Has anyone experienced windshields cracking? Mine has an growing cracking coming out from under the lower left corner of the windshield with no obvious points of impact, etc. It looks to have started at the edge of the glass beneath the frame.

 

My MINI is on windshield #4

5 months 4 windshields

 

My windshield stress crack started at the top middle of the windshield just to the right of the rearview mirror.

My dealer Hank Aaron in Atlanta
checked it out and determined that it was a stress crack and replaced my windshield under warrenty.

The dealer was most helpful and provided me a loaner car for two days while my car was repared.

 

I got my first crack today, but I think I took a hit from a small rock yesterday, then this morning I noticed a small crack just below my left wiper. Within a half an hour of driving the little crack became a 6 inch crack.

Anyone know if the replacement has improved in quality ?.

 

Apparently the MINI windshields are made of very thin glass to save weight. I hear that hundreds of them have cracked. Let's hope that BMW replaces them with heavy, strong glass made in the good old US of A.
Of course that'll make your MINI slower.

 

I have a quetion.

The fellow Mini owners that suffer Windshild cracks have Sun roof?

Just a crazy idea...

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Julian Vasquez

 

>>I have a quetion.
>>The fellos Mini owners that suffer Windshild cracks have Sun roof?
>>Just a crazy idea...

Good Question ! I am thinking it may relate to the frame flexing over a period of time due to having less support with the sunroof option. I have the hard top and the car is very solid, no cracks in the winshield, no body torque feel under hard driving as with my old VW.

Kesh

 

>>Apparently the MINI windshields are made of very thin glass to save weight. I hear that hundreds of them have cracked. Let's hope that BMW replaces them with heavy, strong glass made in the good old US of A.
>>Of course that'll make your MINI slower.

Barb

 

My MINI does have a sunroof, but I don't think that has any thing to do with it. Many MINIs without sunroofs have had their windshields crack. I am friends with one of the MINI Service Techs, and that isn't the reason for the cracks. The problem isn't that the MINI with the sunroof is less stiff than the MINI without the sunroof. The MINI is very stiff in torsion either way.

Basically, as I see it, the problem is this. MINI has very thin window glass. From what I saw from a random sampling when the windown installer came out, most companies windshields are 40% thicker than the ones MINI uses. That, in my opinion, is what is causing these problems. It not only predisposes the MINI to stress cracks, but also makes it more prone to rock chips (the more vertical window glass surface doesn't help either).

 

DID,
The only one I've seen had a sunroof.....

 

OK.

Thanks for the explanation.
Just read something about torsion and sun roofs someplace a few years ago.

 

There was a thread on here a while ago that mentioned some metal spurs in the windshield frame that caused the cracking.

Anyone remember who it was that had their windshield fixed and then found out about that??

 

It was SilkGreenGreg in this thread

 

My MCS was delivered with a small chip in the windshield. My salesperson saw it first, and said they'd replace it. They did, twice. The first one they put in was cracked. Each time it has to "set" for 36 hours I was told. Now it rained, and I've got water running down the inside of my windshield. Yikes ... it's going to go back to the dealer again! How am I going to get this thing broken in so I can have some real fun?

 

 

>>DID,
>>The only one I've seen had a sunroof.....

Now I have seen one without a sunroof....mine.
Lower left hand corner about 4 inches.

 

DAMN!!!! Got in this morning and, sure enough, I noticed a three inch crack coming from the lower left corner (passenger side) of my windshield! By the time I got to work, it was a 6 inch crack. There's no impact point. I go in to the dealer tomorrow to get new snow tires. How has MINI handled this windshield problem with others? Will they pop for a new one or am I *#@* out of luck????? :???:

 

>>DAMN!!!! Got in this morning and, sure enough, I noticed a three inch crack coming from the lower left corner (passenger side) of my windshield! By the time I got to work, it was a 6 inch crack.

 

>>>>DID,
>>>>The only one I've seen had a sunroof.....
>>
>>Now I have seen one without a sunroof....mine.
>>Lower left hand corner about 4 inches.
>>
Minor damage to the MINI, right? As long as the monkey's OK...

 

Yes, I had repeated problems with stress cracks when I first got my MINI and my dealer found a metal spur or something that had not been finished off correctly on the frame. . . *anyone having stress cracks should have the dealer check this*. Once they found this and filed it down, I had no more problems. Here's the chronology:

10/19/02--picked up the MINI, odometer reading 25

10/28/02--stress crack, odometer reading 621

11/6/02--stress crack, odometer reading 1300

11/13/02--stress crack, odometer reading 1635

They discovered and fixed the spur while repairing this last crack. I am now at 4831 miles with no more cracks so I'm confident that took care of it.

Good luck. . .

GE

 

GE,
Thanks for the info! My crack appeared at 2200 miles. I'm hoping your dealer did the work under warranty. Also, I keep hearing stories about dealers keeping the cars for 3+ days to install the windshield. Does anyone know the reason for this? Last time I had a windshield replaced (on a Jeep Cherokee), they popped it on in a few hours and off I went.

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2003 Cooper/IndiBlue/AllPackages/Sunroof

 

Yes, my work was done under warranty. My dealer said that the windshield has to set up for 24 hours after installation.

GE

 

Well about 2 weeks ago (that is what 1000 miles now ahaah) on my way back to central Texas from dallas it was the first freeze we had had and low and behold monday morning small crack now 2 weeks later HUGE and spidered into 2 cracks. The original ones total lenght is about one foot!! I goto the dealer sat so they can INSPECT it for warrenty worka nd ORDER the glass.... then once the glas come sin illhave another 3.5 hour drive to the dearship to have it replaced! ahahah grrrrr

but damn i doo so love my car

 

Misery loves company. My crack appeared yesterday. Same place....passenger side near the bottom and it's slowly creeping over to the drivers side. Earlier this week I got hit with a rock kicked up from a truck but I didn't notice any chip, crack, etc. at the time. I thought that the cold weather (ie-freezing cold windshield and hot defroster) may have brought out the crack a few days after the rock hit but now I wonder if that's what really caused it. I called my insurance company and it will cost me a $250 decuctable to replace. grrrr....If I take this to my dealer to see if it's a stress crack, will that be covered under warranty?

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My girl Holly. Happy motoring!

 

[quote]My MINI is on windshield #4

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You Can't, You Won't And You Don't Stop.... 500 of 1000