Windshield damage (stone chipping) compared to 4Runner? (1 Viewer)

[gr5208]

Hi everyone,
If you've seen me in the pictures thread, I'm a relatively new owner coming from a string of 4Runners to the Lexus side. So I noticed though the cars are very similar in a lot of ways, the aerodynamic profile is quite different. The windshield is more angled on the Lexus, and the 4Runner has a higher, more truck-like hood (forgive the sloppy depictions, I'm not an artist).

So what I've observed after about 6000 miles (yes, having fun...), is that my windshield looks like, well, a starry night in the right light. At first I thought it was some junk spray on the windshield (don't know if it an AZ thing, but sheesh, the sh*t you find on your car here...), but looking in strike light you can see my windshield is peppered. Not to the point I'd want to replace it, but in 6k miles it looks worse than 36k miles on my 4Runner, that looked pristine.

Full disclosure, I drove through that mother of all haboobs that hit AZ not too long ago. Now I was doing pedestrian speed (visibility at times was literally zero, you couldn't see the road at times), but the storm felt like it was doing 60+mph. The question is... did I have bad luck, or is this inherent to the different aero between the two cars? Anyone experience with both cars?

~thanks

 

[Roody]

Sounds like bad luck. I owned a string of 4Runners as well before my GX and haven't noticed a difference in how the windshield is/isn't affected by projectiles (be they small or large).

 

[Banandalorian]

Sounds like bad luck with a particularly rocky sandstorm. I'm sure there is some scientific argument one could make about the larger surface area of a more angled windshield vs the smaller target of an upright windshield. However, my experience has always been that the more upright windshields are damaged more easily and more often because stuff doesn't deflect.

 

[r2m]

Has the windshield been replaced? If so, was it a OEM or aftermarket windshield?
I've heard that some aftermarket glass isn't as good as factory?
Anyone can chime in to correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[gr5208]

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated.

Has the windshield been replaced? If so, was it a OEM or aftermarket windshield?
I've heard that some aftermarket glass isn't as good as factory?
Anyone can chime in to correct me if I'm wrong.

factory new car, all original (yes, I'm boring haha)

Sounds like bad luck with a particularly rocky sandstorm. I'm sure there is some scientific argument one could make about the larger surface area of a more angled windshield vs the smaller target of an upright windshield. However, my experience has always been that the more upright windshields are damaged more easily and more often because stuff doesn't deflect.

In my experience with sedans, the more modern sloping hoods caused more stones to hit the windshield, but those were generally single events causing spot damage (possible cow eyes), those I've managed to repair pretty much invisibly with the simple Rain-X kit. The straight up 4Runner windshield indeed caught a few, but when repaired quickly none lead to cracks so in ten years of 4Runner driving I never replaced a windshield. What I see now is... "starry night". Lots and lots of minute damage.

If it is something aero, I was wondering if I should look at a hood deflector (I've seen them in Asia on Prados), but I always wondered if they worked (over there I wonder if they were purely cosmetic seeing the speeds driven...). But the even patterning makes me think it's the crazy duststorm (ie, bad luck).

Anyway, thanks for the feedback!