Just had to vent about these people with jacked up 4x4s on giant oversized tires that pick up everything and no mud flaps to even try to keep the debris down. The jeep even veered over to the line like they saw the rock to pick up.

 

Been there before. Gotta agree with your . My 2nd windshield got a chip in it and then about 5 minutes later another rock hit and i got a crack. WS was only a month old. That was the beginning of may and I still have it.

 

just had it happen - again - this morning.

Same thing happened to my wife's Matrix a few months ago.

 

I'm on my second factory WS. Any sugestions for after market WS?
The original seems to be soft and nicks and cracks easily. also the mini dealer subs out the work and the install was poor quality.

 

Either that, or enough paint chips on the bonnet teach us to avoid getting to close to the big guys (or letting them too close). These cars seem to attract missles.

 

Could be even more expensive in an R56 if you spec the heated screen.

 

I'm on my original windshield, had a chip repaired, but when you look out you see 1000s of stars

On a side note here in So CA someone lost the hitch and ball of there trailer reciever and it got thrown up, went through a car's windshield, and killed the driver

Lots of ladders in the road.

Earl

 

I live in central Ga. and have had Two WS replaced on my 06MCS from rocks. The 2nd was so big I could see it coming and thought it was coming thru the WS. I had them replaced by Safelite which I think is a Natl. Company. They did a great job on both replacments at $231.00 each. My 1st 04MC had a stress crack and was replaced under warranty.

 

Got a chip and had it replaced with a PPG glass... $50 under insurance-glass coverage...

 

Does the PPG glass seem to be of better quality? The factory glass is easily pitted. I also have the 50 dollar deductable, the dealer charge was over 400! Thank you State Farm.

 

Happened to me Sat. in my loaner. Of course, Sunday there was no one around (or Monday either) to fix it so it's now spread across half the windscreen. I hate paying for a new steenkin windscreen when it's not even my car!

 

I know how you feel. I'm on my third windshield in 2 years. This one's chipped pretty good too. I have replacement insurance on my car meaning the insurance company pays for a new factory windshield for the first 3 years. So only have factory windshields so far. My MINI dealer says the after-market windshields haven't been much different.

 

We don't get that option on this side of the pond. One can only imagine what that costs!

 

Jeep owners? Jacked up 4X4's? Damn them to hell (since I own both) . It's not them that cause the problem around here, it's the stupid gravel and sand trucks!! I've lost windshields in the Mini, the (damn) Jeep and the "jacked up 4X4" and almost one in the Vette...all from gravel trucks.

 

Anything is better than the OEM glass. Everyone raves about PPG glass & I think it used to be justified but...

my glassman gave me some bad news last week he said PPG WAS the best glass but that they recently either started outsourcing their work to China or started using imported glass from China. He said that meant that PPG quality just went way way down. He recommended Pilkerton or Pilkington Glass (or something like that) as they are the last manufacturer still using glass made in the USA. So... it will be interesting to see if everyone, including me, still thinks PPG is tops in a year or so

 

I got "rocked" by a dump truck throwing stones at about 65 MPH. Hit right below the passenger wiper and started a star trail. In Florida, if you have deductible comphrensive at all, the insurance company must provide a new winshield at "NO" deductible. FL law prohibits driving if there is any runs or staring in the driver's vision. So basically if you have a ding that is starry or puts out runs then you get a free replacement. My new WS is PPG and it seems to be tougher than the OEM WS. Sometimes the laws are good, like this time. Except for the inconvenience of having it done, it cost me nothing. My insurance bill even stayed the same (I checked).

 

I'm on my THIRD windsheild and I've never even beeh hit! The second time they replaced it, the service writer tried to tell me that the "pen test" indicated I had been hit (I know I wasn't). I then asked him why I had other stress fractures in other places on the screen and even a minor one IN THE REAR - needless to say, he couldn't explain how a rock could hit me THERE.

As much as I love my MINI (and I really do), the windsheild is somewhat of a dissapointment. If I weren't under warranty, I'd get the PPG screen in a New York minute - heck I even asked them to use one this last time they replaced it!

 

Yeah I too am sick of all the trucks hauling stuff, that seem to have just come off a dirt lot, they hit any little bump on the road and all sorts of crap starts flying off. There should be a law that they have to have the undercarriage sprayed off before getting on the roads. I have one of the Crap lifted oversized tire jeeps and have had more rocks break the WS in that than my Mini

 

I'd be hard pressed to believe that glass guy. He sounds like he's pushing the other brands to better his profit margin. We just had PPG installed in our Element, and it's had two rock dings that would have cracked the glass previously. Made in the USA doesn't automatically equal better glass. I don't care where the glass is made as long as it's to the correct specs.

 

I'm just unlucky, but...

I had a stress crack in my OEM glass (107,000 miles, something like the 5th windshield as I live in northern Vermont and windshields rarely last through the winter). So, I got a replacement windshield, this one was PPG.

2 days later, the first stone that hits the windshield leaves an evil chip and a star crack. It was just barely repairable. So PPG glass is not perfect.

 

Agreed. I have to add that Jeep owners are in the same bucket as us MINI owners.. their flat windshields catch all the rocks. I had my Wrangler for 6yrs and 3 windshields.

 

I have a friend in the glass business and he tells me there is cheap garbage glass all over the place. When you go to get a new WS talk to to people. They know what manufacturers have Premium glass. Tell them you have had a lot of chips and you want the best glass. It will cost a little more but at least you won't spend a lot of time there.

 

I took a rock in the windshield while driving a new car home from the dealer ... courtesy of some !*%#**!!! gravel truck.

 

No more highway for me....everyday, I get at least one mark.

 

Ah yes, the famous "pen test". When the "service" writer at Global Imports in Atlanta couldn't find a chip in my stress fractured windshield when my MINI was a month old, I watched him press very hard into the glass until he created one. Then he informed me that he'd like $800+ dollars to replace it since the damage he created was not covered under warranty. I can say that this "service" was by far the best I ever received from Global before I decided never to go back again.

I went home and had a PPG windshield installed by an independent glass place and the only problem I have is that the windshield is so tough that the star fracture I got from a fellow MINI owner hasn't grown at all in nearly 2 years. If it would grow a bit, I'd get it replaced but since it is on the passenger side I've let it slide.