Hello folks, I live in Calgary and every single car here has a cracked windshield my '03 vert included. It's damn near impossible not to have chips or cracks because we use gravel here instead of salt, so my questions are these:

1) Is it worth the $1218 to replace the HUD windshield or should I just use a non-HUD and save $800 (my wholesale cost) knowing that I'll probably have to replace it again in a couple of years?

2) Is there a big difference when using HUD as far as clearity goes on a non-HUD windshield? (I never use it anyways)

3) Is there a strip of film I could put on the projection spot to make it clear and if not who wants to develop that product with me?

Thanks.

 

Do a search on my name and windshield....

the jist of it all is this.

APTech ( this is ONLY TRUE FOR APTech) makes two windshileds..they are exactly the same windshield..they have two DIFFRENT dw numbers..

One is returned for a search for the coupe the other is returned for the Z06...

THEY ARE EXACTLY THE SAME WINDSHIELD... 4.8mm thick etc....

One costs 1200 bucks the other can be had for between 300 and 500

 

From what Ive read (and if you search you will see a ton of posts on this subject) is that many people (probably most) who go with a regular windshield (or put a HUD in a car that didn't have one, so it had a regular windshield) say it looks fine. The Hud is clear and they have no problem.

However there are a significant number of posts about replacing a windshield with a non HUD one and having fuzzy or double images on the HUD.

One point is clear, if you put a HUD one in and its not good, its going to be replaced by someone at no charge.

The deal usually is, if the insurance is covering it, go with a HUD one, if you are paying for it . . .you have an excellent shot at it (the regular one) working no problem at all, but it remains a shot (small possibility that it will be double image or fuzzy).

The confusion about some being the same model number may stem from reports that auto glass manufacturers have at times in the past noticed that the regular glass worked fine with the hud's in vehicles as long as the reflectivity of that particular one was high (apparently there is a fair variance of the reflectivity of the glass in a production run). So they test them and designate the ones with good reflectivity as "HUD" windshields and the rest as regular and charge a premium for the "HUD" one even though it was produced in the same process as the other one they sell.

If what you are saying is true (its gonna break again), and you're paying for it out of pocket, you may want to just go with the regular one. It will most likely (but not definitely) work just fine.

You might want to think about "full glass" on your next insurance policy





Question for BitViper:
So what are they doing? Are they selling the thicker glass (made for the coupe) as the thinner glass (made for the Z06), or the other way around? Basicaly, which (Coupe or Z06) comes from the factory with 4.8 mil glass?

 

yeah i always thought the Z06 got thinner glass? I have HUD in my '98 with a non-HUD windsheild and it looks fine

 

Lots of people use a regular windshield instead of the HUD one. Seems to work fine.

 

I installed a HUD in my 99 vert. It works well except when the bright sun shines directly on the HUD thru the windshield. Then the sun is so bright, it makes the HUD look like a mass green blur. As soon as I turn away or move out of direct sun on the HUD, it works fine. I think that HUD windshields have a UAV film in them similar to sunglasses to dampen the glare from direct sunlight. I hope this helps.

 

I installed Hud in my 2000 conv with the regular windsheild and have had no trouble in the florida sun.

 

No..APTech produces ONE windshield for ALL C5 corvettes....they sell them under TWO diffrent designation numbers.... DW1430 and DW1514...one is marked for the Z06 the other is for the coupe. there is a $600 difrence between the two and in my case thats only because they had to special order one (I insisted that if they wanted my business that they should bring both)

They are EXACTLY the same windshield!
I inspected them side by side..the "Bug's" , thats the info in the lower passenger side corner are EXACTLY the same.
The bug from tyeh coupe windshield...notice above the AP it says Shaded and HUD

Winshield 1...the coupe windshield

windshield 2 the designated Z06 windshield

 

This thread is a keeper... Thanks BitViper!

 

Not really my work....I got most the info from this site and other members...I just quantified it

 

I have HUD and can see a difference in the windshield at the spot where it is projected on to the glass.