ToyotaLexus

I have a chip on my windshield and it's rather annoying. It's not something that can be repaired, according to the Lexus dealer and a few glass installer/repairers.

So I called several glass shops in my area and asked for the price on a new windshield.

All of them showed either heater and un-heated front windshield in their database.
Prices rage from $290 to $330, installed, for the un-heated one. This is PPG or other
non-Lexus brand.

Was it even possible to get a '01 RX300 with heated front windshied in the first place?

Lil4X

A number of manufacturers toyed with the idea of a heated windshield a few years ago. I recall that Lincoln Town Car, and perhaps the Ford Crown Vic and Mercury Marquis offered this as an option. Using a thin transparent metallic film applied to the inside of the glass and applying current, the windshield could be defogged quickly without waiting for the engine to warm and the conventional defroster to become effective.

But there were trade-offs that may not have been recognized immediately. The metallic film interfered with RF signals penetrating the windshield. I'm not sure about the RX 300, but my local toll road authority issued me a special RFID tag that went on my front license plate because the standard tag applied to the inside of the windshield (they claimed) would be unreadable. Some manufacturers of radar detectors claimed their performance was significantly degraded by the metallic tint on the Ford products, although the V-1 in my RX 300 performed VERY well.

For this reason, I think the technology was abandoned as electronics became more sophisticated, and the downside outweighed the advantage of the "Insta-clear" windshield (as it was known on the Ford products). I don't recall how Lexus used this film for clearing the windshield, or if it was just part of the UV protection that also showed up in the metallic silver tint on the windows of the RX 300. Unless you live in a cold, damp climate, you probably won't miss it. Check your owner's manual.

Fern

I also have an rx300 with 2 stone chips which I will deal with in the spring.


Obtained quotes for aftermarket windshields and in both cases they quoted oem equivalent with heated feature.

Look for the heated wiring along bottom of windshield and corners to identify if heated or not.

Any autoglass shop should be able to point out to you if or not heated and where heating element is located.

Cheers,

Fern

RhoXS

In most states (eg Florida) insurance companies are required to replace damaged (cracked, chipped, etc.) windshields with no deductable and no penalty. I replaced three windshields over the past eight years on our cars due to damage from airborn rocks and retreads etc. at no cost and no issues. Safelight Auto Glass, a national outfit, will do the work in your driveway and bill your insurance company directly.

D2-AUTOSPORT

I was going to say the same thing, and to take it a step further when you contact your insurance company you can ask them for the number of a local installer / professional so that you dont have to deal with Safelite sitting in your driveway, forgetting parts, etc etc. For reference, I know that statefarm has this coverage (we are in CT)

Good luck

Lil4X

If you have chips in your windshield that are NOT in your line of vision, get them repaired right away before they grow into cracks that will require replacement of the windshield. Most insurance will cover this, although I had to explain to one company that had a policy of REPLACING any windshield with 3 or more chips that the chips were practically invisible and a new windshield was EXPENSIVE. To detect these chips, when your windshield is clean, drag a soft cotton cloth over it - chips will snag the cloth.

I usually gather up three of four of these tiny chips every year, as we have a lot of gravel trucks on our freeways with unsecured loads. Flynig rocks are just part of the freeway experience. IF you have them filled in, you can save yourself a lot of trouble with the insurance carrier - after all, by the time they replace the windshield for the third time, they will probably raise your rate. My installer explained that the RX windshield, being so large will flex a little, particularly near the center, at highway speed as it is buffeted by the wind. This causes small cracks to grow rapidly especially when the glass has been chipped near the edge. A crack will grow slowly toward the center of the glass, then suddenly turn horizontally and grow very rapidly along the edge of the area that is flexing. You can prevent this by quickly filling and bonding tiny chips.

If you do have to replace the windshield, remember that Lexus doesn't make glass. They BUY windshields from one of the majors, Safelite, PPG, or LOF. Your replacement glass may not be etched with the Lexus logo, but it is otherwise identical to the OEM part - for considerably less $ than that from your dealer - which will REALLY be expensive.

HarrierAWD

Actually, many new cars start having the heated windshield option. The new Subies for example. I'm actually looking for aftermarket option. That'll really help with Colorado winter. Snow simply piles under the wipers as they run.

It won't interfere with toll tags. My uncle in NY has heated windshield in his Dodge van, the EZpass tag works just fine. Not sure about radar detectors.

D2-AUTOSPORT

Another great point, I have found that many dealers do not even INSTALL the glass, they simply defer you to a recommended facility.

Lil4X

You're right! I remember the guy who came to my house (part of a husband and wife franchise) was referred to me by my Lexus salesperson. It seems he was the guy that did all their windshield work. I saved about $100 on labor by having it done on my driveway, rather than theirs - plus the savings of buying the windshield from the installer rather than from the Lexus parts bin.

flipside909

This is partially true. The glass that comes on your Lexus if it's built in Japan is from a glass vendor in Japan. Nippon Safety or Asahi (not the beer) glass manufactured for Toyota and Lexus come to mind.

LOF, United, Pilkington, PPG are some of the big popular glass companies offered in N. America for the N. American made vehicles. RX330s built in Canada usually come with United glass.

If you were to order Japanese made glass for your Lexus...you would have to order it straight from your Lexus parts counter, but at a premium. For example, Japanese OEM Lexus windshield for an RX330 (without rainsensors) costs around $1200.00 msrp. The same OEM glass without the Lexus etching made by United costs less than half of that. Definitely not worth getting the Japanese made windshield when the only real difference in the glass is the brand etching...nothing more.

I work directly in this field of Insurance Claims. Safelite and Allstar Glass are the ones we mainly deal with at my work.

rxdriver

I'm still curious about part of the original question - how did you get a heated windshield option on an RX300?

The 2002 RX300 manual mentions a "windshield wiper de-icer" feature on units sold in Canada. The de-icer is on the same switch as the heated outside mirrors and the rear window defogger. The 1999 manual does not mention this feature, so I'm guessing that it was available on the 2nd gen RX300 from '01-'03.

It sounds like that's what we're talking about. Were any sold in the U..S.?

Lil4X

Down here in the Texas tropics we seldom have freezing weather and the presence of a few snowflakes in the air is a once-every-twenty-year event, but I seem to recall a number of manufacturers offering a kind of "heated windshield" in more northerly climes. I think - and you folks "up nawth" are the experts here - that there have been windshields offered with a heat strip, a wire or a narrow tape embedded at the base of the windshield (sort of like that on the rear window). These might keep the wipers from freezing to the glass - or would at least unstick them if ice formed on the blade in the "parked" position overnight. I've seen this feature a time or two, but it's rare in my part of the world.

We had a huge influx of PFM's (People From Michigan - yeah, my bro-in-law is one) a number of years back, and maybe I saw it on one of their cars. Might this be what Fern and RX are talking about?

mmahamm

I think it depends upon the technology. Someone above mentioned a metallic film that covers the entire inside of the windshield. The Dodge vans (1996-2002) do not have this. What they have is a lower-tech heater element, similar to a rear window defroster, that is attached to the bottom of the large windshield, to heat the wipers.

HarrierAWD

Did I say the Dodge van had metallic film windshield?

Anyhow, I think the metallic windshield was once available on some Ford products. It was quickly dropped.

mmahamm

No, of course not. You said your uncle has a dodge with a heated windshield, and that his electronic toll device works fine.

Reading this thread, it would appear that the metallic-film style windshield heater may interfere with the operation of electronic toll devices, and the heating-element style heater does not.

I did not mean to offend. It was not my intent to correct or respond directly to you, only to add to what you had written, to clarify for all.