Soft Windshield?

[MazdaTwo]

First, I'd just like to point out that my car sat in the tree-lined parking lot at my apartment all weekend while we took the wife's Yaris (Automatic... Cruise Control... better for long highway drives) to visit family in upstate New York; So my car is absolutely COVERED in pollen in the picture below.

So I hear a rock hit my windshield on the highway on the way back from my lunch break on Tuesday, but It hit right near the rearview mirror in that textured area... so I didn't notice a chip. When I came back out to my car after work, this is what I found...

I've never had a windshield chip and then spread this fast in the 12 years I've been driving. It was either a HUGE friggin' rock, or this is really soft glass... or maybe hard and brittle? Either way, I had to get it replaced yesterday.

 

[MacAttack7]

How much was the windshield?
I was wondering that the other day as I realized how friggin' large it is.

 

[Slow Paul]

On all of my previous cars I've had to get new windsheilds at some point. Call it bad luck, or just the amount of little debris flying out of trunk on the southern California freeways. MY last alone had 4 windsheilds over 7.5 years. I've had my 2 for 2 months now and so far so good. It just takes a small rock hitting the windsheild at the right speed and angle to do the job. For future referance, if you get a rock chip at more than 1" away from the window frame, have a windsheild repair place come out and fill it. I've done that a few times and it work great. They can't fill cracks though, only chips.

 

[Richard_rsp]

I had a rock hit my windshield 2 days after I bought my 2 (truck with improperly installed mud flaps. Grrrrr!) . It left a nice little divot about the size of a bb in my windshield, but luckily it didn't spread. About 3 days after it got hit, I had the chip filled. No problems ever since.

I do believe that extreme temperatures can accelerate the crack. Maybe the combo of because ur car is black, it's been hot (at least around here) and the fact that it was closed up for a few days contributed.

 

[MazdaTwo]

How much was the windshield?
I was wondering that the other day as I realized how friggin' large it is.

List price on the invoice is $598.22.

For future referance, if you get a rock chip at more than 1" away from the window frame, have a windsheild repair place come out and fill it. I've done that a few times and it work great. They can't fill cracks though, only chips.

Maybe the combo of because ur car is black, it's been hot (at least around here) and the fact that it was closed up for a few days contributed.

The crazy thing is that all but the last 3 inches of that crack spread between 1pm and 5pm the same day the rock hit my windshield. I'm actually not sure that it didn't immediately crack to the top of the windshield on impact. Like I said, It's so directly behind the rear view mirror that I didn't notice any damage when I heard the noise (Textured area + tint strip + rear view mirror = nearly impossible to see); When I got back into the car after work that same day, it had spread straight down, took a turn toward the passenger side, then straight down again. Probably like 8 inches total in 4 hours.

I definitely think the black car and the heat accelerated the issue. Oh well. I'll probably be avoiding that stretch of highway for a while... too much construction.

 

[chromal]

Those kind of rock chips and resulting hairline cracks are common to folks who drive the freeways around Denver. Once you have the chip, the best way to prevent it turning into a growing crack is to get some windshield repair product that fills it in. It doesn't even take extreme heat, just thermal cycling, to cause the crack to form and grow. Moving from sun to shade, or moving from parked to driving (and cooled by air when moving) can do it. The Mazda dealer where I bought my MZ3 actually includes a 3-yr windshield replacement insurance policy with the financing.

 

[elfhearse]

I had a similar complaint about my 328iT I bought in 2010. My windshield was pitted by salt and cinders on a winter trip on the Interstate, looked like the glass was ten years old after the two day trip. Based on the those forum discussions, the new safety glass is softer than years ago. (Pilkington was the mfg.)

 

[XCLR8TN]

List price on the invoice is $598.22.
I definitely think the black car and the heat accelerated the issue. Oh well. I'll probably be avoiding that stretch of highway for a while... too much construction.

HOLY CRAP. Was that price at the dealer??? I have a VERY similar crack in mine, but it spread 6" in 2 hours , and has been snaking it's way around ever since (just now getting annoying and in my field of vision)... I agree with the construction, Ohio has construction what seems like all year round...

 

[MazdaTwo]

HOLY CRAP. Was that price at the dealer??? I have a VERY similar crack in mine, but it spread 6" in 2 hours , and has been snaking it's way around ever since (just now getting annoying and in my field of vision)... I agree with the construction, Ohio has construction what seems like all year round...

It WAS, in fact, a dealer item. Safelite didn't have their own version yet.

 

[XCLR8TN]

It WAS, in fact, a dealer item. Safelite didn't have their own version yet.

That's bad news but on the bright side I guess that's more than my deductible now! :/

 

[Axela05]

Sorry to hear about that The good thing about living in FL is that it's state law that Insurance companies are required to replace your front windshield for free with no deductable. The best thing is having State Farm which not only covers my front windshield at no cost, but ALL of my windows. I was actually on the highway yesterday and had some dirt truck in front of me and a huge chunk of debris came out and hit my windshield right in the middle and I honestly thought the windshield was going to shatter after how hard it hit but nothing happened much to my surprise.

 

[fam]

Wont get into detail but I work in the auto glass manufacturing industry. No such thing really as soft glass, but its possible mazda went with a thinner windshield glass thickness to save weight (each pc might be 2.5mm instead of the 2.9 industry standard). The thinner the glass (on the outside of the laminated unit) the easier it will be to chip\crack\break. Jeep wrangler used to offset this by "heat strengthening" which is code for a light tempering to make it more rugged. Of that 598.22 I wont even tell you my guesstimate on what the cost of the windshield is as you would want to hit someone (but there is a lot more cost than just the finished glass associated with getting 1 windshield to where you live locally. ;-)