Guys with rock chips and others still a looming threat from vehicles that dont have a splash guard(most of the domestic vehicles dont have this, if you notice. I think they do it on purpose to help the glass industry ?) has anyone looked into the possibilities of using a Lexan windshield ?

There are merchants out there selling that for like 400 bucks. But scratch resistance and structural issues are stll there. Looks like its never going to be hard as glass. But people say that buffing it returns the windshield to new. But if you do this again and again, then the thickness of the windshield tapers down.

Any thoughts on this ?

 

I wouldn't install a lexan windshield for a variety of reasons. Safety and noise are the two major ones that come to mind.

Factory windshields are made out of safety glass that are designed to crumble and not produce any long sharp edges that will.... i dunno... drive pointed shards of glass into your body during an accident I don't even want to think about what would happen to a sheet of Lexan in an accident.. what if, during the accident, it somehow popped out or broke into two pieces and came flying at your face? Edges of Lexan are almost as sharp and hard as glass.

Second, Acura windshields have like 15 layers of sound deading material (or something like that). I wouldn't imagine Lexan being a very quiet material.

My

 

Additionally, glass windshields are part of the structural integrity of the car. Seems to me that lexan wouldn't have the torsional or compressive rigidity of glass.

 

I certainly didnt know about the sound deadening layers and heat resistance of Acura Windshields. But the rest of your points are yes..obvious and true.

 

most automotive windshields have varying amounts of sandwiched insulation/UV protective layer/laminate. acoustic insulation are nothing more than composite materials that, after baking, come out clear. same is true with the UV layers and lamination. the laminate is meant to prevent the windshield glass from shattering - the glass will still shatter and produce sharp pieces, but none of those will be huge enough, nor will the overall windshield obliterate when you hit something with a substantial weight.

case in point, check out this Evo IX FX340 doing a high speed run in the UK. it hits a seagull and smashes the windshield. note that some bird debris and glass material still came in, but the whole windshield stayed intact, preventing serious injury.

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?...39229492036139

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?...39229492036139

 

Check with your auto insurance company. With Geico, I had full glass coverage in Connecticut with my plan. I have had my car for about 2 years and it had minor but extensive pitting all over the windshield. I figured since it was free I would get it replaced. I got a new OEM Acura windshield, and it was done by an autoglass company, at the dealership, while my car was in for its 30,000 mile service. Be aware, however, that there is always risk with this. Whenever something is disassembled, it never goes back together as tight as from the factory. All my windshield trim is pretty good, but some of the molding does not quite fit together as well as it did before the replacement. I am mainly speaking of the interfacing pieces at the bottom sides of the windshield where trim overlaps.

 

Acura glass is made by PPG which pretty much makes 95% of all automotive glass. Its all pretty much the same across manufactures they just spec out different models from PPG for their desired applications. I wouldnt even dare install lexan, sounds like a huge safety risk.