windshield restoration

[superba]

Hi All,

I have to jump in here.  In 1988 I had a windshield replaced by a company
that came to my home and replaced it because it had pits;  the windshield
replaced was probably an Audi OEM.  No matter, it was much harder than the
windshield on my (then) wife's BMW.  The BMW pitted if an acorn fell on it,
but mine held out for a real piece of gravel.  Shortly after the serve you
at home replacement I had a rock hit my windshield right smack in the
middle;  I think the impact point was plotted beforehand.  I went to the
windshield replacement company and they gave me 2 options, both costing the
same:  (1) replace the windshield again with an equivalent, or (2) repair
the chip.  I was totally skeptical.  You can't repair glass.  But they did
it with a guarantee that if the chip began to run in any direction, they
would replace it for free.  In my memory the company was Safelite and to
this day I still have a little chip sealed with some sort of clear plastic.
Now, you might think that the car's been babied.  Not so.  It now has in
excess of 326,000 miles, and since the chip repair, has made 8 roundtrips
from California to the East Coast.

So, replace or repair.  There are "soft" windshields, windscreens across the
pond, and there are hard windshields.  Get a hard one and consider getting
it repaired if the Safelite people think it will work.

The only time I can agree that a windshield should be replaced is if it has
a running crack or it has been liberally sanded as I used to do with other
people's cars out in the desert on the way to places like Palm Springs.  The
windshield people know when they need to be replaced.

My .02.

Cheers!

Jim Jordan