I was wondering if I am the only one who has experienced a high amount of windshield damage on their F-Type. I know the car sits low and has a greater chance of getting rocks thrown onto the windshield as a result, but I am starting to get a little frustrated.

Immediately after delivery last September, I got a rock chip just to the right of the driver’s line of vision. Shortly after I got a few more small chips in other areas, but not bad enough for complete replacement. Last month, a car at least 15 car lengths ahead of me, threw a rock onto the upper left side of the windshield, resulting in a large crack across the driver’s line of sight. It took 2 weeks for Safelite to get a replacement windshield from a Jaguar dealer ($1,400 covered by my insurance). It has only been two and half weeks since the new windshield was installed and I just got another huge crack/chip on the passenger’s side while driving on the freeway this morning. I literally thought the windshield was going to explode from the impact. I have an appointment on Wednesday to hopefully have it repaired.

I had Xpel clear headlight protection installed to possibly prevent a disaster with them. I do not have Xpel on the front end and incredibly do not have any chips at all on the paint at 3,600 miles. It seems my windshield has taken most of the hit from road debris so far. Can Xpel be used on a windshield? I can see the windshield is going to get very expensive to deal with on this car.

 

Wow...sorry to hear,that is one of my worst fears.

 

There are similar products for windshields. I've never tried them, but I have been thinking about it as I have a FJ Cruiser and it's windshield is basically vertical. Anything that gets near it causes a crack.

Here's one but again, I have no experience with any of them myself:

Windshield Protection Products - ClearPlex

 

Sorry to hear it but I can concur that the windshield of the F-Type appears to be a rock magnet of sorts as I too have had my share of rocks hitting me (making for an awful sound!). Luckily - at least I feel lucky - I've only suffered damage once (and not directly in my line-of-sight) and immediately (same morning) had it "injected" to prevent the damage from spreading. I'm afraid that that's just something we'll all have to deal with from time to time. I too had my headlights "filmed" - as well as the front bumper, full hood, fenders and rocker panels - but, personally, can't see "filming" the windshield itself. I'm resigned to accepting a certain amount of wear and tear and road use - and, yes, chips - although I completely understand your current [and potentially future] frustration.

 

I'm sure it doesn't buickfunnycar - not from what little I know of you from this Forum - but as long as your "worst fears" don't prevent you from the joys of driving it!

Regardless of what precautions any of us take - no matter the lengths one goes - if you drive the car s#%^ is gonna happen. The sooner you - we - accept that, the better IMO. No one says we have to be happy about it - naturally - but it is a fact of life.

 

People. Stop tailgating.

The angle of the screen means you need to be really close to traffic in front for this to be a problem.

Yes, oncoming traffic does throw up debris, but that the F-Type isn't as tall as an 18 wheeler means quite a bit of junk is going to miss the screen completely...

 

Exactly it! People need to pass everyone and drive with a clear lane ahead of them. No need to be behind anyone!

 

Unfortunately, not all roads are created equal (in regards to tailgating). Keep in mind the trajectory of a projectile will eventually still go down so at all times your car is at risk on the road as long as someone is in front of you regardless of the distance (i.e. it will travel in an arc). It's just a fact of driving a vehicle.

You can be more proactive when driving (i.e. try not to stay behind large trucks/vans). However, it really depends on the roads as some areas have worse roads than others (i.e. those typically with cold weather where moisture gets into the surface, freezes which expands and makes the surface brittle, and then has vehicles drive over it kicking it up in the air).

 

True, but the velocity of the projectile diminishes rather quickly with distance, thus greatly diminishing the probability of cracking the windshield if you do take a hit. Increasing the following distance as much as possible greatly improves one's odds.

I agree that it's sometimes unavoidable, as you said.

 

It's really not that simple. Debris can be thrown up from vehicles in the other lanes, and it can still hit your car even if you're well back from the vehicle in front or to the side. Pretty much everyone knows to stay well back from the big rigs, and most do just that. I've not had any damage to my own windshield, but I've had road debris thrown up from other lanes hit it - I was just lucky the impact didn't cause any harm. You have to remember that some of us here live in much colder climates than the UK and some of us live in earthquake country. Both cause pavement damage and can create debris. Tailgating isn't the issue, it's the amount of crap on some of the roads.

 

Being that I am a fanatic about my car like many of you on this forum, I remember each incident vividly.

