I know it's probably easier to just pay a professional to do it, but I was just wondering if anyone has actually attempted it and if so was it worth the saved amount of money on labor?

 

jz let the professional do it, they do it for a living, and get the job done right.

 

Who would sell you a windshield if you're not a professional? I can't imagine anyone would want that kind of liability. Not to mention the fact that a new OEM one is about $1600. This is what insurance with glass coverage is for. If you don't have full glass, I would add it. Either way, it's just your deductible if you have collision/comp.

Big Mack

 

i paid $160 for a new widshield installed,

 

Don't forget, that is list price on an oem windshield. You could get them for mad cheap though. Either way, I would not recommend changing your own. Too much involved.... if u want it done right.

 

That's not something i would do myself and i consider myself mechanically inclined and i used to do autobody work. Leave it to the pros.

 

the last thing you would want is a leaky windshield because you were a cheap skate...

 

yeah but i would be willing to bet its not a OEM lexus windshield. look in the corners does it say lexus or another brand on it?

some1 replaced mine before i bought it and it has a air leak. its sooooo annoying you dont even know how many times i have wanted to break it or just have it replaced. i even tried some silicon under the panels and it helped but not completely

 

If you're not a professional don't even try. I used to work in a bodyshop and there is no way any joe blow can do it without the know how or tools.

If you wanna save money don't go to the dealer for it because they will rape you on the price. Go to any auto glass repair facility and get aftermarket it will be WAY cheaper

 

to me that would be like making my own socks

 

I also paid $160 installed... by a professional... OEM glass is a waste of money.. unless of course its covered by your insurance.... definitely not something you should try yourself... leaks are not worth the few bucks you may have saved...

 

I had mine replaced for $240 with PPG glass. They're a really bige OEM manufacturer, so basically Lexus could be buying the PPG and just restamping it as a lexus one lol. The clarity is just as good as OEM. Some of the cheap aftermarket ones look wavy if you look at the glass from a very sharp angle, the PPG glass is perfectly smooth with no ripples. If you have a good installer, then you should have no problems with leaks. The guy that installed mine was badass becuase he made 2 trips out and didn't charge me extra. I was repainting my engine bay in the garage, and I asked him if he could come one day first to remove the windshield, and come a day or two later to put the new one in. And he did

It is definately not worth buying oem windshield just to have a lexus stamp in the corner. I looked it up and its around $1500 or so retail, I can get Toyota/Lexus parts at cost and it still costs $900+ you gotta pay shipping on top! Then you still need to pay someone to install it for you, definately not worth the money to go OEM.

 

PPG is defiantly a great supplier of high quality glass.

However, OEM is still much better for a verity of reasons, not including clarity and coating to bead off water like on the LS (01+ if im not mistaken.)

 

There's not any coating. The dealers started applying windshield rain repellant after 01 or so. I have a 04 GS and that windshield is definately not coated in any way, or the coating has long since worn away. You can just apply Rain-X and it will be the same thing. The OEM is better compared to really cheap windshields, NOTE: really cheap windshields. The OEM has the Low-E glass (UV/IR barrier, the green/bluish looking tint in the entire glass), glass clarity, glass uniformity(very important, causes ripples at sharp angles if not uniform), the black bands around the edges and where the mirror goes, the blue/green tint strip on the top of the windshield, and has the mirror mount pre-glued on at the factory.

The PPG glass replacement I got for my car had ALL of those things. If you didn't look at the badge, then you can't tell that one apart from Lexus OEM glass. Then again, as I said PPG could be the OEM supplier for Lexus parts. Do you honestly think they would be crazy enough to ship something as big as a replacement windshield overseas from Japan when they can just acquire a OEM supplier source here in the US?

 

Have done a windshield by myself (did need a little help on install) but would not recommend it is annoying and time consuming. It is also very easy to break the new windshield if not installed properly. Going with the majority and telling you to have it professionally installed for sure.