Y'all know everything so...windshield protection?

Did a search but didn't see anything. Obviously, PPF has become a fairly normal thing with cars today but I haven't seen too much about windshields. I've seen a couple of brands out there but wanted to see if anyone has had a windshield protection film installed. My windshield looks like I've been driving in desert sandstorms for the last two years (super sparkly from the inside). Rock chips are super common here in CO (at least in my area) and I used the Rain-X chip filler stuff but it would be rad to try and prevent the sparkle and the chips. Thoughts?

 

As a former glass shop owner, I say when it's rock vs glass, glass always loses. Pitted and chipped glass can be covered by comp ins if it's dangerous and unsafe when driving into the sun.
I have never installed any film on the outside of a windshield to keep sandblasting from happening. I assume others have, but if the film were to expose my shop it a liability claim because it's not supposed to be there in the first place, I wouldn't install it.
YMMV

 

Any film you install over the glass will be much softer than the glass, probably
requiring a replacement so often that it becomes both annoying and cost prohibitive.

I agree it would be a great option to have though.

 

Wiper function may also be compromised to the point of annoyance.

 

If its a car that's raced enough you might be able to find tearoffs, but they often cost more than the windshield. Here in AZ where the highways are surrounded by rocks, glass chips/cracks are super common. Only answer I've found is to make sure you have glass coverage on your insurance. I've never read the fine print but if you call them about a chip and the whole windshield is pitted to hell, they might just replace it anyway.

 

So someone came up with something you don’t need to get money from you that you don’t need to spend.

 

If you have full coverage, smack it with a hammer or rock, and make a claim. F the insurance companies.

 

I'm kind a with you on this one. My rates go up every damn year anyway so why not file the claim? It's not like not filing one has ever kept my rates down.

 

No fault...except for us having to pay out the ass every time.
Good old insurance...the bank you deposit in and are denied withdrawals.

If you're paid, EVERYONE'S rate goes up. Greatest scam in existence.

 

My local auto glass guy is very reasonable if you pay him cash.

I'm in there every couple months with various vehicles. He has his own epoxy for stone chips with a vacuum system type thing. Works through the winter so you don't get the big cracks

 

My homeowners went from $3800 to $11000. Again, Fuck the insurance companies.

 

Agreed

I used to take a policy on my dock in case the winter got gnarly and the ice moved it, now I cannot even buy the policy. My insurance guy is a fraternity brother that owns the insurance place, so we've tried it all.

On my dock they will cover fire and damage from a tree, etc. thats it.

 

PPF on my new in Dec. '22 truck. Got it done in Feb; no issues so far.

 

I race / track day cars and the windshields just get destroyed. So, last time I put a new windshield in the Spec Piniata I bought a few different films to try to put on the outside.

The security plastic is thick and works well but on a windshield it's just not perfectly transparent (although, I might just suck at installing it). I let it cure in the sun for a few days but that didn't help so I took it off.

The ceramic 70% (near clear) tint is pretty thin but easier to apply. It also works well to keep heat out of the car (more of a difference than I imagined). It is soft so if you're using wipers, it'll scratch pretty easily over time on a street car (not a problem out here). It also gets pitted (mine lasted about 1/2 a season) pretty quickly.

Now the good news, since I put this on a brand new windshield when I took it off I got to see how many dings and pings made it through and the answer is, almost none. They were all in the film. This worked fantastically well and I'm going to keep it up. In addition, since this was sacrificial tint anyway I just bought the cheap $#it from Amazon and it didn't matter. I would recommend a heat gun (used a hair dryer the first time and it's just not quite hot enough) but those are pretty cheap as well. I still suck at putting the tint on perfectly (30+ minutes of jerking around and it looks like it was done by an idiot in a home garage) but, whatever.

If I could have found dedicated windshield tear-offs for S#!tbox Miata racing I would have tried them but the ghetto Amazon solution works great. I also used the remaining film on my daily driver to cover the top and make a poor man's sun-visor thing. Might end up just doing the entire windshield there too.

 

https://madico.com/dealers/automotive/windshield-protection/clearplex

 

I was just taking to a friend in Cape Coral Florida and his rate just went to $2k per month for a 2500 sq ft house.

 

Appreciate the feedback. Is there really any difference in replacement windshields? We did one through Safelite and 2 through another place (tried to support local business) and I feel like the Safelite one was more resilient.

 

I have found waxing the windshield helps some as the rocks will glance off easier. I wish there was something that really helped as I drive 60k-ish miles a year and the windshield always looks like crap after a year.

 

RainX works well for getting water to roll off. I believe it was originally created as a cockpit bubble product for the Air Force since F15s and F16s don’t come with windshield wipers.

 

This is what my Subaru dealership pushes:

https://dfisolutions.com/surfaces-we-protect/car-windshields/