When I purchased my 430 I noticed the chips and pitting and was able to get some additional money off the price. Called around and spoke to various auto glass shops, spoke with my insurance company, and decided to just pay for it myself after finding a 5 start rated company via Yelp.com

Anyway, $190.00 out the door.

Glass looked identical to OEM and included the rain sensor gel insert or whatever it was. Another big thing is it has less wind noise now I believe because of the weather stripping that now covers the top edge. I did not take a before pic but I am sure you can look at your own and see the difference. Could not be happier. Glass is clear as day. The tech said Pilkington is better then PPG or now PGW.

The glass from Lexus was about $1400 for parts alone. If you need your glass fixed I highly recommend Pilkington glass. Just goes to show how much of a ripoff it is to buy oem when it comes to windshields. My insurance company was trying to set me up with Safelite but I hear bad things about their glass. Even with my USAA discount it was $360. I watched the whole thing. They did a great job. Took about an hour.

 

Pilkington is a British Co.that bought out LOF(Libby Owens Ford) several years ago.PGW(Pittsburgh Glass Works) is an American Co.formerly known as PPG(Pittsburgh Plate Glass).Both Cos. are highly regarded in the car glass industry.I went with the PGW because it was highly reccommended by a well respected,professional collision specialist in my city.Also wanted to support American Jobs when possible.

 

I have no idea who makes better glass. I just trusted the company that installed the window. I had the option of both for the same price and asked them to give the better of the two.

Anyway, how much did PGW cost?

 

Sorry,I don't know,my insurance Co.paid the invoice.FYI Florida has a state law requiring Ins Cos to fully pay(no deductible)for windshield glass if damaged.

 

I need to buy one of these windshields. I've got a tiny chip along with a few scratches and I didn't want to spend $1,000+ on the OEM windshield.

Thanks for the heads up on this!

 

Lucky you. I have USAA, which is a fantastic insurance company but GA does not require this. Would of had to pay the $500 deductible.

 

If you are located in Japan a good choice may be Asahi glass.They are rumored to be the factory supplier for all of Toyota.Yamae may be a good resource for you also.

 

I agree that the $1,400 or so for OEM is unreasonable. I know it's great glass, but even the best glass is going to need to be replaced eventually. You could replace nearly 8 windshields for the cost of a single OEM windshield.

Good to know your experience with Pilington, and idea where it's made? I'm definitely weary of any Chinese made glass.

My OEM windshield is badly pitted, I may go with Pilkington. My understanding is they're Toyota OEM for many applications.

 

Pilkington Group Limited is a multinational glass manufacturing company headquartered in St Helens, United Kingdom and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Japan-based NSG Group. Prior to its acquisition by NSG in 2006 it was an independent company listed on the London Stock Exchange and for a time was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

I believe they supply glass for Mercedes.

 

$190 for glass and install sounds like glass made in China to me.
Yes,Safelite is crap.

Also what's with the blue tape?I've never seen that on an install before.

 

What gives with the ugly wide black band across the top of the car above the windshield in the 2nd photo? That is certainly not OEM. Also the small band across the top of the windshield is chrome in OEM. You may have gotten a decent windshield in a non OEM, but your installer used less than acceptable moulding in my opinion.

 

Our prices our much better here in the South in general. Honestly, I bet wholesale on these windows are like $100.00 Pilkington is not made in China. It is made in Great Britain. Look them up. Blue tape is left on for 24 hours to help the windshield from moving. Just to be safe as it seals itself.

 

The weather stripping on top is not oem you are correct. But it seals the window much better. I no longer have wind noise in that area while driving at higher speeds. That is the only weather stripping. There is no other stripping on the oem window just glue. The side pieces are not really weather stripping more like covers. I'll take the silence over a little fancy poorly designed strip.

 

I just took another look at my 04 UL with OEM glass and it doesn't look like your installation at all. It appears that your windshield is too tall and runs into the roof area and is consequently covered up by the addition wide black band at the top of the windshield. My chrome strip (the small one) lines up with the top of the vertical black strip on the side of the A pillar. The bottom of the chrome strip lines up with the top of the back plastic side strip.

 

On the OEM window the ONLY weather stripping is the piece that you are referring to. The one that runs along the top of the window. If you read a lot of the wind noise threads people have either filled in or taped over this because of the design. When I spoke with the glass company they knew of this issue and stated that the design is poor and allows air in and creates wind noise. I choose the option of using a larger weather strip to cover the groove and it seals the whole area. I no longer have any wind noise at high speeds. It may not look as fancy but it does the job much better.

As far as the window size goes, they were exactly the same. From the rain sensor section to the black dots on the windshield I could not tell a bit of difference.

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