S5nirvana

SAINT-GOBAIN SEKURIT makes the OE glass for Audi/VW.... Apparantly made in China. The only difference between this one and the one it replaced was 4 rings on the label above the manufacturer name....Price difference is a couple of hundred for the materials.

S5nirvana

Shanghai is a special economic zone in China... guess they want people to know it came from there?

mhs525

I bought my car used and the windshield is toast, heavily pitted and I just noticed scratch right in my line of sight.

I really want a new windshield but am nervous they won't do a good job and I will regret it later.

I have an orbital buffer and have had polished the glass a few times but nothing gets rid of those damn pits.

I think I am getting close to a new windshield and repaint of my nose. The rest of the car looks almost new. The original owner must have done some serious highway miles sand blasting the nose/windshield in the process.

For resale value I am going to insist on an "Audi" OEM windshield

S5nirvana

If you plan to do a lot of highway driving, go with a clear bra after you repaint.

GUEST123

Well rats, today was the day that we got hit, and hard, with a rock (or something). It left a nasty nick at the bottom of the windshield on the passenger side, with what appeared to be 2 impact points on the glass, maybe 1/4" to 1/2" apart. The projectile(?) hit and chipped the paint too, just in front of where the windshield got hit, about 1/2" from the rear edge of the hood.

We were traveling on a 2-lane country road and several semi trucks were going in the opposite direction. Just as we passed the second one, bam. We didn't initially see the chip because it in in the black portion of the glass near the wipers. Ironically, several years ago we were on the same portion of the same road and our minivan got hit with something as we passed a truck and left a double dent in the hood (though spared the glass). Dang, I'm almost afraid to drive on that road again! Of course you start thinking, what if I had only been going faster (or slower), or had gone a different way, we could have avoided this mishap. Oh well, stuff happens!

As far as the windshield is concerned, I've got an appointment at the dealers next week. My SA tells me they replace windshields 3-4 times per month. Because it looks like the glass was impacted pretty hard, I'm not sure they'll be able to simply repair the chip, but we'll find out. My guess is that it will take a total replacement.

The dealer contracts with two different glass repair companies and has high praise for both. I could have arranged for Safelite or some other reputable company to fix it at our home, but felt that it would be better to have someone with Audi experience do the work, right at the dealer's location. We're about an hour away from the dealer and the last thing I wanted was for some glass guy to show up at our house for his first Audi glass repair.

For the paint repair, I had purchased some touchup paint (came in a rattle can) about a year ago, just in case we got any stone nicks, since jet blue is not readily stocked at the dealer. I sprayed a little in a plastic bathroom cup and applied a little to the chipped area with an artist's brush to start building it up. The color was a little darker than I thought it should have been, so I'm going to order a touch up paint "stick" from the dealer tomorrow. I was also surprised that the touchup paint contained (per the label): acetone, toluene, petroleum distillates, propane, isobutane, and pigments. No wonder it ended up melting through the bottom of the cup I was using! I was expecting a water-based paint, but I suppose touch-up only comes in solvent-based formulations. Hopefully the touch up stick will be a closer color match to the existing paint, but it has to be ordered (around $16).

Here are a couple of picks of the damage. Sorry for the picture quality! You can see the paint chip too -- about the size of two BBs next to each other, and right down to the metal. If I decide to use the spray paint again, I'll be sure to use a non-reactive container! I got the paint onto the nick well before the plastic cup started to melt, so no paint disasters involving the car occurred :-)

helix139

Get some Dr Colorchip for that paint chip. Super easy and will likely yield better results.

GUEST123

Thanks Helix! I took your advice and just ordered a kit. Had to select the model as R8 to get the jet blue code to come up. Looking forward to trying it out. Now if only the windshield repair would be as painless!

TO407S4

Thanks for the write up Looks like I'll be needed a new windshield as well. I've been nervous about having this done and I was wondering if you've had any noise at high speeds since the replacement.. or leaks?

I can't seem to find anything online for X-Pert Auto Glass. If your still completely satisfied with their install, would you mind passing me along their contact details?

Thanks!