windshield protection (1 Viewer)

[landarcht]

Has anyone heard of Shatter X or similar nano products to protect windshield from rock chips and cracks? Would like to know if such product is any good and works as claimed.
They did a test firing small metal objects at close distance at over 300 mph without damage to treated windshield.

 

[suprarx7nut]

I'm interested in these products. Given the likelihood of problems with 100 series windshield replacements it would be well worth $50 a year or whatever to give it a chance to last a few extra years.

 

[landarcht]

I didn't know there's existing issues with LC100 windshield replacement? Can you share any articles? I recall I had possibly some issue with water intrusion on the driver side seams? Each time after car wash the car would not start is that it? But eventually the dealership resolved but it was a long nightmarish process. I hope I don't need to replace it again.

 

[craaaazzy]

subscribing as I would like to know as well...how much is something like this?

 

[suprarx7nut]

I didn't know there's existing issues with LC100 windshield replacement? Can you share any articles? I recall I had possibly some issue with water intrusion on the driver side seams? Each time after car wash the car would not start is that it? But eventually the dealership resolved but it was a long nightmarish process. I hope I don't need to replace it again.

I could write a small novel....

The 100 uses plastic coated sealing rivets to hold windshield trim in place onto the body. It's very common for shops to wrongly use screws. Screws are never OK for this application. Screws are easy, cheap and common so most shops will see a hole and fill it with a screw. Screws distort the precise sealing surface and cause moisture ingress into the A-pillar. If you get really lucky, the shop will use sealant and get a decent seal, but the chances of that perfectly sealing the backside of the A-pillar is basically zero. If the proper rivets are used with an appropriate rivet gun, it's easy to seal.

Once moisture gets into the A pillar, it will rot the body of the car from the inside out. A symptom of this sealing failure is moisture coming down the A pillar into the cabin. By the time you're seeing water in the cabin, it's often too late. You've probably got ruined A-pillar holes and it'll require some precise body rework to correct it and rust proof it.

To fix the body damage around my windshield it cost around $2200 if memory serves. And my damage was very minimal. Some people will have the A-Pillars nearly rotted through. This can happen before the rust shows easily around the trim. The trim hides the damage very well. Insurance covered almost everything, but it was a battle. Their initial response was "We are absolutely not covering this. This is pre-existing damage from a faulty previous replacement." After extensive polite arguing and my shop really pushing insurance, they agreed to cover most of it.

Take windshield replacement seriously on the 100. It's easy to do thousands in damage if your installer takes a very simple and common shortcut.

 

[landarcht]

Shatter-X Liquid Glass Windshield Protection

Shatter-X Liquid Glass helps protect windshields in automobiles, boats, utvs and more. It protects against chips, cracks, scratches and shatters by bonding to your windshield and thickening your glass. It is easy to install and unlike wax based products stays on for an entire year.

www.shatterx.com

 

[Trunk Monkey]

From my experience, things like this work pretty well for rain/snow type repellant (and can be had MUCH cheaper, Rain x bottle), but would be skeptical that any thin fluid wiped on would offer much in the way of chip protection. I would think more of an actual material film like a cell phone screen protector would be more likely to help there.

 

[suprarx7nut]

From my experience, things like this work pretty well for rain/snow type repellant (and can be had MUCH cheaper, Rain x bottle), but would be skeptical that any thin fluid wiped on would offer much in the way of chip protection. I would think more of an actual material film like a cell phone screen protector would be more likely to help there.

Agreed. I was very skeptical, still am. That said, I also thought ceramic coatings were a joke when it was explained that it's a tiny bottle of magical juice that can protect a car for over a year against scratches.

They do have ballistic protection for windshields, but I think it's like $500 for an installed film and it can reduce clarity. Not exactly an obvious value proposition.