AF 4.2

I really don't understand how here we are in the year 2002 with incredible technology and it is not uncommon to have some distortion on your windshield.

I've NEVER heard of this problem years ago and now in todays age, it is almost a common thing !?!?

Is the process for making glass different ? ?

Is there a website that explains this ? ?

Wouldn't Audi or other car manufacturers change their supplier of glass ?

Thanks for any insight on this

Audi4orce

The old windshields were 1/2 inch thick and weighted a half of ton....
Todays glass is thin as possible, causing some distortion.

djnelsen

optic clarity is a relationship between the thickness of the glass to the curviture of the glass.

thinner does not mean more distortion. Does a 1mm thin pane of flat glass have distortion? no. Distortion is not a function of thickness. If that were true, then how can a thick pair of glasses and a paper thin pair of contact lenses achieve the same vision correction?

Distortion is simply a matter of bad design. Optical clarity is a true art form. The thickness and curviture have to be carefully engineered together to achieve it, and more often than not it's not done right.

Greyhound Guy

Audi makes their own glass, that's the problem.

Audi4orce

Jerk/
I heard this, but i guess "they" were wrong.
<crawling back in to my hole>

djnelsen

lol =)

AF 4.2

designed it ?

Or are you referring to the actual design of the shape of the glass to begin with ?

Also, why would a Major Manufacturer like Audi (or BMW) make sure that they engineer it correctly from Day one so that they do not have this problem ?

Thanks for your explanation, I appreciate you taking the time to explain it !!

AF 4.2

Audiforce, thanks for taking the time to explain your outlook on it, I appreciate it !!!

djnelsen

but it's most likely just bad design. I've done a lot of work in optical product design (safety glasses, ski goggles, gas masks, etc), and 9 times out of 10 distortion is caused by bad initial design. Usually the manufacturing processes are fairly well controlled. Optical clarity is a very tricky business.

as to your comment:

"why would a Major Manufacturer like Audi (or BMW) make sure that they engineer it correctly from Day one so that they do not have this problem?"

to that I would respond:

why do the stock shifters have so much slop?

why do the stock shocks have such horrible rebound resistance?

why are the stock exhausts so restrictive?

why are the stock front engine mounts so soft and sloppy?

I could go on....

the answer to these questions is the same as your windshield quandry: because they are not perfectly engineered cars. There is a lot of room for improvement, which is half the reason we mod our cars.

=)

corona

Thin glass is not the culprit. The distortion is caused by the manufacturing process. Windshield (safety) glass is tempered. It is heated, bent, then quickly cooled to achieve high surface tension that makes it strong, but also makes it break into bazillion pieces when broken. Long story short, when the glass is quenched (rapidly cooled), if the cooling is not even, optics will distort. There are also some issues with the lamination of the glass plies (windshields are 2-ply laminates), but I'm probably boring you already.
How do I know? I work for PPG that maked both aircraft (extremely good optics) and automotive glass. FYI, I have heard the replacement PPG glass is superior to the Pilkington (UK company) OEM glass.