I could use some advice...

I need to replace my windshield glass and a body shop told me to only go with OEM glass...the mazda dealer wants $700 for the part without the gasket or installation....

a local glass shop is telling me that his glass is OEM spec the same as the dealer is selling and that it just doesnt have a mazda logo on it...

I noticed that mine doesnt have a logo from mazda either...it say Therlite - TSR DOT 23 Nippon Safety AS1 NSG m421 etc.etc.

The body shop told me to be careful...that alot of these operations that come and put the glass in in your driveway are like circus mirror glass with all kinds of waves...

Anyone have any advice...

I am gonna go to the place and let them check out my car cause they claim that there are three diff color glass...green blue and gray tint...the dealer says there is only one for the car but i gather maybe they are saying that based on the vin # of my car

Any help would be greatly appreciated

vantheman4@aol.com
Eric

 

A shop using PPG or similar quality glass should be good. You most certainly do have to look for defects though.

Here's a few tips:

*only use OEM trim, the glass shop will try to use generic
*there are three OEM tint styles, depending on exterior color of the car, a good glass shop should be able to tell you want tint pattern goes with your color
*only use a place with a lifetime warranty, there is no reason to offer less

 

"the mazda dealer wants $700 for the part without the gasket or installation"

Just so are aware mazda dealers outsource these kinds of stuff. So you might end up using their own supplier, lol. Never believe the dealer. Just go to the local glass shops it should be fine.

 

Actually, Mazda does still sell the OEM windshield, so the dealer would be getting the OEM part and not an aftermarket piece.

List price for OEM is $510, Malloy price is about $350, Mazdamotorsports price is $300.

 

$300 - $350 is not bad for OEM glass. I would definitely go OEM for those prices.

 

Except my prices listed above don't include shipping! If I had it to do all over, I would have gone OEM instead of PPG replacement 2+ years ago.

 

My windshield is a bit "pitted" after all these years. It's not cracked or anything, but a new one would be nice .

 

Unfortunately I think windshields and other glass items are the one thing Mazda Comp won't ship. Or at least I thought I read that somewhere.

A couple of years ago a mobile windshield replacement place that my insurance company uses replaced my windshield. It was a piece of crap and had distortion. It was just enough to bug me once in a while but I never got around to getting it replaced.

I had my car painted a couple of weeks ago and since they were doing a detrim for the paintjob I had them put in a new windshield. It was another aftermarket bit that only cost $200.00 but fortunately it is clear with no distortion. It's nice to see clearly again... I didn't fully realize how much the old windshield bugged me.

 

Do none of you guys have glass coverage? It comes on the Comprehensive part of my car insurance.... If you do, does it not install oem but a cheaper windshield?

 

Nope, Allstate doesn't have no-deductible glass coverage, at least not in Cali. And I refuse to have a lower deductible than $500...

 

I just had a driveway-replacement installed a few weeks back, seems fine to me. I've had several of these put into several vehicles and never had an issue...except my s-10 which has chronic leaks, but that's common to the trucks in general.

My windshield costed $182 installed, btw. I called the first place in the phone book, which happened to be Triumph...I think it's a national service, but I'm not sure. Triumphautoglass.com, their ad says they have nationwide dealers. Might be worth a look.

 

triumph is who I use on second gens also

 

whoa this was helpful. i had a small chip when i got my car which a few weeks turned into a big *** crack all the way down the middle...anyway i can get a real good deal on windshields where i work, so i may talk to those guys and ask some of these questions. maybe get some good info for all of us.

 

You're right. That's not supposed to happen in this forum. We need to go back to useless comments, v8 conversion debates, newbie flaming, etc.

 

I have Allstate here in Colorado, and have a $0 deductible comprehensive policy. Must just be Cali. Or places like Cali.

 

When the FD first came out, Mazda made a big deal about many of the things that they had done to reduce weight. One of the things they did, was to use a thinner windshield. I wonder if these aftermarket windshields are the same size AND WEIGHT os OEM. I bet that they are not. I suspect that the aftermarket windshields are made of a "standard" thickness glass, and are heavier. It should be easy enough to find out, by getting the weights of both.

 

You can get a $0 deductible anywhere, however, IMO it's a huge waste of money. Call up your agent and see what the premium difference is between a $0 or $500 deductible. I'm sure your insurance rates are much lower than mine living in the Bay Area here as well.

 

The aftermarket glass IS heavier, I remember reading weight comparisons a few years ago...the info may still be on the forum.

 

I personally would give up 20lb of weight savings for a thicker, stronger glass. I get tired of the windshield cracking just because I looked at it the wrong way. However, I did compare teh stocker versus the aftermarket glass in my car and didnt note an obvservable difference in thickness.

 

usually the glass has to be a certain thickness obviously for safety reasons. the top 3 aftermarket windshield manufacturers are....
1. PPG
2. LOF Pilkington
3. Safelite-- the only company to manufacture and install glass.

 

pilkingon...that's what my recent FD replacment glass was. I saw him peel off the sticker. Said made in mexico.