“What Are the Signs of a Bad Windshield Installation?”
Summary:
Mike lists the most common signs of a bad installation. The obvious one is a water leak, with water coming inside the car, which tells you the job was not done properly or a product failed. Air leaks and fitment issues are other giveaways, and installing a piece of glass that was not meant for that specific vehicle leads to all kinds of problems. He also points to visible mistakes, such as the wrong color of glass or a shade band versus no shade band when the customer did not agree to that. The most concerning example he has seen is vehicles with ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) where the previous installer put in a windshield with no ADAS attachments at all, which he describes as scary.
Answer:
How to tell a bad installation? A few things, I guess. The obvious one is a water leak. If you have a bunch of water coming inside your car, you know that the job was not done the way it was supposed to be, or some product failed. You can also get air leaks, and there are fitment issues. If somebody put in a piece of glass that is not meant for that specific vehicle, you are going to have a lot of problems. If it is a bad install, sometimes you can tell just by looking at it. Say they put the wrong color in there. That could be something the customer did not necessarily agree to, like a shade band versus a non shade band. And I have been out there and seen cars that have ADAS systems where the last person who installed the glass put a window in that did not have any kind of ADAS attachments in any way, shape, or form. That is kind of scary, because those safety systems depend on the right glass being in there.