If using Safelite or any glass installer ask VERY SPECIFICALLY who will be doing the actual install and the level of that person's experience.

Like others said, the job, regardless of which company does it, is only as good as the actual installer.

Besides, by asking who will be doing the actual work you are letting the company know that you expect a good job.

If I lived in the sticks I would probably go with the company that does the most installs of glass and maybe has handled MINIs, so that my MINI was not an on-the-job training experience.

It's real easy to make the job look right, but as some have said in here, later the poor job will become evident.

If you can't find anyone who has MINI experience I would go with a major company, like Safelite, who at least has major experience and can provide recourse if something is not right. The small shops are more likely to get the install wrong and to run for cover when you start to complain. And of course if they did it wrong the first time why expect they will get it right the second time.

Bonus Tip: On an install I would take the MINI on the freeway to listen for noises and then I would take it to the spray & wash to see if there are any leaks [make sure to take it to the spray & wash ONLY AFTER the time that the installer says you can, the sealants have to dry.] But for sure, don't wait until a good rain to find out the thing leaks.

Bonus Tip: Check the floorboard of the MINI. Sometimes, some cars, leak water from the windshield on to the carpet! We had an Audi that did that after an windshield replacement. It was a mess, an inch of water on the passenger side floorboard.

 

Interesting - my MINI also developed a crack at the base of the windshield which grew. It had taken a few hits but nothing I would have expected to break the screen (and I've had quite a few broken screens over the years). I wonder if there's a lot of flex/stress in the body being passed through the structure near the base of the screen?
Incidentally, it's said that what breaks the screen is not the speed of the rock, it's the speed you run into it. Therefore slowing while passing cars on gravel roads can help. Not much you can do when a rock comes out of the blue on a bitumen road though...

 

I think mine was somewhat temperature related - freezing rain outside, ice on the windshield, turned defrost on high.

 

After my deer incedent , I had another windscreen put in my mini this one is the PPG variety ... Wow does it have a different shape it's more bubbled /bowed out then the mini oem ...

 

Not much you can do about that, is there?! Mine must have been a rock then - I don't have those temperature extremes to deal with (thankfully)

 

Has anyone tried to get a windshield replacement under warranty due to a stress crack?

 

I'd bet that will never fly ... They'll blame it on a rock chip

 

MY '04 cooper 's' developed a crack starting at the mirror, inside & has noe grown lige a spider web to ~ 12 inches . Any have some advice, replace or live with it for now, it is cracking toward the passenger side.

 

I'm on second windshield. First replaced in Aug.07 & second one is now chipped and two tiny cracks. Crashton and I talked, maybe the glass is weaker now since less lead is being used in everything. I'll wait until cracks get bigger - I'm close to 96,000 miles I'm sure there is something else I'll need to maintain first. Both cracks are close to where the wiper blade is, driver side and one is almost exactly the same spot as the first one I replaced was.

 

At the last breakfast I looked at your windscreen & saw my reflection. I then heard a snap.

 

hmm that sounds like crazy talk chuck :p

 

IMO if it's growing, it's going to keep growing. Cars flex a lot and some of that force is applied to the screen. While the screen is intact it resists it OK but once cracked the flexing can keep making it worse. Mind you, depends on where you're driving - 10 miles of rough bitumen, stiff suspension and fun corners twice daily did my cracked screen no good at all

 

Not true, at all. It's easy for a tech to tell if it's a stress crack or caused by road debris.

 

The pen trick determined it was a stress crack - replaced under warranty.

 

Safelite replaced mine, a crack that seemed to 'grow'. The tech. said he knew of nothing to do to keep it from happening again. Maybe a shock to shock strut??

 

Just had my third windshield installed. Guardian glass did it and the installer had done MINI's before and did a great job.
The glass is PPG. We'll see how this one goes.