steve J06

I'm wondering from a safety standpoint how many nicks or chips are too many in a windshield? I only have a $100 deduct but have heard 'stories' about the seal not being as good as factory. I just do a few auto-x or hpde a year.

USA1C5

I have some of the same issues as you. Got most all if not all my chips doing HPDE's. A couple chips about the size of a BB and a whole lot of sandblast over the entire windshield. Not bad I don't think from a Safety standpoint but it don't look like new. You can mostly just see it when the sun hits it in a particular way. I've thought about having my insurance fix it, but like you I am concerned about the seal and other quality issues. I'm still thinking about what to do or when I should do something. I guess in time I'll do something.

John Shiels

When they install a new windshield it is never like factory. Nothing to do with weather seal or safety. It has to do with the correct bed height in the adhesive and the alignment of the trim around the windshield. They were none to happy when I made them rip mine out again and buy all new trim. It is still not like factory fit.

As far as safety you will have to judge the pits affecting your vision as the tiny pits will not affect the strength.

USA1C5

That's what I was afraid of. I guess I'll just live with what I got for now. Vision is no problem, it just don't look like new from the outside when the sun hits in a particular way. Inside looking out you can't hardly tell it's pitted. I'll just keep what I got until I do more damage to it running HPDE's. In time a new windshield would get pitted again on the track anyway.

fatbillybob

Anyone know if that epoxy stuff they put on the bb hole/rick chip helps stop the windshieled from growing the crack?

USA1C5

I have heard and seen ads that claim it does but I don't know first hand. Ads I've seen say it almost makes the chip invisible and that it helps it from gettin bigger but thats an ad, again I don't know for sure maybe someone can chime in here with first hand experience.

mgarfias

My wife's subaru had a nice crack starting, had the thing glued and its been fine for 5-6 years.

Oh, and my factory windshield has a leaky seal.

Gary2KC5

I've had TWO cracked windsheilds on my 06' Z06; one from a track event (those smaller tracks always create more debries from always waiting to pass someone) and one from a truck on the highway.

BOTH times they reused the factory seal; thus no differance between the factory install and the replacements.

USA1C5

Thats good to hear, who did your fix? I may reconsider and have mine fixed.

Bill Dearborn

Glass is covered by your comprehensive insurance. I don't know about CA but in NY we have comprehensive with full glass coverage so the comprehensive deductible doesn't apply. Usually insurance companies will pay the full cost of getting chips repaired at a glass shop as repairs are cheaper than replacing the windshield. Just make sure you use a good glass shop and you won't have any problems.

I broke the windshield on my 03Z and thought I chose an excellent shop but sadly it wasn't so and I had leaks on both sides. To do the replacement they have to take off all of the trim and weather strip back to the B pillar. After may trips with no satisfaction I complained to State Farm and they told me to go to another shop. They covered a second replacement plus replacement of the ruined trim and weatherstrip that the first shop had screwed up by trying to seal the leak with improper materials. Without State Farm backing me up I would have been screwed.

Bill

John Shiels

The glass is set in an adhesive there is no seal on a C5 and if the glass is not bed in right the molding is not going back perfect. Epoxy works but the dings are still slightly visible slightly when they do my trucks,

steve J06

Sounds like more of a cosmetic or vision issue, so i'll keep the original for now. I have 3 pits and some sandblasting but not excessive.

I have used the superglue (cyano-acrylate) fixes available from the generic parts houses a half dozen times. It will stop a crack from spreading provided you can get the repair soln into it. For me it has worked to stop a crack of 1.5" but not a 4" one. Mixed results on filling the pits back to clear; let's say 40-85% clarity after fix. For the first two pits on the C6, I had safelite fix it and they used the exact same formulation in the same manner. The third i fixed myself.

John - I see what you mean about adheasive bed height, probably difficult to reproduce factory extrusion method.

steve

CodeBlack

Would windshield tear offs help guard against this problem? I researched a few sites and they cut the tear offs to the size of your windshield. You can use multiple layers. Do a search on the forum for tear offs and you will find the info. Cole motorsports has them.

USA1C5

I don't know. My guess is it would help somewhat from the sandblast effect. Not sure if it would help from the larger rocks that causes chips. It would help prevent some or at least reduce the problem, I guess.

What tear offs and where to get the ones you're talking about? How thick a material?

dfinke23

I've had two drilled and filled. If you look close you can tell, but they have held just fine.

Joe_Knesek

I've used thin CA glue to fill clips in the past. It dries clear and is thin enough to penetrate into the cracks without using vacuum pressure. Once it dries you can shave it down with a single edge razor to prevent damaging your wiper blade.

http://caglue.com/cgi-bin/cart/index...&id=4&parent=1