[TP2SS]

PSA for everyone with a HUD car, when/if you need a new windshield.

Here's the story... Although not on my SS, but on a '20 Acadia Denali I recently bought with HUD. Bought it CPO and it had a cracked windshield, which the (GM) dealer said they'd take care of since they can't sell it that way CPO. I took the car on closing as they had to set up the replacement, so drove it for a couple days and got to "get used to" the HUD appearance (I have it in my SS so I'm not unfamiliar).

3rd party glass shop replaces with an "XYG" branded windshield. Immediately after driving off the lot, I notice the HUD image appears to be about 85% of the previous size and vertically "squished" (distorted) a little! Take it back but they say since they don't drive the car every day they can't really say, and to take it to GMC dealer to compare. I go back to selling dealer and we compare to another '20 on the lot, side by side, and my sales rep agrees it appears smaller.

Take it back in last Monday for used car sales mgr to compare, and he agrees too. Has parts dept order a genuine GM windshield, and when it comes in he has it delivered to 3rd party shop. Replaced this morning, and the owner of the glass shop (not a national chain, but a big local chain) comes out to meet me after they did the swap and says sure enough it was a smaller image in the aftermarket glass, they actually measured both somehow! Says he's never seen that in all his years of the business, but no one ever complained so he would never have known to look for it. Said he had 400 Acadia HUD windshields alone that he would be sending back to the mfr!

Moral of the story: if you need a HUD windshield, insist on genuine GM glass!
If I hadn't driven the car for 2-3 days and waited to take it until the glass was replaced, I would never have known myself!

If you're in the Detroit area, or anywhere there's a Mr. Windshield, I give them a A+ rec! They could have shined me on and said I was imagining things, but they stepped up and made it right, along with the dealer (Vyletel), and it cost me zero extra!

[ctrlz]

Originally Posted by TP2SS

Moral of the story: if you need a HUD windshield, insist on genuine GM glass!

In my experience, if there is ANY special feature to the windshield, the aftermarket version will likely disappoint.
HUD, wiper defrosters, etc.

[ShockingZ]

I geico do my windshield on my 21 ZL1. I insisted on GM glass and they approved it. It was $930. They install went flawlessly with safelite using the winding cord machine they have, and all looks completely perfect again.

But yes insist on GM glass. With PDR or the collision warning system, you do not want any compromise.

[GXP08jrf]

I had my Camaro's HUD windshield replaced by Safelite in the Fall. I had a long conversation with the tech while he was doing his work.

He said a lot of the lower volume windshields they get are OEM Service parts and that the vendors (Safelite in this case) grind of the OEM logo and re-etch the glass with their own.

He indicated that the glass I got was GM even though it had Safelite's (or whomever's) logo on it. Could be a load of BS, but the HUD display was fine after the installation. It didn't really matter either way to me: insurance covered the price minus deductable, the crack is gone, and HUD is crisp, So I'm happy with the result.

[shoe5163]

It was relaced by Safelite, no issues what so ever.

[N Camarolina]

Very useful thread. Thanks all who provided personal experience. Seems to continue trend from an old thread that found OEM is a must, though that one was more about the crispness of the display rather than sizing.

So now 2 reasons to insist on OEM glass!!!

[easttxss]

My first Camaro was due for it's 4th windshield when I had the wreck. The first replacement was done by the dealer when I bought the car used. It was aftermarket (don't remember the brand) but the HUD image was sharp and clear. I remember thinking how clear it was when I test drove the car. A month later I caught a rock on the highway. Called out an independent glass guy that did all our company trucks and the aftermarket glass he put in had double vision but I just let it ride. My current car has 109K miles on it and the original front glass, if I ever have to replace it I will definitely be going back with OEM because the gamble with aftermarket isn't worth it.

[haggler]

thanks for the info.

[ember1205]

I had the windshield in the Camaro replaced by the dealer because the original one had a "rash" on it (likely from a chain that hit it during transport or similar). I've had no issues with it since and it was done with an OEM piece of glass.

In general, I can attest to the overall poor quality of PPG glass as I've had a problem with just about every one of those ever installed in a vehicle I've owned. In one car, I would develop a splitting headache after driving the car for about 10 minutes because the glass wasn't shaped correctly and was distorting the image... That was a fun one to get handled.

[SS_Don]

I had a windshield replace on a RAV 4 and Safelite used an aftermarket one. The front camera wouldn’t calibrate and they had to replace it with a windshield from Toyota.


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