The first major chip I got came from a stone that flew off the front tire of a Lexus GS350 as it rounded a corner heading towards me at about 35mph. This was two weeks after I got my car. I could actually see the stone fly off the tire right into my windshield. It caused me to duck for fear of the windshield shattering. This resulted in a good size chip that was able to be repaired. The second major chip/crack was last month from a Ford Fusion at least 15 car lengths ahead of me traveling in the same direction as I was. This one hit extremely hard and required the windshield to be replaced. The stone possibly bounced off the road and flew into my windshield at that distance. The third major chip I got yesterday happened as I just exited an onramp onto the freeway. I merged and then immediately moved to the left lane to pass a truck. The stone came from a VW Jetta wagon about 6-7 car lengths ahead of me. I saw it fly off the left rear tire as soon as I was fully in the lane. In between those three incidents I got several smaller chips I did not see coming.

Not sure what else I could do other than not drive the car, which is obviously not an option. Not driving near other cars in the San Francisco Bay area is also not an option here or pretty much anywhere, so I will take this suggestion as a sarcastic comment. I have owned many cars over the years and have never once had to replace a windshield or received stone chips the way I have in this car. My reason for posting this thread was to see if I was just unlucky or if others have had the same high frequency of windshield damage with their F-Type. I don’t fault the car, it just that I haven’t even had the car 6 months and I am really getting concerned I am going to be best friends with my local Safelite glass shop. Better than an accident I suppose.

On a separate note, I wonder how many windshields my car has broken. These Pirellis seem to pick up everything on the road.

Other than that, my car is utterly fantastic with no issues. I love it!

 

Zero issues after 15,000 miles but I don't spend much time on busy freeways, happily. Back roads whenever possible!

 

I didn't know that california would have that many issues with rocks.. I expect it around here with deep frost lifting the road.. and in the summer the gravel trucks as well as living on a gravel road. We have a few gravel pits in our area and these trucks throw piles of stones when they enter the highway.. most of it is trapped in the duals.
I've been lucky so far, but prior experience tells me it can happen in an instant. You seem to be unlucky with that number of hits and no doubt your luck will improve.
Lawrence

 

I completely agree that tailgating is a constant problem on the road HOWEVER I do not tailgate - I know what it takes to stop a car from high speeds, F-Type or no F-Type - and the one chip I received in my windshield came from a car WELL ahead of me on the highway (as others have noted here). Wish it wasn't so but it is what it is.

And I am vigilant and well aware - and immediately change lanes - of semis and particularly of those drivers veering all too often in the outer edges of their respective lanes, kicking up all sorts of s#%^.

 

Street sweepers can also kick up small rocks that will crack windshields.
Last summer, we passed one and heard a small 'ting' on the windshield. Thought nothing of it at the time because nothing showed up. Next morning, a horizontal line at eye level from the A piller was about 6-8" long inward. We went shopping and came back to the car about an hour later and the line grew to about 12 " long.
Called Safelite and they replaced it.

 

Put simply: you drive your car - any car - and, eventually, you're bound to get something, no matter how careful one is. "Something" could be a chip in the windshield, a scratch in the paint, etc., etc., etc.

Some are luckier than others - and/or just don't drive enough - but I've always been very Zen-ful about it.

Wabi-sabi.

 

Stones clearly fly further and faster in the US - Denver in particular must be horrendous.

Do you think the Airlines have built this factor into their Safety Cases for operating in the US?

I knew there was a reason for intake ramps...

 

Yeah, those windshield nicks are frustrating to me too. Heh, I've got everything wrapped up front but the windshield. if anyone ever came up with a solution for those little guys, they'd really rake in a few.

I haven't tried Clearplex either, but I'm always on the lookout for something that might do the job. So, I'll pass on what my trusted and very experienced protective film guy just told me when I asked him about windshield film. He said protective films such as Xpel and Venture Shield, while great protective films for paint, do not work on windshields due to poor optics and discoloration, not to mention wiper scratches. While ClearPlex works, the trade-off in his view is having to redo the application about every year or so as it doesn't seem to last like the paint protection films.

 

I kind of figured this would be the case and the reason why Xpel and others do not offer this type of product for windshields. I just had my latest chip/crack repaired today by Safelite. They have been very professional and have taken extremely good care of my car. Fortunately the crack did not run more than an inch. It was able to be filled and was just to the right of the rear view mirror so I don’t really see it. Only two very small marks remain, which is better than replacing the entire windshield again. I will admit I am paranoid driving now, but hopefully my streak of bad luck is over.

 

I hope so, JM, sounds like just plain bad luck. I'm sure you're being careful, but even though one can improve the odds, sometimes you're still going to lose.