[s-cars] Windshield Replacement Experience (Good)

[Dave Forgie]

I have had my 93 S4 for over 6 years now.  When I got the car with
75,000 km on it the windshield was fine, perhaps even perfect.  It was a
Sigla as is the rear glass (all the side glass is Sekurit but I think
that is normal).  Anyway, over the years there have had a couple of rock
"stars" from travelling the imfamous Coquihalla (the BC and Alberta boys
now what I am talking about - 4 lane mountain freeway) and one
windshield wiper F-up that I did (didn't replace a blade properly and it
scratched the glass).  The "stars" were "fixed" as they occured and the
scratches were polished out.  I just didn't want to change the
"original" windshield - even though I had a $100 glass deductable.

Last weekend on another Coquihalla trip to Kamloops (and Shushwap Lake),
the windshield took a rock about 3/4" from the left lower corner edge -
in the black.  I couldn't see anything but before I knew it (the next
day) I had an 8" crack (overnight) which ended up as a 16" crack by the
time I got back to Vancouver.

I called my insurance company and got a glass claim number and then
phoned their preferred service provider, Speedy Glass (who has a good
reputation).  I did a deal where I would pay the difference over the
aftermarket glass (most likely Mexican made Pilkington) and my
deductable to get OEM glass.  The difference to the OEM glass was only
CDN$47 (about US$36) so I went for it.

I took the car in today (Saturday) at lunch and got the car back at 4:30
PM.  The windshield is a Sigla 43-R-001171 E2 (DOT).  Everything appears
cool - the coloured shading, the black shading, the VIN window and the
in-glass radio antenna (its a 93 remember) all appear correct.

On an ironic note, the glass guy figures the windshield he took out was
not the original since there were signs (some light abrasion on the
body) that indicated to him that it had been replaced before.  That
would account for why the glass was so good in 1998 when I bought the
car.  Oh well, everything is fine again too.  I just put up with those
"stars" for no good reasons. :>P

Dave F.