[Menace_206]

Hi guys,

Does anyone have a good recommendation to get my windshield replaced for my 545i around the Seattle area. My insurance is recommending me go to safelite. Does anyone know where BMW dealers get there glass from.

[yogi]

Originally Posted by menace_e60

Hi guys,

Does anyone have a good recommendation to get my windshield replaced for my 545i around the Seattle area. My insurance is recommending me go to safelite. Does anyone know where BMW dealers get there glass from.

oem glass is pilkington i believe. i use this guy, he is mobile, i pay him direct dont use insurance but i believe he accepts it. over the past 6 years he's done 3 bmw's for me and i've referred him countless times and everyone has always been happy.

corey jones
emerald city auto glass
mobile 425-350-2357
office 360-805-5010 or 360-805-5011

[Menace_206]

Originally Posted by yogi

oem glass is pilkington i believe. i use this guy, he is mobile, i pay him direct dont use insurance but i believe he accepts it. over the past 6 years he's done 3 bmw's for me and i've referred him countless times and everyone has always been happy.

corey jones
emerald city auto glass
mobile 425-350-2357
office 360-805-5010 or 360-805-5011

Thanks yogi, I'll give them a call.

[Shahdog]

Originally Posted by menace_e60

Hi guys,

Does anyone have a good recommendation to get my windshield replaced for my 545i around the Seattle area. My insurance is recommending me go to safelite. Does anyone know where BMW dealers get there glass from.

Use BMW body shop

BMW glass has BMW logo


I like that better

[cwarren]

pilkington is not oem but dont worry its still a good product . and your crazy to buy oem on a windshield fit,finish and quality of other mfg are just as good . (no fyg or xyg brand) use oem moldings when replacing !!!

[TimC]

Originally Posted by menace_e60

Hi guys,

Does anyone have a good recommendation to get my windshield replaced for my 545i around the Seattle area. My insurance is recommending me go to safelite. Does anyone know where BMW dealers get there glass from.

i went with a generic and totally regret it... seriously.
i believe its pilkington too.
will check again tommorrow but about 90% sure it is.
it has a funny bulge in the window, and also the rear view mirror doesn't fit as well as before. not sure if antenna for keyfob is in that area...but ever since i've had issues with my keyfob opening the car, coincidence??? dunno...but if i could do it over, i'd get OE glass from bmw. i can get it wholesale...should of done that.

[yogi]

Originally Posted by TimC

i went with a generic and totally regret it... seriously.
i believe its pilkington too.
will check again tommorrow but about 90% sure it is.
it has a funny bulge in the window, and also the rear view mirror doesn't fit as well as before. not sure if antenna for keyfob is in that area...but ever since i've had issues with my keyfob opening the car, coincidence??? dunno...but if i could do it over, i'd get OE glass from bmw. i can get it wholesale...should of done that.

bmw doesnt make glass. it's made for them, by Pilkington.

if you had your windshield changed and were given a defective piece of glass, or are having issues with your keyfob as a result, i would contact the installer and get it resolved. paying bmw several hundred more for the same windshield wont get you a better one.

[BMWonderful]

So, a little insight on this topic. Keep in mind, this is coming from someone who has been in the glass industry for about 15 years now and sometimes works on cars that cost upward of 100k.

-Calling Safelite is one of the last things I would do, same with companies who do the quality of work like one such shop mentioned in this thread. There are definitely good techs at Safelite and you may get lucky, but the odds are definitely not in your favor. And while it's not that big of a deal for anybody in this section of the forum because safelite puts in pilkington in the e9x series as far as I have seen, if you end up with a safelite made windshield in your car you have an inferior product in my opinion. SGC branded glass is the one glass i have never installed in any car i have ever worked on in 15 years. In my opinion it is poorly shaped, cheaply bent, and more brittle than any other brand on the market.

-Tim, your key fob issue will not be related to your windshield replacement. the antenna booster for your fob is in the backglass, it is in the area of your third brake light. As far as your mirror, I am betting you are talking about the plastic cover that covers the wires/rain sensor/mirror bracket area. The cover is made up of two plastic pieces that join together around all the hardware. It's very easy to fuck up the little pins and hooks that have to line up to keep every thing together and tight. If the actual mirror is loose the technictian pulled the mirror off the bracket as he was twisting (they are twist off break away style brackets) instead of leaving it flat against the glass. What that can do is bend your retainier spring in the mirror that grabs onto the mirror bracket on the glass. If that's the case ive only seen that a couple of times and they replaced the mirror both times.

-Pilkington is a european company that has been around a long time and has made good glass in the past. in the early 2000's they bought out LOF (libbey owens ford who made glass for GM back in the 90's) and the pilkington brand started showing up a whole bunch. Just like almost everything else in the world these days production for the past five-ten years of pilkington glass has focused more on cost cutting and money than quality. They are definitely producing a few good runs of glass and they are OE for a lot of cars, but in my opinion their aftermarket part numbers (like the windshield they make for our e90 series of cars) is just fair at best.

