Windshield Replacement Questions

Cracked my windshield from the mirror to the hood.

I want a quality replacement. What should I look for in aftermarket glass to decide if it is a good windshield?

 

Look at the top corners, look at an OEM windshield, the corners have a clean, smooth, uniform arch, on cheap aftermarket windsheilds, i noticed that it all looks smooth and uniform except the top corners look like the glass was heated and 'bent in' to make it fit. Just looks not as uniform, kinda like a flat spot in curve at the corners as compared to the rest of the windshield, the curve isnt smooth at the corners. Not sure if i described it too well, but hope that helps.

 

Make sure when they do the install that they press the windshield down all the way around. They had to re-do mine because they didn't do that and it was leaking at the top.

 

Just went through all that with my truck. My insurance company would only authorize aftermarket windshield. Safelite came out, installed aftermarket windshield & gasket. The bends at the top didn't fit right, gasket was totally different with some type of rain channels & left a lot the top windshield frame exposed where the factory gasket sat flush. I also had increased wind noise. I immediately told the tech it was unacceptable & he got his manager on the phone. The tech also told me aftermarket windshields don't fit Tacomas properly & all techs know this.

After several calls to my insurance company and Safelite, my insurance authorized a factory windshield and gasket. Two weeks later another tech came out and installed my factory windshield gasket. He also showed me locating pens bonded to the top of the factory windshield so that gets properly located. Now everything fits properly and no more excess wind noise.

 

I know that everyone has their own experinces and I don't need to defend Safelite, but I have had them replace windows in 3 different vehicles including 2x on the Tacoma. The first Tacoma replacement actually saved my life, I think, as a rock the size of a baseball hit the windshield head high going about 60 mph. The Safelite glass prevented the rock penetrating into the cabin and my skull.

I have USAA and they use Safelite as the default installer, but will authorize another if you want. All auto glass has to meet the DOT standards for same and personally, I just don't see (yes it is a pun) the difference. As for the tech saying that aftermarket windshields dont fit Tacomas, I say: Bullshit.

You know all the whining people do here about the quality, or lack thereof, of Toyota parts. Why is it then that the windshield is somehow better than aftermarket glass. With literally tens of thousands of Tacomas in the US don't you think there would be options other than OEM?

Just my 2 cents, you can do what you want.

 

Thanks for your 2 cents. I'm glad that you survived, but OEM Toyota windshields DO fit better. No bullshit.

 

As a technician I can tell you for certain there is a quality difference in oem and aftermarket windshields. Believe what you want. It I saw cars come in all the time with faults for rain light sensors and features like auto headlights and wipers not working and it's because the windshield wasn't contoured perfectly like the oem and the sensor wasn't reading properly.

Aftermarket windshields are cheaper for a reason.

 

Couldnt agree more with the comments above. I had two aftermarket windshields put in within days of eachother. First one had a scratch, and now the second one is making awful wind noise. Im paying the difference to have an OEM put in. The comments about the glass at the top corners looking like they are "melted in" is bang on. Im awaiting the OEM shield to come in and hopefully have a nice quiet truck back.