2015 Update: Windshield Options (1 Viewer)

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1/24/15 update, hope this info is useful to others. So, I had my windshield replaced by Roadrunner Glass - they have shops in Fremont, CA and Boise, ID. They service most of the SF Bay Area, and the entire Treasure Valley. They are a glass company, doing residential/commercial/auto. I would recommend them.

Glass: I ended up going with Fuyao in the bronze tint, with the brown/bronze shade strip on the top of the windshield - looks better than I expected in the LX450. The glass I was replacing had no top shade strip, and very little tint at all. It looked "clear". It was glass made in Egypt, wasn't the original glass - no idea when/where it was installed. There was also a "blue tint" available, also Fuyao. As far as I can tell, PPG and Pilkington are no longer available for the 80 series.

Installation: As discussed frequently, installation procedure is crucial. Follow the FSM. When my glass was removed, the glass had no sealant used on either the glass/gasket or gasket/body - the cause of my damp floorboards. To do this job correctly: windshield wiper arms removed, 6 cowl screws removed, cowl removed. Found an interesting cut on the cowl (to access the wiper system internals?), and a little rust bubble under the gasket.

Once glass and gasket removed, it was clear that the windshield was installed without the old urethane and gasket pieces being removed - a really crappy job. So, the installer fist removed all the built up urethane and rubber from who knows how many prior installs. Then, a coating of 3M primer. The shop then fitted the new OEM gasket (I supplied) to the new windshield. Then the urethane was shot into the gasket to seal the glass. The glass and gasket were then fitted to the truck - requires two guys who know what they are doing. I would not want to do this.

Now, here is where things went a little sideways... after providing the FSM and their agreement to follow it, they "promised" the gasket didn't need to be sealed to the body. They said if it leaked to bring it back. At this point, I had been there for 2+ hours, and figured I'd deal with the gasket/body seal on my own time. I was OK with this, because they did the really challenging parts, and I didn't want to hang out for 3+ hours! Getting the glass into the truck is a pain, but these guys were pros. They did a nice clean up too, urethane is messy.

They treated the rust and hacked cowl with antirust and sealant, so I was pleased. I ordered a tube of the 3M urethane and did the gasket to body. Remember to do it correctly, you have to REMOVE the cowl piece and get under the bottom flap - you are not sealing the flap that rests on the top of the cowl. It is a messy job, tape off as much as you can to simplify the clean up. All in all I am happy how it turned out. Now, need to find some decent rain to see how it does, hoping I have it taken care of.

Pictures:

Glass and gasket came out very easily - he freed up the gasket while using his feet to essentially kick the glass out. Glass came out with the gasket still attached (no need to cut it since no sealant). The old sealant you see was from a previous job.
image-4.jpeg


A close up of the old urethane from a prior install.
image-1.jpeg



Rust spot from a leak and pooling water. Luckily it was not very deep. Also, the PO hack job cuts...anybody seen this before?
image-2.jpeg


3M primer around entire windshield frame and on that nasty hack job cut, along with sealant on the cuts.
image.jpeg


Finished product after I did the gasket to body urethane. The brown/bronze shade strip is very subtle on the LX450, it is an improvement over the previous windshield. Now, waiting for rain...
image-3.jpeg
 
...... they "promised" the gasket didn't need to be sealed to the body. They said if it leaked to bring it back.

You might as well go ahead and schedule that appointment right now...
 
I will echo the question about the snorkel. I have a new OEM gasket hanging in the garage that i need to put into use. I was wondering if i needed to remove the snorkel?

Also, i have noticed the lower edge of the glass down closest to the cowl is starting to develop a white haze in the glass. Does that mean the glass has been compromised and is no longer safe to reseal?
 
If the pillar bracket does not overlap the weather strip they should be able to work around it.
 
So all glass is China made. Some might be American assembled . I work in a glass shop and work for a company that also owns a huge warehouse and we supply glass for a lot of glass shops. All of our glass gets shipped in from China. We get shipments of over 100000 windshields . All brands. Pilkington. Xy ( Chinese company that also owns pgw aka Pittsburg glass works ) benson (sucks) xyg . They all come from China . The only place that doesn't get their glass from China is Ford . Carlite is from Egypt . Installation is the root. Of all problems. Blems in the glass are problems that can happen when assembling the two pieces of glass to the laminate in the middle. Otherwise is a scraped bead of urethane or a pin hole in the urethane somewhere . Leaking will never be a glass problem. Just installation.
 
Had an OEM, Toyota-branded windshield installed a few months ago, so they are still available. Was also labelled "Made in Japan", FWIW.
 
I don't have a snorkel, I'd have to see a pic of yours. Anybody know?
If it's in the way of the windshield it should be. That's the kind of reasons people would get leaking and wind noise . If they have to awkwardly move around things then they can wipe the urethane bead off. The white in between the layers of glass is water getting between the panes of glass.
 
1/24/15 update, hope this info is useful to others. So, I had my windshield replaced by Roadrunner Glass - they have shops in Fremont, CA and Boise, ID. They service most of the SF Bay Area, and the entire Treasure Valley. They are a glass company, doing residential/commercial/auto. I would recommend them.

