Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with windshield

Minneapolis/St. Paul Auto Glass Replacement Recommendations

hootch — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:38:33 -0800

Recommendations on an auto glass company in Minneapolis/St. Paul? I need to have the windshield replaced on my 2001 Toyota Corolla. Does anyone have recommendations on companies in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area that could do this cheaply? As I don't have glass coverage, that's my main requirement. I'd also like them to come to me to replace it, but I'll bring it to them if it ends up bringing the cost down.

Why replace a cracked windshield immediately?

sacre_bleu — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:01:03 -0800

Please help me decide whether a cracked auto windshield ought to be replaced quickly, and not simply endured. I have a 2000 Honda Accord whose windshield I've replaced twice because of cracks from pebbles spit up by trucks on the highway.
The latest pebble pit took six months to strerch from side to side across the top quarter of the windshield. (Impact crater near center.)

I have the money to replace it, but I'm dawdling. Part of me hesitates because I had a new winshield for less than a month between cracks last time. The cracked windshield currently in the car has withstood a couple of half-inch pebble assaults, so it's not super-fragile.

How far, or how long, have you driven with a cracked windshield without incident? Or, what happened to your cracked windshield that made you wish you'd swapped it out sooner?

Please contribute experiences or insights to help me decide whether I'm being a stingy fool.

So, on Monday I went to move my car only to discover that my front windshield is all cracked up and I have a lot of questions.

nooneyouknow — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:14:41 -0800

So, on Monday I went to move my car, after 4 days of being parked in the same place, only to discover that my front windshield is all cracked up and I have a lot of questions. From my cursory internet research it looks like the damage is too extensive to be repaired. How long does it take repair/replace a windshield? Ballpark, how much will it cost to get it replaced? My car is a 2004 Hyundai Elantra sedan. Do all of the glass repair people really come to your house to fix or replace the windshield?

My deductible is 500, since I assume the windshield will probably cost less than that to be replaced, should I file a claim with my insurance company, Progessive, anyway? Will my rates go up if I go through my Progressive? Progressive likes to use Safelite "or an affiliate in Progressive's network of approved glass shops". Anyone know anything about Safelite?

What about going to a Hyundai dealer to get it done? My car is still under warranty. Is the glass you get at the glass repair shop as good as the glass you get from the dealer? My windshield is tinted at the top, will the replacement be tinted?

Should I file a police report? I have no idea how it happened or who did it. It happened sometime between 7pm Thursday and 10am Monday.

Anything I should look out for in this process?

hardwater stains

Infernarl — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 11:29:39 -0800

I just bought a new car, and it was kept out on the lot. I live in Portland where it rains a lot. It seems to have hard water stains all over (they are like permanent little droplets). What are some good ways to get them off? Windex does nothing!!

Is there another method of placing bumper stickers?

shabazosu — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 11:22:44 -0800

For school, we are required to have this bumper sticker on either our back bumpers or back windshield. I am highly anti-bumper sticker, so I have not even considered placing the sticker on my bumper, thats out of the question. Is there an "easy" way or method or trick to place the sticker on the inside of my back windshield that can be easily removed?

How do I remove this parking-deck-drip stain from my car's paint and windshield?

Askr — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 09:57:24 -0800

How can I get this parking-deck-drip-residue off of my car's paint and windshield? Do you park in a parking deck regularly? Has it dripped on your car from its cement ceiling when it has rained? Has it left this faint whitish residue on your car? Have you found anything that will get it off of either glass or paint?

A guy at the carwash told me this stuff is not unusual for people in parking decks. He didn't know how to get it off though and didn't mention what it was, e.g. something leeching out of the cement, paint from the parking space stripes, etc. It's like it's some kind of mineral stain, faint and just a hair this side of transparent, just ever so slightly white, if anything.

I've tried all the normal kind of cleaners on it such as windex, car wash soap, even (if I remember) CLR (Calcium/Lime/Rust), at least on the windshield. I was afraid to try that on the paint.

WTF is this stuff and how can I get it off?

I am the viper. I come to vipe the vindows.

