Show us your crack (windshields)

[AWo]

It’s time for an exocage and Blues Brothers chicken wire.

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'...

AWo

 

[DoubleDoom]

Wow, I was driving down the road one day and my windshield just cracked... not another car in site. I thought it so strange at the time. I bet now it was a stress crack! It made no noise. I just chalked it up to Louisiana roads. I hate to replace it though... I had 95% ceramic tint applied and it works fantastic. So much less heat through the windshield.

Check the outer edge for an impact. As mentioned earlier in the thread, frameless windows are prone to suffering ricochets from hits under the window being fired upwards.

 

[HereinDaRockies]

Check the outer edge for an impact. As mentioned earlier in the thread, frameless windows are prone to suffering ricochets from hits under the window being fired upwards.

doubtful. These "investigate the edge" indirections do not help.

It's just more likely for impact to occur against non-edge surfaces.

This unprovable "must be edge damage" argument is trying to paper over the issue with the windshield glass design.

 

[C Ole]

Not an invitation for our antipodean friends to photograph their arses but rather our windscreens.

I saw a thread on one of the Facebook groups where it seems a common occurrence for a mystery crack to appear in the middle of the bottom edge of the screen. 5 or 6 people reported the exact same thing.

I wasn’t aware of a stone chip but I jumped in one day and saw immediately a 3-4” curving crack that actually follows the shape of the wiper pattern. It’s grown and grown but screen is being replaced tomorrow.

Anyone on here had this?

View attachment 7837313

 

[Coastalguy]

I have a similar crack that seemed to come out of nowhere. Figured I’d wait out the winter before replacing.

 

[parb]

I just filled in a crack in my windshield today. Big rock from a semi hit me. I had film on the windshield, without it I'm sure I would have lost the entire windshield.

 

[ORSO]

when you replaced the glass were you able to order the top gasket too? It doesn't seem to exist as a spare part.

 

[Shopkeep]

when you replaced the glass were you able to order the top gasket too? It doesn't seem to exist as a spare part.

They exist:
Drain Gutter IE-GRA-7E21-005990

 

[Coastalguy]

Here’s my picture.

 

[Lollo050968]

Second stone in one year, is not to be repaired, because in the “sight field”, new windscreen is available, ordered, but stocked until offroad tour in June Paid by insurance, excess 300€. (full cost>2000€)

 

[HereinDaRockies]

Someone on the IG group on Facebook posted a video that captured a distortion in the windshield reflection, implying uneven pressure across the glass, leading to cracking. The distortion happens to be in the center of the glass, where many people experience the same pattern of cracks

 

[Fieldmaster]

Someone on the IG group on Facebook posted a video that captured a distortion in the windshield reflection, implying uneven pressure across the glass, leading to cracking. The distortion happens to be in the center of the glass, where many people experience the same pattern of cracks

I saw this too. My truck has this as well. I noticed it early on when I first picked it up and was giving it a good wash. Just thought it was part of the manufacturing process but now it has me worried

 

[AWo]

Someone on the IG group on Facebook posted a video that captured a distortion in the windshield reflection, implying uneven pressure across the glass, leading to cracking. The distortion happens to be in the center of the glass, where many people experience the same pattern of cracks

That seems to go into the direction of what I wrote here earlier:

I just had a chat with my workshop hirer, who is an experienced car glass guy. He told me, that if a stone cracks a windscreen, almost always only the outer glass pane is affected. In that case the heater can increase the crack. But an undamaged windscreen (which was mounted correctly and where no other problems exist) can not be cracked by the heater. In summer it has to take much hotter conditions and a heater is not a new invention, so car glass manufacturers know about them and which stress they produce with all these temperature differences etc.

I showed him the pictures and he said, he often saw this kind of cracks. The root cause can be:

- rust - Windscreens do not tolerate too much steady pressure against their surface, especially at their edges. If rust produces pressure it can be too much stress over time and it will crack like this, most of the time, both panes crack (inner and outer one).
- welding fissure - If there is a welding fissure (too big) it has the same effect as rust. I creates a steady pressure against the flat surface which leads to a crack. He saw this kind of crack often at the Fiat Ducato and it was a manufacturing problem (which was fixed by Fiat).
- torsion - if for whatever reason reoccuring torsions are transferred against the surface (like the rust and the welding fissure) it can also cause stress which leads to a crack
- hard bed - If the windscreen is glued onto a too hard embedment which allows no movement, stress from the chassis is transferred onto the windscreen, causing fatigue cracks

Another issue led to such cracks with the Ducato. It were too stiff front shocks, which are located under the windscreen. There were many broken windscreens and wheel bearing problems. FIAT changed to a softer shock and both problems were gone.

AWo