couple months old. Will need to replace some day... Very disapointed lthough glad to know it's not just my car that is unusually susceptible .