Hi, I was driving downtown Ancaster yesterday doing less than 50 kms/hr.
A car in front of me about 50 metres away travelling at about the same speed. Incredibly loud bang and I get this



I read the other thread here for viable windshield replacements, I'm in Hamilton, any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

My real question here is this: can this happen at such low speeds? I'm starting to think somehow this was not an accident... I was also baffled at the almost perfectly round shape of the damage.
Of course my anger is feeding into my paranoia, but if you have any opinions, please voice them, they'll be appreciated.

 

As posted on another thread. Star Auto Glass. They fixed mine on my DD that was bigger. It still shows a tiny bit but it's not spreading and its better than before.

 

Thanks I'll give them a call tomorrow.
I still can't believe how this happened given the circumstances...

 

Yeah I know. I was traveling about the same speed in dundas and a car threw up a boulder lol.

Hamilton is cracked windshield central ..

 

I didn't see anything. It hit in a spot you can't see from the driver's position. But I just can't see how a car in front could have done that being that far and me traveling that slow. Besides, it is -as you can see- a perfectly round shape...

And you're right Hamilton roads are utter ****. Even with my stock speed 3, any ride feels like the ******* Paris Dakar. Except for, I'm driving on asphalt.

 

I've had circular chips like that. Often round ones like that don't spread, but it's super annoying having to see it on the windshield every day. Don't worry, it wasn't vandalism. Remember to request quality glass like PGW (PPG's new name), Pilkington, etc. No name crappy glass may crack more easily and if you look at them from an angle, you will see that it is not clear but will create blurry/wavy vision out the glass. Direct from the source, a PGW or Pilkington glass install will run you about approximately $250 cash with new molding.

 

reminds me of a story...sorry bare with me.

My Dad hears a Crack..looks at the bay window and the frost had made the window shift and ..well..Voila.
So after phoning the insurance and inquiring on the window he gets the "act of god speech".
He hangs up and mumbles..

Next thing ya know I hear CRAAAAASHHH.....holy ****...

Dad is on the phone...Insurance..I overhear him saying that "mother" was vacuuming and accidentally hit the window and cracked it.
The Funny thing was the Vacuum was now THROUGH the window and sitting outside!

We got a NEW Bay window...lol!

 

So this is the end of my mishap I guess (and hope)...
Went to Star Auto Glass in Hamilton (downtown, across from Delta High School) and they fixed it fast, did a great job and voided my deductible (it was 100 dollars deductible). Lifetime Warranty against air and water leak.

 

Chip fixes are generally easy, as long as they haven't run, although by the tape I'm guessing you got a new windshield. Glad it worked out for you.

That this surprises you is a sure sign you've not spent time driving in Calgary - everyone has a broken windshield here - mostly thanks to oilfield contractors, and construction and contractor vehicles constantly dragging stones out of muddy construction sites and shedding them on the roads. The vehicle in front of you may not be the one that threw the stone - could have come off a transport or cargo truck in the opposing lanes - they're often larger stones, too, caught between the dual tires and thrown forward - which means it comes at you with your vehicle speed and the other vehicle's speed combined. Here, a lot of insurers won't even cover windshield glass, so you go third party with special glass coverage if you want it - and it costs about what a windshield costs, so basically you might as well just budget for a new windshield every year.

I had one like that hit my daily driver quite a few years back, on the freeway, early in the morning. Nothing within a hundred meters in front of me, but suddenly there's a crack like a gunshot that scares the crap out of me, and square in the middle of my windshield, a baseball size round starburst with cracks running out top to bottom, side to side - and it cracked both layers - had to be a rock coming off a transport in the opposing lanes - which means it probably hit my glass going 200-240 kmh.

 

How much at star auto if you don't mind me asking ? Glad it worked out with them. They are a+

 

Hi, the crack wasn't fixable, he said to me it had hit the edge of the windshield, so he said in those cases, it is a toss out of the window for the old one.
Interesting what you're saying, here it's bad but not like that. This is the second one in the family and I have a tiny scuff on my DD, like you removed a 1mmx1mmx.1mm piece of glass with an ice-cream scoop.

I hear you with regards to transport trucks and highway, I was in a city centre, 2 lanes, everyone proceeding at very low speed (I was doing 40). That is the part that I still can't believe.

 

Thanks and I don't mind, I am with Lant which is affiliated with Hagerty as far as I know (and the company is Aviva). I have one of those "rare/specialty/historic" vehicle insurances (I pay 35 bucks a month). My deductible was 100, but he did not make me pay. I learned that insurance companies have a table with a fix cost for a given repair, so he orders the windshield and then he knows what his costs are. At that point, if his costs are low enough that the insurance payout covers the 100 dollars, he waves the deductible (basically giving up on making 100 and sending 100 insurance dollars back to them, I guess).

 

My FC had a scrape from a Bad wiper.Driver's side of all things,and it bugged the living BeJesus out of me!
I was told it couldn't be rectified..
That Sucks!..so I got another windshield put in.
I've bought 3 new windshields in say the last 5 years on the cars that I owned.At least you know that I saw what I was about to hit..lol!