darth62

My TSX was the victim of a flying rock today on the I-10. I have a major crack in the windshield and I'm going to have to have it replaced.

Anything I need to know before I have it done?

Lung Fu Mo Shi

If you have it replaced under insurance, I would request that it be a Honda/Acura OEM windshield and not an aftermarket.

Some aftermarkets are good, but why chance it in this case.

darth62

Good point. I will do that.

RSLand

During a year of road construction we had to have three windshields replaced on three different cars. We found the mobile replacement guys were cheap, but if you want the job done right, take it to a local glass company and have it done in their shop. The last job done on our Acura CL by one of the mobile outfits was so bad that I took it back. The windshield was actually sitting on the dash. The owner of the company agreed that the job was terrible and gave me full credit. The installer did not use the factory spacer blocks. I took it to a local shop where he removed it and did the job properly. The difference in the quality was worth the extra cost.

Santa Rosa Steve

I've had to replace 4 in the last 5 years. The first replacement on my Miata lasted less than a year. It was installed by a mobile service, and while the installation was very professional, the windshield itself started pitting immediately and chipped shortly thereafter which eventually turned into a crack. Its replacement was a PPG brand installed by a local glass shop recommended by the dealer. It has held up much better.

Ask your dealer who they use and get the OEM if possible, or go with the PPG brand.

Santa Rosa Steve

darth62

What is PPG? Is that a brand name?

The advice you guys are giving me right now is soooooo helpful.

Brad

OEM OEM OEM OEM OEM OEM OEM OEM OEM OEM

If there are a few things I might be anal about, it's getting OEM replacment parts.

Usually insurance appraisers will quote OEM parts and prices. However, repair shops routinely do switcharoos.

The main reason repair shops do the switcharoo and install non-OEM parts is that they can get non-OEM parts for a heck of a LOT cheaper and still charge people full OEM pricing without most people ever knowing it!!! That is that god-honest truth.

Secondary reasons for installing non-OEM parts is that OEM parts may be unvailable. Primary sources of non-OEM parts are China and Brazil. No one has proven that the non-OEM Chinese or Brazilian-made "copy-cat" parts are of at least the same quality as Honda-original parts, such as body panels, hoods, etc., with all the quality control and coatings that factory original parts get.

The repair shop is counting on you to sell your car sooner anyway.

larchmont

Yeah, old old company, huge conglomerate, originally "Pittsburgh Plate Glass." Don't know anything about their products, but it's a well-known "big board" company. They're probably the GM of glass. (Ooops, did I say the wrong thing?)

vwong

I had to replace the windshield on my Integra several years ago. Before I had it done, I got a quote from Acura for the OEM windshield. It was something between $700-800 (can't remember if this was the installed price or not).



Since I had to pay out of my own pocket, I went with some mobile windshield service. They replaced it with a PPG windshield and the job was great. I don't remember what I paid for the new windshield, but I think it was under $200 installed. Unfortunately, about a year or so after the new windshield, a flying rock left a small crack on the windshield again. But the crack didn't grow in size, so I left it alone.

moda_way

FYI... PPG makes the OEM windshield. I posted a while back my pics of what happened when a hubcap flew up off the road at SMASHED my windshield. Click on my sig link to see it. Acura over-nighted a windshield for me. I really wanted to make sure all the OEM markings were on it too. I don't think aftermarket windshields exist yet, but I do know PPG makes our OEM windshields.

Brad

Oh yes, agreed. If you know the company that produced the part that Honda installed in the car originally, then all the better.

Car manufacturers use thousands of subcontractors to supply parts. It's not like Honda (or any other manufacturer) makes all of their own parts. And, it's very common for competing car makers to buy parts from each other. GM, for example, has long been in the forefront of automatic transmission development, for example, GM provides auto trannies to BMW. Yup, there's a sizable chunk of "Chevy" in auto tranny BMWs...

It's sort of an incestuous relationship that car makers have with each other.