jayclapp

Last week a rock to the drivers side of my 04 UL resulted in a 12 inch crack. To my utter amazement, my insurance company approved replacement with original Lexus OEM glass, P/N 56101-50311! Got rid of the cheap Chinese Pilkington glass that had been installed in 2013. What a difference to be able to look into the late afternoon sun thru clear glass instead of one that looked like it had been sandblasted and had severe glare. The installation was done at home by a local glass company that does high-end cars and the installation is perfect with new chrome molding at the roofline of the glass. This was indeed my lucky day.

Johnhav430

um, Pilkington is not cheap. It's OE and OEM to a lot of mfgs lol What differentiates OE and OEM is the mfg. logo on the glass Even Bentleys can have FUYAO from the factory so I think we need to get over it haha

jayclapp

Really? The Pilkington glass that was installed in my car in 2013 cost less than $200. The installer showed me his receipt. I checked the DOT number on it and it was Chinese. The glass was soft and pitted easily. I have nothing to get over!

biosurfer1

I had a Pilkington put in a couple months ago after my OEM got a chip that spidered before I could fix it.

It was $400 by a mobile guy. He told me he does OEM now and again but 95% of it is the install, not the glass itself.

Makes sense. Glass is not a complex machine the aftermarket is trying to replicate. Once they have the curve down there isn't a whole lot of variation there could be.

Tom57

Jay, you're very lucky indeed! Nothing to get over!! I prefer the OE windshield over the Pilkington all day, every day. I do everything I can to save my OE windshields getting chips repaired (for free) whenever possible, before it grows into a large crack. Side-by-side, there is a difference too in the tint of the OE vs. the Pilkington. OE has a brownish cast while the Pilkington is blue/green. That's why we notice a glare with Pilkington. I assume they replaced your rain sensor tape as well, otherwise, the auto rain sensing wipers feature won't work anymore.

Pilkington, of course, does meet the federal motor vehicle safety standards for durability and quality, since the windshield is an integral component to the structure of the body and supports the passenger compartment in an accident / rollover.

jayclapp

Here's how much variation there is in Lexus vs non-OEM glass: The Lexus OEM glass they installed in my car was $1,389 plus additional for chrome moulding, sensor gel, and pad for a total of $1,567. Glass was purchased from local Lexus dealer. Don't know what the installation charges were. The new glass is like there is nothing there to look through.

biosurfer1

Ya I quickly looked at OEM and was seeing $1250+ but since I was paying this out of pocket, that was too much.

Funny thing was I thought the new windshield was much clearer than the outgoing OEM, looking through the service records, I think that windshield was original to the car...not surprising how little miles the cat had when I got it and it was a retired guy who owned it before me.

jayclapp

Original OEM windshields (and all other glass also) can be determined by checking the DOT number on the glass, which is DOT 20 for our cars. Easy to tell.

SkipABeat

To my surprise and glee my insurance company Ok'd my request to have a Lexus dealer replace my cracked windshield a few years ago. The bill came to more than $1600. I wanted the OE, because it has a coating that sheds water like a permanent layer of Rain-X. The driver and front passenger door has the same type of glass and rain just beads off.