AngerBoy — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 19:33:34 -0800

When running the windshield wipers in my car, the center of the blades skid across the glass with an incredibly irritating sque-e-e-eking sound (sort of what it sounds like when you rub an inflated balloon with your hand). For some reason, the blades seem to be encountering friction on the glass, and they're skidding across rather than wiping smoothly (the amount of rain or wiper-fluid doesn't seem to make any difference). This results in a series of jaggy wet lines across the windshield, right across my field of view - not to mention the grating sound that is very nearly driving me insane. So what can I do about this? I've tried wiping off the blades and the glass by hand, but that rarely works for more than a day. Could I put WD-40 or some kind of lubricant on the blades, or would that just make things smudgier? What about something like Rain-X? If it matters, the car is a 2007 Honda.

How can I get this strange fog off the inside of my windshield?

eralclare — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 09:09:10 -0800

My old Toyota Camry gets a strange oily build up on the inside of the windshield every month and a half--traditional cleaning methods don't work. How do I clean it? Help me not crash and die. My '87 Toyota Camry has seen better days, but it has no leaks. Nevertheless, every month+ or so, a build-up accumulates on the inside of the windshield, making rain/nighttime driving scary as hell.

I've tried traditional glass cleaners--they simply move the fog around, creating even more annoying swirls. Someone suggested using alcohol, which works slightly better (but it still means I have to scrub the whole windshield several times in order to make my car driveable again).

What is this stuff and how can I get rid of it more easily? My month is up and I've got to clean again this weekend.

Chipped windshield: should I have it replaced? Or just have the chip filled in?

stilly — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 01:53:32 -0800

Chipped windshield: should I have it replaced? Or just have the chip filled in? I want my windshield to look as good as new... does that mean I need to get a new one? Driving home yesterday I had a rock hit my windshield... now I have a chip in it (maybe the size of a nickel). It looks like I have a couple of options: I can try to go to a repair shop and see if they can fill it in with some resin/goo stuff (not sure the technical name for this), or I can get the entire windshield replaced.

From what I've read, the repair will certainly be cheaper than the replacement, but I wonder if it will work as well. Does anyone know how well this resin stuff works (assuming I have it professionally done)? Will it still look a little funny? I'm kind of OCD, so if my windshield looks funky after the repair it will probably drive me crazy... should I just suck up the extra cash and have the windshield replaced? Also has anyone successfully gotten their insurance to pay for this sort of repair/replacement?

Any advice would be appreciated. It's an 06 Prius, and my insurance is GEICO, if either of those are at all relevant...

More Suction!!

briank — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 10:15:56 -0800

I bought a car GPS unit a couple of months ago and it came with a windshield mount that uses a suction cup. I have had a helluva time getting the suction cup to stay on the windshield. I've tried the trick I learned playing with rubber dart guns as a kid -- basically licking the cup so that the saliva helps hold the seal -- but even that doesn't keep the thing stuck on for long. Any ideas?

I don't think they'd be that distracting, honestly.

boo_radley — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 18:40:51 -0800

The back window of my car has little defrosting wires running through it to keep it clear in snowy weather. Why doesn't my windshield?

Insect Chemistry

dminor — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 11:59:22 -0800

a bug hit my car's windshield. it was a large bug so it left a pretty large smear. this happened five days ago.

last night was the first time it rained since then. when i came out to my car this morning on the spot where the bug smear had been there was now a large (at least 10x volume) blob of clear gelatinous (exactly like pure gelatin) material.

what is that about? any ideas?

Question number 13575

amro — Mon, 03 Jan 2005 07:38:31 -0800

Cracked Windshield Filter: Anyone ever successfully slowed down the spreading of a windshield crack? Mine's moving at about an inch a day and I'd really like to put off getting a new windshield for as long as possible.

Question number 10385

XQUZYPHYR — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 19:44:56 -0800

When I replaced cars recently, I kept my EZ-Pass (toll paying thingie, for anyone living where it has a different name) device, but of course couldn't keep the velcro strips that went on the old car's windshield. I tried buying generic velcro stick-on tabs at Pep Boys, but they all proved too lightweight for a heavy bulky EZ-Pass unit. I need the extra-durable ones that come with the pass, but two e-mails and a phone message to EZ-Pass has left no response... is there anywhere I can buy the velcro strips on their own, without having to order an entire new device?