There is a difference between OE and OEM. OE means original equipment, OEM means original equipment manufacturer. OE is made on jigs that the cars are built from, there is NO fitment issues with OE glass unless it comes from the heating process. OEM however is made from other sources, but still very good.

OE windshields for our cars did come from pilkington, but they will have a dot number of 682. The windshields that are put in aftermarket that do not have the bmw logo but still say pilkington will have a dot number of 177 or something other than 682. these are aftermarket windshields made by an oe supplier, not the same thing as oe or oem. Saint-Gobain Sekurit is another company that makes OE windshields for BMW and has for a long time. They did not get the OE contract for the E90 series, but a Saint Gobain branded windshield is everybit as good, if not better, than a factory bought pilkington branded OE glass. They are considered a "premium" part in the aftermarket, and they will cost more than the aftermarket pilkington brand most people will sell you, but that's what I removed my unbroken, OE pilkington glass for and installed. Plus, with the sekurit brad, you have the option of the grey shadeband across the top of the glass instead of green on the pilk's, which I think looks way better on some colors of cars.

Yogi, you are taking a pic of your back glass, that's not your windshield. That piece is factory, if you have had your windshield replaced it will not be. I would also love to see what kind of work was done under your moldings and cowl. I'd be willing to bet there isn't a drop of primer covering the spots where the paint gets scratched during the removal process. Not trying to pick at you, but you are incorrect wwhen you say spending more won't get you better glass. In this case it absolutely will. I wouldn't buy the pilkington OE from the dealer, but the saint-gobain windshield is way better than the 177 marked pilkingtons.


All that said, workmanship is what you have to choose your shop on. Shity techs who hack and slash cars piss me off. It makes people think what I do is monkey work because of the bad experiences theyve had before, plus they do that kind of work so they can charge less and it dilutes the entire market down. Stupid.

And by the way, if anyone is in dire need of a windshield, I have the factory BMW part I cut out of my car just sitting in my garage. I keep it in case i catch a huge rock and don't want to fork out money for another premium windshield. It is definitely sand blasted a little like they get after 55k miles, but it's not broke, it is OE bmw, and it has the condensation sensor still attached to it. lol (by the way, that's another thing that most people don'r do when they replace the e90 series of windshields; you should replace the condensation sensor if you want your auto climate function to detect frost on your windshield and turn your defrost on)

Sorry for the book, I ramble.

If you guys want to know more or have specific questions let me know.

[cwarren]

Originally Posted by BMWonderful

So, a little insight on this topic. Keep in mind, this is coming from someone who has been in the glass industry for about 15 years now and sometimes works on cars that cost upward of 100k.

-Calling Safelite is one of the last things I would do, same with companies who do the quality of work like one such shop mentioned in this thread. There are definitely good techs at Safelite and you may get lucky, but the odds are definitely not in your favor. And while it's not that big of a deal for anybody in this section of the forum because safelite puts in pilkington in the e9x series as far as I have seen, if you end up with a safelite made windshield in your car you have an inferior product in my opinion. SGC branded glass is the one glass i have never installed in any car i have ever worked on in 15 years. In my opinion it is poorly shaped, cheaply bent, and more brittle than any other brand on the market.

-Tim, your key fob issue will not be related to your windshield replacement. the antenna booster for your fob is in the backglass, it is in the area of your third brake light. As far as your mirror, I am betting you are talking about the plastic cover that covers the wires/rain sensor/mirror bracket area. The cover is made up of two plastic pieces that join together around all the hardware. It's very easy to fuck up the little pins and hooks that have to line up to keep every thing together and tight. If the actual mirror is loose the technictian pulled the mirror off the bracket as he was twisting (they are twist off break away style brackets) instead of leaving it flat against the glass. What that can do is bend your retainier spring in the mirror that grabs onto the mirror bracket on the glass. If that's the case ive only seen that a couple of times and they replaced the mirror both times.

-Pilkington is a european company that has been around a long time and has made good glass in the past. in the early 2000's they bought out LOF (libbey owens ford who made glass for GM back in the 90's) and the pilkington brand started showing up a whole bunch. Just like almost everything else in the world these days production for the past five-ten years of pilkington glass has focused more on cost cutting and money than quality. They are definitely producing a few good runs of glass and they are OE for a lot of cars, but in my opinion their aftermarket part numbers (like the windshield they make for our e90 series of cars) is just fair at best.

There is a difference between OE and OEM. OE means original equipment, OEM means original equipment manufacturer. OE is made on jigs that the cars are built from, there is NO fitment issues with OE glass unless it comes from the heating process. OEM however is made from other sources, but still very good.

