FAQ > Poor Workmanship on Replacement Windshield, Side Door, Quarter and Rear Back Glass Windows, Page 1

The second time around price for restoring this Lexus LX 470 SUV back to factory specifications was in Excess of $1,500.00 Dollars.

A Ford F-550 Pick ups Prior New Windshield Replacement. This vehicle will require major paint work to be able to provide the crash and roll over protection Ford Motor Company required of it. This is what happens to your vehicle's pinchweld when no primers are used prior to the installation of a new glass.

A Chevrolet Pick Ups Prior New Rear Back Glass Window Installation. Another vehicle that will require major paint work as well as body work to be able to provide the crash and roll over p r o t e c t i o n General Motors required of it. This particular vehicle actually arrived at our service center with the back glass laying in the bed of the pick up truck where it landed when it fell out due to the totally improper installation by one of our competitors. It had two holes made by a gasket scraper that were driven completely through the body on the bottom on both sides.

A Town and Country Van Prior Windshield replacement that was doomed from the very beginning of it's prior new windshi eld installation. For starters this windshield was burned out of the vehicle which damaged the paint. At that point it should have been taken to a body shop for paint repair. To cover up the body damage that was done by overheating the vehicle during the process, the installer used a wide molding that lays on top of the body rather than the molding the manufacturers designed it to have which fits inside the pinchweld opening. There were no primers used on the damaged pinchweld surface and as you can see by the photos the urethane was applied in a very unprofessional manor. In an effort to stop water from entering the van as well as keep the molding from falling off, the van was further subjected to applications of several different types of sealers applied here and there in a hap hazard manner.

A Dodge Stealth Prior New Windshield Replacement that required major paint work so it could provide the crash and roll over protection Dodge requires of it. Another example of what happens to your vehicle's pinchweld when no primers are used prior to the installation of a replacement Windshield. Aside from the previously done poor windshield installation damage, this vehicle was in pristine condition.

that required major paint work so it could provide the crash and roll over protection General Motors requires of it. Another example of what happens to your vehicle's pinchweld when no primers are used prior to the installation of a replacement Windshield. Aside from the previously done poor windshield installation damage, this vehicle was in pristine condition. The worst spot in the pinchweld was in the center over the rear view mirror. The rust had began to pit the metal which can only be sanded down so far to remove the rust before the metal becomes to thin. Had the pits in the metal been any deeper the center section would have had to have been completely cut out and replaced in order to maintain structural integrity during an accident particularly in a side impact or a roll over situation.

Due to poor workmanship during an average month here at Phoenix Glass we redo prior windshield and other auto glass installations in about 6 vehicles per month because of incompetent or uncaring auto glass installers. By the time you add up the expenses of a new glass, mouldings and repairing the body damage that was done to the pinchweld, the price for repairing a vehicle in this type of situation is usually 3 to 4 times what it would have cost if it were done right in the first place. Unfortunately most of these installers are or were employed and trained by some of the major chain outfits where they learned these corner cutting traits to make more money and actually have convinced their selves to believe that they are doing the work properly. Typically these employees are paid by salary plus commission. In slow times the employee gets the minimum pay to save the company money but when times are busy as an added incentive the employee is given a commission based on production. The more jobs completed the more pay received and the only way that can happen is by speeding up the installation process which is where something has to suffer in order to make that happen and it’s usually you and your vehicle. In the event these short cuts lead to a problem at the very least your going to loose some valuable time having your vehicle redone and at the very worst it can lead to serious injury or the loss of your life or that of someone you love so be very careful when choosing who you let install your windshield or other glass in your vehicle. Make sure the company has an actual address complete with an actual store front as there are many gypsy type auto glass companies operating in and around Knoxville as well as it’s surrounding areas. No store front usually goes hand in hand with a pick up truck and a cell phone. You can easily accomplish this using Google Maps Street View . Google allows you to see if the company your considering using for the installation of your new replacement windshield turns out to be a home, an apartment complex or even an empty lot. With the power of the internet anyone can make a attractive website to lure you in. They also typically have no liability insurance and when something goes wrong you are on your own since they are very difficult to track down and with the power of Caller ID they stop answering your repeated phone calls.

