I knew the buzzard was going to surface on this thread. My sheild has taken many a good hit. I drive 95% on the highway , lots of big trucks throwing rocks back at me. And if it did crack my shield then I also live in flordia where its covered with no charge.

 

same with my car when i have ~8000KMs the windsheild was all chiped and torn up, then i got into an accedent and the windsheild got cracked so it was replaced same with my hood and front bumper (which also had dents scrapes and chips)
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LIVONIA TRANSMISSION

 

Last night noticed a small chip on the passenger side of my windshield.. Only damage to my windshield, 8000 miles on the car so far.. I drive a lot of highway miles (800 miles total) every other weekend and from this thread, I'm surprised that it wasn't worse.

T

 

I took a rock this past weekend. It only made a small mark, and hasn't started to travel yet. I might be able to just have it filled.

PISSED ME OFF

 

Okay, the Safelite mobile repair guy came by this morning, and now the old, cheap-*** windshield has been replaced. I noticed it's from a different manufacturer, but it looks the same as the OEM glass. $245 bucks; out of pocket. Dammit.

Now I'll have to wait around for 3 days for the adhesive to set and the glass to be fully secured. Then it'll be time to find out whether this replacement glass is as lame as the original-- The guy said it's the same thickness as the OEM, so I'm thinking it'll suck equally to the original.

Others have mentioned it in this thread, and I'm inclined to agree: It might not just be Mazda glass, I think the entire industry has moved to piece of **** cheap glass in ALL vehicles. I've heard of a lot of other folks needing to replace their glass on newer cars, and I find that trend reprehensible.

Glass replacement has obviously become a BIG business, and I wouldn't be surprised if they somehow have had an influence on the OEM glass being used in cars these days. If auto makers started putting good glass back in their cars again, it would cut out major business that these replacement companies otherwise would get. They're probably all too happy, and supportive, of the kind of glass auto makers shove in their cars these days. Not to be paranoid, but it's a theory...

Those ********.

If I have to replace this windshield again for my entire remaining ownership of this car, I'm going to be *seriously* pissed off.

Not that I wasn't this time...

 

ill admit that most new cars have cheap glass in them, but i think not all do. my mom bought her 98 mirage about a month before my dad got his 97 mazda pickup. my moms cars windshield is like new other than water spots, but my dads truck is pitted like crazy. none have spread yet, but they are there. also my car which i bought in december now has quite a few small pits in it. i think i counted around 6 when i was cleaning the windshield the other day. i wasnt worreid about it at all because they all seemed minor and not very deep. but on my way back to college the other day, i got another one that is about 1in from another one. and now im afraid that when it gets to the point where we are having colder nights, but still sunny warm days that it might spread between the two. im pretty sure im completely covered on glass, so its no an issue, but its just annoying.

just as a side note, my girlfriends 2002 rav4, my best friends 2001 grand prix, and another friends 2001 camaro all seem to be pitted or chiped fairly bad also.

 

frankly the slogan they just dont make'em like they used to applys to most all cars and even houses.

my friend cracked the windsheild in her honda 3 times in ONE month right after she got it.

anyways with all our progess we realize that whats built to last is harmfull for the world, for instance the crap paint job.
plus that windshield is lighter, less weight is good i thought???
anyways, anything is better than driving around those big iron tanks that never gave a problem, you could run them into eachother and keep going, but they were just SLOW.
again this got to long for me to remember my point so i'll stop

 

The most important factor you are all forgetting is what if someone gets thrown thru the windshield?? Thick glass tends to splinter in larger chuncks, the thinner glass will allow you to pass easier thru the windshield.
Not saying you will live but is supposed to cause less bodily damage.
It will also lessen the affect of heavier glass coming back into the car and smashing you in an accident in the event the windsheild does slam back at you.
Bigger is not always a better thing

 

I haven't had any cracks or chips in 16000km of driving (which is 90% city, anyways), but earlier this year I was on my way to work and there was a big explosion of bird **** on the windshield, right in my line of sight. I grabbed a paper towel from the house, wetted it with warm water and gently wiped it off. As I am driving to work, I can see that where the bird **** was, I now had a spot on the windshield all scratched up (about an inch wide and 2 inches long). I have never had that happen before with any vehicles. I took it to the local glass shop and after half an hour, they were able to polish it out with jewellers rouge, without distorting the glass ($25). I think the birds in my neighbourhood are eating and shitting out diamonds.

 

The other day I was driving out of a grocery lot, when I heard a pop sound coming from my rear view mirror area. A block later another pop sound, and instant 6 inch crack in my front top center windshield. It was impossible that a rock chipped it as I was only moving at 30-50 kph. I drove to an MPI Center and got it assest. The guy took out his ball point pen and ran it down the length of the crack, checking for chips. If there is a chip you will feel it in the pen. He said that it was a stress crack and it should be covered by warranty. And that windshield stress cacks are not uncommon in MP5's. After some research on stress cracks on this site Mazda Forums , I found that its is not uncommon in MP5's. Some owners were on there 3rd warranted windshield. Apparently it is because of our stiff suspension, that slight frame movement can cause a stress crack. But Mazda dealerships are real picky on this subject since lots of claims are being reported for this. They will not warranty your windshields if the crack runs into a stone chip (previous), they will try to tell you that the crack was caused by the stone chip, letting them off the hook for the warranty. So if you have a stress crack in your windshield, better hope the crack didn't run in to old glass chips.

Majority of stress crack occur at the top center or sides of the windshield, heard by a popping sound.

 

I went to my car after work yesterday and noticed a 6 inch curved crack starting from the bottom of my windshield. It has since grown to 10 inches and it is definitely not due to any stone or other impact. Most definitely seems like a stress crack.

Will I be able to get the dealer to replace it on warranty since its a stress crack? How many people have had luck with that?

 

I have a 2001 ES 2.0L Protege. When I bought it I was assured that it was 100% Hiroshima made. I wanted it to be made in Japan because I didn't want a bunch of Ford parts in it. Anyway, a long story short, a few months back I went to a company near my work to do some P.R. for my work. The company I visited is called "Carlex." It is in East Tennessee and they make glass for several cars over here, including my Protege. Interesting that the front side glass (driver's side and passenger side) on my car has markings that say "SEKURIT" and "Saint Gobain" under that. The glass on both sides in the back have markings, "Nippon Safety," but both my front windshield and back windshield say "CARLEX." Seems that our cars have glass from 3 different manufacturers. When I talked to CARLEX about this they told me that their company here in East Tennessee is the only factory in the world that makes "Carlex," and that they export windshields to Hiroshima where they are installed on the Protege which are then shipped back to the U.S. Not so funny to us is the lack of quality of Carlex glass. This company is struggling and about to fold according to their president whom I talked to on my "P.R." visit. Evidently quality control has been a major problem for them.

 

Heh, when I first got my 01 ES a couple of years ago, I parked the car in front of the apartment complex. I came back home for lunch in the HOT florida weather. For some insane reason, the apartment's grass sprinklers went on. Needless to say, when I got done with my lunch and headed back to the car there was a big crack on the windsheild. At least mazda replaced the windsheild for free, especially since ive only had the car for a week at the time.