j0fer

Well I hate to introduce myself with a question, but not so much that I won't. Just took ownership of a 2010 4S/30k miles. It's in great condition and there were no surprised.

However, I just dropped my son off at the pool, and driving away from the pool the windshield just spontaneoulsy cracked. No chips in the area. It cracked from the side trim out into the passenger viewing area and then back towards the side trim. Spread your fingers - about that size.

Is this common? The last thing I need is for my wife (who warmed slowly to the idea) to think this is going to be a money pit. Windshield is the one thing I can't work on myself.

Thanks for any advice!

Panaseeya

I never heard of it before.

GTorTT

I've never heard of this on a Porsche. I have a friend who experienced this in his Ferrari (Spyder), angled out of a steep drive and it torqued the frame and cracked the windshield. For this to happen in a Panamera, which is a hard top, is strange. Hard to torque the frame enough. Second thought was thermal change, but I doubt that was it.

j0fer

If it matters, this unit spent it's life at 8,500 ft ASL in Utah until now, where it resides in the Mid South at about 300 ft ASL.

You never know until you ask - sometimes you'll run across an issue where someone will tell you that it's unoffical, but Porsche knows about it and if you contact them they will discretely replace it. That kind of thing.

DMoore

I had a 2010 4S from new until 2013. It lived at about 1250' ASL in SoCal, but commuted regularly to Mammoth in the Sierras at 9000'. Lots of (ahem!) "moderate" speed drives up and down Highway 395. Temperatures ranged from 110 degrees down to 10 below (F). Never had any such issue.

Weird!

DMoore
'16 RS7 (waiting for my '18 Sport Turismo)

j0fer

Thanks for the replies.
Now I'm skeered. Safelite is set to come replace it on Monday & I can't believe they have to take apart the roof to do it. I'm planning to video document the 'before' condition (which is flawless). I'm sure they are really good...but you can't help thinking "what if I get that one guy".

r553

Watch them like a hawk. On another forum a Cayman owner had his second windshield replaced. When the first one was done they scratched the paint under the windshield when removing it, did not repaint and there was a lot of rust damage. Are you getting a Porsche windshield?

j0fer

I plan on calling today to ask what glass they plan on using.

j0fer

So the SafeLite tech came out today.
He cut the OEM molding off the top of the windshield and put an aftermarket mold on it because (its' hard to get it right). This means that where the windshield met the roof flush originally, now there is a big black piece of rubber moulding across the roof. I told him "Nope". They have another one on order to come out and do it again.
What makes me mad is that I asked him "Will that look exactly the same as original?" "yes". WRONG! Now it looks like the windshield on a freakin Honda Civic.

I only had two conditions to make me happy:
1) Don't damage anything.
2) Make sure it looks just like it did when you're done.

hme

Just wondering if Porsche dealership would do a better job.

cerbomark

Sorry to hear.... watch them like a hawk the second time too. I find when they have to do a do over they are in a rush. I am confident it will be corrected anyway with you on top of them.
I assume the dealer would have just called one of these guys anyways and added to the cost.
Hey , tell the wife a stone chip must have caused it. Can happen to anyone, LOL.
Most insurance covers glass pretty well FYI.

j0fer

I'm sure they would, but the nearest dealership is around 2 hours away. Oh I'll be on the tech. Insurance or not, I'm a paying customer. It will be right or done a third time.

WPOZZZ

The dealership would probably sub it out.

j0fer

No dealership but a specialist, Porsche-only shop here...and they told me they sub out to SafeLite, and specifically this one guy.

j0fer

The tech came out on Tuesday, June 27 and replaced the glass for the second time - this time with the cheaper glass (which they didn't tell me about until he had it in). About 3/4 of the way through the job - the local SafeLite Quality Assurance Manager stopped by to supervise (grease the customer and probably gauge my temperature. In case you're wondering about my 'customer temperment'; I'm always reasonable and low-key as long as they are assuring that they will make it right. I'll be like: "Hey, man, no worries - I know stuff happens, I'm sure we'll get it all taken care of.")

So the QAM stayed and tried to help when the rain sensor didn't seem to want to go back on. I looked at the old glass and the bracket was totally different. They realized they were going to have to order a third unit and the QAM said he could try to at least get the rear-view mirror back on until then. The bracket broke off in his hand. At that point he discovered that the manufacturer had assembled the glass with the rain sensor bracket on backwards - the unit was defective to begin with.

I requested to the QAM that he be present for the re-install to avoid any issues, as if he had not been present this time then either it would have looked bad for the tech - as if he had failed twice at the install - or for me - as if I was a customer that just couldn't be satisfied.

Soooo, they said they would get some OEM glass out of Mississippi hopefully within the next day or two, but the QAM had personal stuff to do on Wednesday and Friday, and is on vacation next week. Thursday was his window IF they could get the glass here.

Tech called yesterday to say he was on his way to do the replacement. QAM called a short while after and said that they did NOT get the OEM glass and that it was the cheap glass and asked if that was OK. I said unequivocally no, and that if it takes waiting until he gets back from vacation to ensure that OEM glass is installed and he is also present then so be it. So I'm driving around in my Porsche with the rear-view mirror dangling by zip ties for another 10 days.