jvah1980

I recently cracked the windshield on my 06 Lexus IS250. Safelite replaced the glass, but as soon as they dropped it in the frame I noticed the top trim was all messed up. Fortunately with the installer there, he agreed but seem baffled as to why it wasn't fitting right. He suspected, and it's hard to tell, that perhaps the cut of the glass is off a little bit. He tried "lifting" the rubber and it just made it worse (now it's wavy and recessed).

Safelite didnt' charge me, and suggested I call my insurance and convince them to spring for an OEM Lexus windshield. They said sometimes insurance will pay, other times they will make them install a different brand aftermarket.

I'm just wondering if others have had issues with aftermarket windshields on their IS250/350's? I know I saw a pretty long thread on people complaining of wavy trim, shoddy work, etc. In this case everything went pretty smooth and I was there the entire time. Should I be fighting my insurance hard for OE at this point? If a bunch of you say "Yeah, my aftermarket glass doesn't fit right" I'll fight it. In all honesty I don't plan on keeping the car much more than a year, but I want the job done right none the less!

Jeff Lange

iTrader: (1)

The rubber typically comes separately and is put on by the glass installer, that said maybe this particular aftermarket glass did come with it poorly installed. How well it fits/how it looks is going to depend on how straight/evenly it was placed on the backside of the glass before it goes into the car. Once the glass is in the car there's not really much you can do to try and fix/change it.

Before the moulding is attached:


After:


(Sorry for the non-close-up pics of factory glass, but it's the closest thing I've got, haha).

Jeff

jvah1980

Thanks Jeff -

I watched him put it on the glass prior to install. He had a strip pre-cut, that he alleged was a Lexus trim piece and not aftermarket.

I can't tell if the windshield actually isn't cut right or if the trim is just off. It looks like the windshield doesn't follow the contour of the roof, but that could easily be an illusion because the trim is screwed up in that area.

Thanks,
Justin

Jeff Lange

iTrader: (1)

To my eye it looks like the glass is fine, but the moulding isn't properly installed, but I could be wrong.

Jeff

jvah1980

I should add the tech agreed, and said he'd fight with insurance for OEM (but maybe he just wanted to cover up a mistake?). He seemed like a fairly well versed installer and seemed confident as if he'd been doing it a long time. He pointed out a lot of things done wrong by the last person who isntalled a windshield (prior to me owning the car).
-Justin

jvah1980

Thanks for the pics Jeff.

I'll keep everyone posted. I agree, I had a hard-time seeing the glass was wrong - it seemed more like an illusion because of the trim.

-Justin

TimboIS

Regardless whether insurance pays for OEM glass or not, I would have just paid the delta to get OEM glass.