Miata Mailing List: April 1994, Message #68
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   From: Will Zehring 
Subject: windshields
   Date: Tue, 5 Apr 1994 07:59:57 -0400

Fellow fiends:

Just a comment on windshield replacements: I am concerned that the some
non-dealer glass may relly be of poor quality.  We had the windshield
replaced on my wife's H***a C***C, taking the low cost option, and less than
two weeks later had a crack (this time, clearly caused by a stone chip: they
can be smmmmaaaaallllll chips too).  Of course, this is anecdotal evidence,
but I just wonder.  The factory glass lasted for 5 years and the replacement
glass lasted for two weeks (under identical driving conditions: i.e. metro
big great lakes city with lots-o-pebbles on the freeway).  Once the crack
starts, then even minor stress can cause it to quickly grow from one end
to the other.  Ours grows about an inch a week.

Something tells me your broken glass was not stress, but was in fact due to
a chip.  What stress?  Unless there is a hidden thread here (?), lots of us
drive the car all year in very hot, very cold and very inbetween weather
and I am not aware of a "problem" with the windshield.  Of course, there
might have been a factory installation defect (?) that did place unintended
stress on the glass.  I would think that in that case it might crack under
torque stress during a turn or on a rough road.  Did the crack start at
or seem to start at the edge?  I can imagine (especially on a convertible)
that the windshield is torqued slightly during driving, but it should be
able to handle the stress by pressing on its rubber seating in the frame.
You seem to imply that you suspect the crack started because of a temperature
difference.  Do you mean between cold air outside and hot air in your
defroster vents?  Hmmm.

Any other people out there with this trouble?

Will Zehring