Glass: I ended up going with Fuyao in the bronze tint, with the brown/bronze shade strip on the top of the windshield - looks better than I expected in the LX450. The glass I was replacing had no top shade strip, and very little tint at all. It looked "clear". It was glass made in Egypt, wasn't the original glass - no idea when/where it was installed. There was also a "blue tint" available, also Fuyao. As far as I can tell, PPG and Pilkington are no longer available for the 80 series.

Installation: As discussed frequently, installation procedure is crucial. Follow the FSM. When my glass was removed, the glass had no sealant used on either the glass/gasket or gasket/body - the cause of my damp floorboards. To do this job correctly: windshield wiper arms removed, 6 cowl screws removed, cowl removed. Found an interesting cut on the cowl (to access the wiper system internals?), and a little rust bubble under the gasket.

Once glass and gasket removed, it was clear that the windshield was installed without the old urethane and gasket pieces being removed - a really crappy job. So, the installer fist removed all the built up urethane and rubber from who knows how many prior installs. Then, a coating of 3M primer. The shop then fitted the new OEM gasket (I supplied) to the new windshield. Then the urethane was shot into the gasket to seal the glass. The glass and gasket were then fitted to the truck - requires two guys who know what they are doing. I would not want to do this.

Now, here is where things went a little sideways... after providing the FSM and their agreement to follow it, they "promised" the gasket didn't need to be sealed to the body. They said if it leaked to bring it back. At this point, I had been there for 2+ hours, and figured I'd deal with the gasket/body seal on my own time. I was OK with this, because they did the really challenging parts, and I didn't want to hang out for 3+ hours! Getting the glass into the truck is a pain, but these guys were pros. They did a nice clean up too, urethane is messy.

They treated the rust and hacked cowl with antirust and sealant, so I was pleased. I ordered a tube of the 3M urethane and did the gasket to body. Remember to do it correctly, you have to REMOVE the cowl piece and get under the bottom flap - you are not sealing the flap that rests on the top of the cowl. It is a messy job, tape off as much as you can to simplify the clean up. All in all I am happy how it turned out. Now, need to find some decent rain to see how it does, hoping I have it taken care of.

Pictures:

Glass and gasket came out very easily - he freed up the gasket while using his feet to essentially kick the glass out. Glass came out with the gasket still attached (no need to cut it since no sealant). The old sealant you see was from a previous job.
View attachment 1022305

A close up of the old urethane from a prior install.
View attachment 1022306


Rust spot from a leak and pooling water. Luckily it was not very deep. Also, the PO hack job cuts...anybody seen this before?
View attachment 1022308

3M primer around entire windshield frame and on that nasty hack job cut, along with sealant on the cuts.
View attachment 1022309

Finished product after I did the gasket to body urethane. The brown/bronze shade strip is very subtle on the LX450, it is an improvement over the previous windshield. Now, waiting for rain...
View attachment 1022310
What kind of vehicle is this?
 
So I'm taking the LX in tomorrow to get a new windshield. They couldn't get Pilkington in bronze, so I went with Fuyao IIRC. Got my OE gasket, FSM windshield instructions printed out, and made sure they set a longer block of time than usual. I can't be there to watch it, but I'm going to harp on them to do it right one last time. I hate to get rid of my original Toyota windshield, but I can't afford to keep getting tickets (long crack right in the middle of driver's view) and it will be nice to see out a windshield that hasn't been sandblasted by too many Wyoming winter roads. Dealership wants $1200 so that's out of the question.

I'll report back...
 
I'm going to partially disagree with the people saying the glass doesn't matter, only the install.

The install is critical! But:

The aftermarket windshields I've had over the years, sprinkled throughout 14 different vehicles, seemed NOWHERE near as chip-resistant as OE windshields. Granted, to my knowledge only one of those aftermarket were PPG or Pilkington or one of the higher-end manufacturers. This makes sense when you consider how important things like tempering and stress relief are.. and places corners would be cut on budget glass vs something provided as OEM. Of course it looks/seals the same.. but that doesn't mean it is as hard or resistant to chips turning into cracks. The cheap glass that came on my jetta with 20k miles has chips and marks all over it, even with no cracks. Compared to the OE glass on my older jetta with 360k miles.. one crack in a corner, but the surface of the glass is MUCH more smooth with very few small craters from rocks. This also keeps the wiper blades working for longer, since they aren't being dragged over a jagged surface with every stroke.

So all of that said.. I'd consider installing a used OEM windshield myself before letting safelite botch a cheap install. Now.. to find that unicorn..
 
To echo what others have said, IME the installers must follow the FSM procedures or it will leak.
 
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Just got it back. It's amazing how nice it is now that I'm not looking through 18 year old glass. I'll have to see over time if the glass bothers me "optically".

I told them over and over that it was going to be a tough install, but they were still surprised. They followed the FSM though, and even added an extra step by applying urethane under the glass part of the gasket after it was installed. The guy was super paranoid about ensuring it wouldn't leak, so I'm glad I got through to him. He said he water tested it five times, so I'm feeling good about it.
 
Had an OEM, Toyota-branded windshield installed a few months ago, so they are still available. Was also labelled "Made in Japan", FWIW.

Did you have the dealer install it too or did you just get the windshield from them?
 

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