Thought I'd share an experience I've never had in my 42 years of driving. Was pulling out of my driveway on Monday - very rainy here in NH. Pickup truck went down the street and splashed a lot of water on my windshield as it went by. Unbeknownst to me, that water contained a bunch of sand and small pebbles from the edge of the street, from the stuff they put on the roads here in the winter. The next time my wipers swept across the windshield, it carried a few of these nice tiny rocks with the blade and made the most god-awful sound I've ever heard (worse than fingernails on a chalkboard). It was night so I couldn't see anything, but the next morning I could quickly see 4 deep scratches on the driver's side that were in the arc of the wiper blade, right in the line of sight. Arrgghh....

Good news is I have $0 deductible on my comprehensive so it's nothing out of pocket to replace it. I'm using a local shop that I trust to do the work. I tried requesting OEM glass, and while the insurance (Allstate) agreed, there was a cap on what they'd pay overall. Of course, the OEM glass was like $250 more than that, so I'd have to pay it. I talked it over with the guy at the shop about his experience with the aftermarket he uses (Pilkington) vs OEM, and he actually recommended the aftermarket since overall he's had a higher success rate with that vs OEM Honda for quality. So going with his recommendation. Will let folks know how it works out.

But just a heads-up - beware those splash-ups from puddles if you live in a snowbelt state in the spring - there's more than just water in those puddles.

andy

 

That is really strange. Sucks to have a new car go through that. I find it weird that even comprehensive insurance has a cap on what they would pay. So are you paying anything from pocket at all? Let us know how it turns out. Thanks for sharing.

 

You think 5 weeks is bad. I was driving my parent's brand new MDX from the dealer home, had about 20 miles at the time, and a rock flew off a truck and made a pretty large chip on the windshield. I switched cars at the gas station with my dad and had to give him the bad news. We hadn't even made it back home yet lol. Ended up having the chip filled but its still clearly visible. We're just going to ignore it for now since its in the bottom right corner and not visible from the drivers seat.

 

I too had a rock hit the windshield. Car was one day old.

Chip was very small and was filled in with epoxy. Right in the field of vision but I'm used to it now and don't see it. It is a bummer though to a new car.

 

andysinnh, my neighbor is an independent auto glass installer. In Massachusetts, glass has a $0 deductible, and if the car is under 2 years old, the owner can get factory glass. He also uses Pilkington as an aftermarket supplier, and has had very good results with it. The key to a good installation is to remove as much of the old urethane adhesive as possible, and to prime the area where the old urethane was removed. Many times, auto glass "chains" do a quick cut out, and slap a new windshield in. Their cutting tool scratches the body, and without those areas being primed, rust will begin. Many of his clients wind up going to a body shop for repair before he can re-install a new windshield. The glass is a "structural" component of the car, and if the urethane lets go (due to rust) the windshield could pop out on a roll over.

 

I don't think I've ever owned a car that I didn't had to replace the windshield at least once. They just seem to attract rocks. So far, no problem with the RDX, knock on wood...

 

Thanks for all the input. I had the windshield replaced on Friday, and it went great. They ended up using PGW (PPG), which I've had used on my Mini last summer, and the quality of the windshield was just as good as the OEM from the factory. Fit was great, visually very clear. The guys did a slow and careful job to take care and not nick up the car and make sure it was prepped right (as they've done in the past). The hardest part was getting all of the trim off from around the windshield, especially the clips under the trim that goes up thru the roof (they pulled enough off to tape it to the sides to get to the windshield. In the end it looks almost like factory (as long as you don't look at the glass logo ) - although I"m nervous using the wipers for the first time considering what happened to start all this.

All in all - great experience with the installer and the aftermarket glass was fine.

andy

 

What is "PGW (PPG)"?

 

Sorry - PPG is "Pittsburg Plate Glass", and PGW is PPG's recently created auto glass company, "Pittsburg Glass Works". PPG/PGW and Pilkington are two of the higher-quality aftermarket auto glass vendors out there. I try to have one or the other used for windshield replacements. Others I've tried in years past provided mixed results at best.

andy

 

Wow...heart attack averted. I was reading your post a few weeks ago and lo and behold the following day I notice these arc shaped lines on the windshield AFTER I had just washed the car. So of couse I thought the worst had happened, luckly though I tried to rub them off with my finger and it came off. Phew!