A Chevrolet Suburban Prior New Windshield Replacement

Poor workmanship doesn’t even come close to describing this shabby windshield installation. This poor fellow actually had to take his vehicle to 3 different auto glass companies and a BMW repair center to get his leaking BMW windshield installation resolved to a liveable state. It all began with a 30 minute windshield installation in the driveway at his residence which evolved into several phone calls and trips to the nationally known auto glass company that did the first installation. After being told the problem was solved he took his vehicle to a BMW repair center where he spent a considerable amount of money to have the interior seats and carpeting removed and dried. Unfortunately that phase turned out to be all in vane as the vehicle was still filling with water with every venture in the rain. Being extremely frustrated at this point his next venture was having another nationally known auto glass company do a complete 2nd new windshield installation which, according to the customer, was also done in record time. Once again thinking life was good and it was all behind him it turned out that feeling only lasted until the next rain fall when he found himself in the exact same situation. Again this customer found himself bantering back and forth with the 2nd auto glass company several times to no avail. Their opinion was that the car must have other issues that were causing the rain water to flood the vehicle and it wasn’t their problem so they kicked him to the curb. At this point this young fellow, who was still in high school by the way, was feeling that he was left to his own wits, so he began to do his best to trouble shoot his water leak himself. He discovered that the bottom windshield molding (that was supposed to have been installed on the bottom of the new windshield) was completely missing. He went to the BMW dealer and purchased a new molding. Shuddering I’m sure, he made the decision to have the molding installed at auto glass company number 3, which is what we here at Phoenix Glass turned out to be when he brought his car to us. When he showed us the cowl retainer molding he wanted installed our first response to him was why, your vehicles windshield should already have one, it’s what your windshield cowling snaps into. Typically the windshield retainer molding he had wouldn’t be replaceable with out removing the windshield from the vehicle. He stated that he found that his windshield didn’t have one on it and he thought that was what was causing his car to have a serious water leak. Our first, and I must add assuming, thought was it’s a BMW, the water drains in the cabin air filter components are probably full of debris and causing the rain water to back up and enter the vehicle through the HVAC intake. Our first step was to check for the typically plugged water drains which were clean as a whistle. Sure enough when we looked at the windshield the lower cowl retainer molding was in fact to our total surprise completely missing and his cowling had been haphazardly glued to the bottom of the windshield with urethane. The cowling itself had the underside lip that is supposed to snap into the missing cowl retainer molding cut off from the mid drivers side all the way across. The windshield also had a generic, off the roll, aftermarket top molding still goobered with some kind of slimy glue at the corners leading us to ask him, who did this poorly done improper windshield installation? That’s when he began telling us of his drama filled journey through auto glass company hell. Looking at what we could see on the outside of this poorly done BMW windshield installation one could only speculate what may be found on the underside of the glass. Taking all the facts we amassed into account such as the 30 minute windshield installation, the aftermarket off the roll generic top molding, the missing lower cowl retainer and the chopped up cowl, we’d have to assume that the special high modulus urethane that this windshield was required to be installed with was more than likely also omitted. On a good note we did find evidence that pinchweld primer may have been used in the installation. There was what appeared to be large drops of it that had etched into the hood but the down side of that is that the hood now needs to be repainted as a result of carelessness. We advised him that with the cost of a 3rd windshield installation that would cost in excess of $700.00 dollars plus the cost of a new cowl it would be in his best interest to return to the national company that installed the last windshield, find a manager and to show him or her our findings and if need be have them call us. Surely out of personal pride, if nothing else, they would resolve the problem with a new ground up windshield installation performed by a knowledgeable technician. The customer left for home at this point to ponder what route he would take. Evidently he didn’t have any success with the company as a few days later he called and made an appointment to drop off his vehicle to have us fix what he had to work with the best it could be. We were lucky in that we were able to install his new cowl retainer molding without removing the windshield because it was installed improperly high off the pinchweld. After the cowl was removed we also found several pieces of urethane from the prior sloppy windshield installations in the cavity under it that could have reeked havoc had they found their way into the blower of the HVAC system. The fan motor by the way had serious rust build up on all the metal parts of it which was most likely brought about from all the rain water that had been flowing through it. Due to all the expenses he already endured the customer decided to gamble with the remaining issues of the previous installation hoping that it was performed properly and declined to have the windshield removed so it’s just a guess of what’s to come down the pipe as far as the rest of the installation goes. It’s only a guess as we were afraid to ask after all the drama this fellow went through but we figure this customer had spent between $1,800 and $2,000 all due to 2 poor windshield workmanship installations performed on his vehicle by two highly well known national glass companies.

This vehicle actually had the wrong replacement windshield installed in it by a company who would not answer calls from the owner. Rainwater was blowing through the bottom of the windshield from a large hole all over the heads up display unit on the top of the dash not to mention everything below it. The previous auto glass installer bonded both the left and right pillar moldings to the vehicle with urethane adhesive rather than use the 8 rivets the moldings called for. unfortunately, in order to remove the pillar moldings with out damaging the vehicles paint, it was necessary to destroy them.

It was take 3 for this unhappy BMW 325 owner that had endured 2 previous poor windshield installations.