John DeHart

Gents,

A rock hit my 40 year old windshield. Has anyone had experience with this? It left a spider crack about the size of a quarter with a decent chip in the center. I'm leary of using safelite for this repair. Any options other then replacing the window and if I do need to replace any feedback on where I should go? I could drive up to Jim Ellis in Atl of necessary.

Thanks in advance,
John

'79 928 - Oak Metallic Green

davek9

Is it covered by your insurance?

bureau13

I used Safelite, with zero problems. I may have been lucky, however...the guy they sent out used to have one of these cars (or maybe his father did) and he knew them pretty well. Their usual supplier twice sent him the wrong combination of glass color and internal antenna, and he eventually had to get it from Porsche. Thank god my insurance covers that

John DeHart

Yep.... covered but 1K deductible ...... I'll give safelite a try and I'll let you know how it goes.

9zwei8

Safelite used on my '82 .
I had a used piece of glass that I had difficulty getting someone to install, so I went the Safelite route and was not disappointed.

FredR

No idea regarding the name of the system but I had a windscreen chip repaired many years- as I remember they drilled a small hole to the root of the crank and a couple of small branches and injected a resin of the superglue family- no sign of the repair afterwards. Cost next to nothing worked well. The trick is to get at the crack early before it grows. Nowadays in the UK I believe there is legislation that only allows this technique to be used on cracks below a certain size.

Tomkat80222

I would try to repair the glass. Replacing glass can be tricky. Did you check with your insurance about glass coverage? Many offer a zero deductible on glass.

AngelP

If you haven't done it yet and it sounds like it is repairable look up Superglass windshield repair in your area. They are a national franchise and specialize in repair as opposed to replacement.
They will do the best repair hands down.

bureau13

Here in Florida, there is zero or low deductable on the windshield, and I believe Safelite will try to repair it if that's possible.

buccicone

I have Safelite coming this coming Monday to replace GTS windshield. I have used them before and have been happy. I am going to do some prep work myself i.e. removing trim around glass. wipers, cowl and inside "A" pillar trim.

The Forgotten On

I haven't used Safelite as my local glass installer was a Porsche contractor back when these cars were new, go figure.

But I did use the inexpensive ( ~$200) Chinese glass and it lasted me a while until a rock about 2 inches in diameter hit it and spider cracked it. I had it replaced with another Chinese windshield and haven't had any problems since.

IIRC Porsche only sells the glass with the antenna, which makes it a very expensive proposition in an early car that doesn't use it.

You can get higher quality glass from Pilkington, Sekurit, and Sigla if they are available in your area.

vanster

I'm sure you were due for a new windshield regardless. I put a new Chinese made windshield in my 80 when I broke when installing the dash. $300 including installation and it lasted for years. I hadn't realized how pitted the original was. I can see! My 86.5 window will cost about $1650 to replace and it's due.
My suggestion is go for the Chinese window because the odds of picking up another chip is great and it normally happens within a week of getting a new one

Wisconsin Joe

As far as repairing it goes, you can try to do it yourself, or have a good glass shop do it for you. The shop will tell you if it's 'repairable' or not.

I've done both. My Cayenne had a small "bullseye" in it when I got it.

I had a local glass shop (does everything - commercial, residential, automotive) repair it. Cost was around $60. You have to know where to look to see it, and all that is visible is a couple small pits.

A year or so later, I had an almost identical chip happen. It happened right around Christmas, and I waited until spring to do it myself. The kits are all pretty much the same, I think I went with 3M for the name on it.
While it seems to have worked (the chip hasn't 'grown' any cracks at all), the damaged spot is still very visible (not in the direct view of the driver, so it doesn't really matter).

Did the glass shop use a better kit? Did they have more experience at doing it? Did the time factor matter? I don't know.

I do know that if it happens again, I'll pay the money to have it 'disappear.'

NelaK

Speaking of glass chip repair - check your insurance policy. I recall my provider covers one or two glass chip repairs as a courtesy (so they don't have to pay out for a full windscreen). Doesn't count as a claim and no deductible.

Its not a big deal but $60 is still $60.