Driving to work, I see what appears to be a chip, right in the driver's view. Visions of arguing on the phone to get OEM lamisafe vs. Fuyao are playing in my head....wipe the windshield 2X, to no avail. I'm about ready to pull over and check it out....turns out to be a smudge on the inside. I wish I could bottle up my elation and save it for a rainy day. Now, I know on my other forums I'd get a, "cool story bro." But I know you fellas love your LS' as much as I do mine!

 

With the 30,000 + miles I've put on the 01 in the last 14 months, I've noticed a few little nicks in the glass lately. Biggest scare came a few days ago when some clown got on the freeway covered in snow and proceeded to have large chunks of snow/ice blow off his car while he was in front of me. I heard what sounded like a baseball hitting the windshield, but thankfully no damage.


I too had a moment of thinking about arguing with my agent about replacement glass quality...

 

Just learn to live with the fact that the windshield, much like tires, is a consumable.
Cheap glass is under $200 installed, as long as you don't go to insurance.

 

Totally agree, now on my 3rd aftermarket front glass in the last 100K miles..... Insurance keeps buying them.
OEM glass took a rock and cracked right after I bought it 4 years ago. The 2001 LS has 123,000 miles then and 132,000 now.

 

Not sure if it's just me, as I know our cars are old and older.....but since mine has Lexus glass, I would attempt to fight the sheriff to get Lexus glass, not aftermarket. Now when my Nissan was 11 in 2009, I really did not care. I told that lizard co. when I had them, I'm not here to save you money, so I want Saint Gobain Sekurit with the BMW logo on the replacement. It was literally a 40 min. argument, over a $700 windshield, which was like $119 for the cheap stuff. Let's say that rep makes $20/hr., I still don't think it's worth 40 min. and then losing the customer (I switched). In the end I won, but it left me with a bad feeling, probably my blood pressure was elevated for 2 more days.

 

Had a chip with a star in my windshield right after purchasing my car over 6 years ago. I had the mobile service come by to do a repair. The tech called me over after starting to show me it spread while he was doing the repair. I called my Insurance Co and asked for a Lexus only replacement and got an ok on the first try! The windshield was close to $2,000 but my wipers work perfectly. I try to put a distance between my car and construction trucks whenever on the highways.

 

There probably was a time when we fell for the corny insurance commericals, like, wouldn't want you to drive on 3 wheels etc. But as we can see, this inability to get them to pay what they insured you for, is also prevalent in health, home, life, etc. Like when you get into an accident with a 2017 car, and the adjustor specifies aftermarket parts, because used isn't available yet (hi lizard co.).

If my precious Lexus glass got damaged, I would do everything I could to replace with the same, not some $119 replacement, whether it passed DOT or not.

To illustrate the greed in insurance, ever wonder how come an engagement ring always appraises out to 50-100% more than you paid? Is it because you're such a good negotiator and got such a great deal? Now that's wishful thinking.

And then, you take that appraisal to your insurance agent, and they insure the ring for that amount it was appraised for?

Here's how it works. You bought a ring for 10k, it appraises at 18k, and you insure it for 18k. If something were to happen, insurance will replace it for a like quality, meaning, it would cost them about 4-5k, i.e. wholesale. They are more than willing to collect a premium based on 18k, but will never pay you that amount. Wouldn't it have made more sense to insure the ring for 4k? Of course, but that's not how the racket I mean game works!

 

It's too bad the new Lexus glass I got doesn't have the coating on it that the original glass had. Permanent rain-x was great.

 

Seriously, how would one tell if they have that? I am not sure if my glass is original or was replaced with a Lexus windshield. It does have a sticker from the original selling dealership, but that doesn't mean anything as the carfax said it was in FLA for 8 yrs....funny, I don't like to touch anywhere near the rain sensor, as I did on day 1. I still don't get why when you press it, the wipers activate. haha But I truly believe my wipers are functioning normally, don't want to disrupt that...