OE windshields for our cars did come from pilkington, but they will have a dot number of 682. The windshields that are put in aftermarket that do not have the bmw logo but still say pilkington will have a dot number of 177 or something other than 682. these are aftermarket windshields made by an oe supplier, not the same thing as oe or oem. Saint-Gobain Sekurit is another company that makes OE windshields for BMW and has for a long time. They did not get the OE contract for the E90 series, but a Saint Gobain branded windshield is everybit as good, if not better, than a factory bought pilkington branded OE glass. They are considered a "premium" part in the aftermarket, and they will cost more than the aftermarket pilkington brand most people will sell you, but that's what I removed my unbroken, OE pilkington glass for and installed. Plus, with the sekurit brad, you have the option of the grey shadeband across the top of the glass instead of green on the pilk's, which I think looks way better on some colors of cars.

Yogi, you are taking a pic of your back glass, that's not your windshield. That piece is factory, if you have had your windshield replaced it will not be. I would also love to see what kind of work was done under your moldings and cowl. I'd be willing to bet there isn't a drop of primer covering the spots where the paint gets scratched during the removal process.


All that said, workmanship is what you have to choose your shop on. Shity techs who hack and slash cars piss me off. It makes people think what I do is monkey work because of the bad experiences theyve had before, plus they do that kind of work so they can charge less and it dilutes the entire market down. Stupid.

And by the way, if anyone is in dire need of a windshield, I have the factory BMW part I cut out of my car just sitting in my garage. I keep it in case i catch a huge rock and don't want to fork out money for another premium windshield. It is definitely sand blasted a little like they get after 55k miles, but it's not broke, it is OE bmw, and it has the condensation sensor still attached to it. lol (by the way, that's another thing that most people don'r do when they replace the e90 series of windshields; you should replace the condensation sensor if you want your auto climate function to detect frost on your windshield and turn your defrost on)

Sorry for the book, I ramble.

If you guys want to know more or have specific questions let me know.

agree 100 % with everything said here i also own a glass shop in portland never looked at my car just assumed it was sekurit since they have made ws for bmw for ever ! but as we both know that can change year to year depending who won the contract. i guess all i was trying to explain is you dont have to buy ws from bmw to get a good product . install is the big issue! and i hate aftermarket moldings for bmw's .
by the way while typing this i just went outside and checked my car sekurit is whats in mine all pieces huh ? guess just like i said depends on who has contract that year.

[BMWonderful]

The aftermarket moldings do suck! but the ones that come from the factory are horrible because of how quick they rot in the weather. I replaced mywindshield and backglass moldings because of how rotted they were after only five years. You are right though, factory moldings are kind of a must, the aftermarket ones do not look right.

I do agree with you about not getting the dealer glass, it's just not worth it if you are paying the bill. And yes, you and I know the aftermarket pilks are just fine, I just think that spending a hundred more or so for the sekurit is worth it.

it's funny how oe contracts switch year to year, i wish my car had all sekurit glass lik yours, mine are all pilkington. OE sekurit is just so much...cooler.

[yogi]

Originally Posted by BMWonderful

So, a little insight on this topic. Keep in mind, this is coming from someone who has been in the glass industry for about 15 years now and sometimes works on cars that cost upward of 100k.

-Calling Safelite is one of the last things I would do, same with companies who do the quality of work like one such shop mentioned in this thread. There are definitely good techs at Safelite and you may get lucky, but the odds are definitely not in your favor. And while it's not that big of a deal for anybody in this section of the forum because safelite puts in pilkington in the e9x series as far as I have seen, if you end up with a safelite made windshield in your car you have an inferior product in my opinion. SGC branded glass is the one glass i have never installed in any car i have ever worked on in 15 years. In my opinion it is poorly shaped, cheaply bent, and more brittle than any other brand on the market.

-Tim, your key fob issue will not be related to your windshield replacement. the antenna booster for your fob is in the backglass, it is in the area of your third brake light. As far as your mirror, I am betting you are talking about the plastic cover that covers the wires/rain sensor/mirror bracket area. The cover is made up of two plastic pieces that join together around all the hardware. It's very easy to fuck up the little pins and hooks that have to line up to keep every thing together and tight. If the actual mirror is loose the technictian pulled the mirror off the bracket as he was twisting (they are twist off break away style brackets) instead of leaving it flat against the glass. What that can do is bend your retainier spring in the mirror that grabs onto the mirror bracket on the glass. If that's the case ive only seen that a couple of times and they replaced the mirror both times.

-Pilkington is a european company that has been around a long time and has made good glass in the past. in the early 2000's they bought out LOF (libbey owens ford who made glass for GM back in the 90's) and the pilkington brand started showing up a whole bunch. Just like almost everything else in the world these days production for the past five-ten years of pilkington glass has focused more on cost cutting and money than quality. They are definitely producing a few good runs of glass and they are OE for a lot of cars, but in my opinion their aftermarket part numbers (like the windshield they make for our e90 series of cars) is just fair at best.

