I searched and haven't found a thread that addresses my particular issue, but hopefully someone can help me out....

I took a rock to the windshield a few weeks ago and got a nice crack in the glass. I took the car to Giant Glass and had the OEM windshield replaced with PPG glass. Ever since, I have heard a strange rattling sound when driving on the highway (70+ mph). At first, I thought it may be the driver's side A-pillar molding preparing to fly off. I took the car to MINI of Peabody and had a service rep take a look at it. He thought that the replacement job was pretty good and that the moldings would be ok. Instead of the moldings, he suspects the trim along the bottom of the windshield. There is a gap between the glass and the chrome/rubber weatherstripping. He said that at highway speeds, I may be hearing the rubber fluttering madly against the glass. In the ensuing days, I have come to agree with him.

Has anyone else had this problem with rattles? Was it the weatherstripping? Can anyone explain how the gap came about? Can it be fixed easily and cheaply? Thanks for your help!

 

Did they replace the A-Pillar clips when they re-installed the covers? There have been a few threads regarding replacement of the clips which is highly recommended when they are re-installed. If not, the noise still may be the A-Pillar covers.

 

They did not replace the A-pillar clips. Having read about the A-pillars, I was initially concerned that they were the source of the rattle, but it has now been a few weeks and they're holding tight. That, coupled with the MINI service rep's opinion, has led me to believe that the source of the noise is originating elsewhere.

 

Slap a piece of duct tape across the windshield trim gap and take it for a spin. See if the noise goes away. (Sometimes it's easier to eliminate potential causes than to pinpoint the actual cause.)

 

yep, this is exactly how I tracked down a wind-whistle after a ws changeout on another car...well I used electrical tape. Safelite did the entire job over TWICE until I was satisfied without a single question asked....

I called and said I had a noise at windspeeds ovewr 60 (could happen lower than 60 mph on the var, when there was a headwind) and they redid everything...new piece of glass. I still had the noise so b4 I called I did the tape thing and localized it to the top weatherstriping. Called and they came back with all new again and also brought new pillar trim as THEY were concerned the repreated removal of the trim might be a problem....used a different strip and all was well

Every franch' is different but I was, despite the problem, a satisfied customer.

I first used 2 inch masking tape all the way around and the noise went away verifying it was an air leak someplace. Then I removed one side at a time until the sound returned. Once localized to the top I replaced masking with black electric tape which was almost invis' until SAFELITE came back out....