There is a difference between OE and OEM. OE means original equipment, OEM means original equipment manufacturer. OE is made on jigs that the cars are built from, there is NO fitment issues with OE glass unless it comes from the heating process. OEM however is made from other sources, but still very good.

OE windshields for our cars did come from pilkington, but they will have a dot number of 682. The windshields that are put in aftermarket that do not have the bmw logo but still say pilkington will have a dot number of 177 or something other than 682. these are aftermarket windshields made by an oe supplier, not the same thing as oe or oem. Saint-Gobain Sekurit is another company that makes OE windshields for BMW and has for a long time. They did not get the OE contract for the E90 series, but a Saint Gobain branded windshield is everybit as good, if not better, than a factory bought pilkington branded OE glass. They are considered a "premium" part in the aftermarket, and they will cost more than the aftermarket pilkington brand most people will sell you, but that's what I removed my unbroken, OE pilkington glass for and installed. Plus, with the sekurit brad, you have the option of the grey shadeband across the top of the glass instead of green on the pilk's, which I think looks way better on some colors of cars.

Yogi, you are taking a pic of your back glass, that's not your windshield. That piece is factory, if you have had your windshield replaced it will not be. I would also love to see what kind of work was done under your moldings and cowl. I'd be willing to bet there isn't a drop of primer covering the spots where the paint gets scratched during the removal process. Not trying to pick at you, but you are incorrect wwhen you say spending more won't get you better glass. In this case it absolutely will. I wouldn't buy the pilkington OE from the dealer, but the saint-gobain windshield is way better than the 177 marked pilkingtons.


All that said, workmanship is what you have to choose your shop on. Shity techs who hack and slash cars piss me off. It makes people think what I do is monkey work because of the bad experiences theyve had before, plus they do that kind of work so they can charge less and it dilutes the entire market down. Stupid.

And by the way, if anyone is in dire need of a windshield, I have the factory BMW part I cut out of my car just sitting in my garage. I keep it in case i catch a huge rock and don't want to fork out money for another premium windshield. It is definitely sand blasted a little like they get after 55k miles, but it's not broke, it is OE bmw, and it has the condensation sensor still attached to it. lol (by the way, that's another thing that most people don'r do when they replace the e90 series of windshields; you should replace the condensation sensor if you want your auto climate function to detect frost on your windshield and turn your defrost on)

Sorry for the book, I ramble.

If you guys want to know more or have specific questions let me know.

WELL SAID! If youre in the glass biz i cant argue there. i was taking a pic of the back glass to show the brand of the oe glass manufacturer. and maybe i just got lucky using this guy over the years.

i dropped you a PM

[wheen]

OP, what did you end up doing? If you went w/ Emerald City, how was the job and what brand did they give you?

I have a 6" crack from the edge on my windshield and dealers are quoting me strange prices ($1100 to $1700+)...

[cwarren]

if I was in seattle I would help you out but im in Portland , send im to bmw wonderful ^ sounds like he knows his stuff and cares. if he cant do it im sure he can direct in the right direction .do not pay the dealer to replace it !!!! if you have questions I will gladly help you out..

[Wedge1967]

Originally Posted by cwarren

if I was in seattle I would help you out but im in Portland , send im to bmw wonderful ^ sounds like he knows his stuff and cares. if he cant do it im sure he can direct in the right direction .do not pay the dealer to replace it !!!! if you have questions I will gladly help you out..

I took a rock recently and need your help because the last time i had it replaced my agent contacted Safelite and the kid messed up the molding, said he would order a new glass and call me back to come fix it and never did.

[m34SPD]

I used Euroglass on my Civic. Barrier uses them for all their glass work. I got pilkington which came with a green tint.

[cwarren]

Originally Posted by Wedge1967

I took a rock recently and need your help because the last time i had it replaced my agent contacted Safelite and the kid messed up the molding, said he would order a new glass and call me back to come fix it and never did.

glad to help ken you have my number just give me a call . and we will make it right been doing this crap for 25 years lol .

[wheen]

Originally Posted by cwarren

if I was in seattle I would help you out but im in Portland , send im to bmw wonderful ^ sounds like he knows his stuff and cares. if he cant do it im sure he can direct in the right direction .do not pay the dealer to replace it !!!! if you have questions I will gladly help you out..

Thanks for the advice.

The crack I have is roughly 6", so it's not huge (just got it 2 nights ago via friendly little flying rock), but the crack goes right into the driver's side edge.

The location of the crack doesn't bother me too much so I was thinking if it was repaired and wasn't completely hidden, I might be able to live w/ it -- however I'm being told that cracks into the edge can't be repaired. Is this always true?

[hookandpull]

I wasn't aware that cracks could be repaired at all...