Windshield stone chips

[pfm41]

Has anyone but me experienced a lot of stone chips. Last summer we had a small stone (gravel) hit the left edge which caused a crack about two feet long, new windshield. The stone was small enough that we never heard it. Last week we acquired 2 small bullseyes in about an hour which we had repaired and this afternoon another chip that hardly made any sound. Is this just my bad luck or are the Sprinters prone to a lot of chips?

[fcbbob15]

Had a 2009 Sprinter RV. Two windshields and lots of chips in five years of ownership. Could see the rocks coming most of the time, mostly on the left side. Two years now with class A and no chips or cracks. Probably just jinxed myself.

[luvlabs]

It's you and the roads you are traveling on, not the Sprinter. Stay away from trucks, gravel haulers, trailers with open wheels, etc.

[SteveNSue]

We have a rock chip on the drivers side of our Sprinter. Not bad enough to consider a window change unless it starts a crack.



Seems that we have had the same luck with our other vehicles, mostly rocks flying while being passed in desert locations.

[Ljwt330]

Agree with all previous posts. It's literally impossible to avoid them because the rocks often come from opposing traffic, as mentioned above. The Sprinter and other class C windshields are lower that found on a class A, so the windshield is more likely to be hit. Further, the sloped front of the Sprinter hood reduces the impact area of the grille and the rock has a clearer path to the glass, unlike the squarer front of a Ford or Chevy. On a class A, the hit is often on the front cap, below the windshield. It's a matter of numbers and odds. Sooner or later, a rock will get up a bit higher and strike a class A windshield, as we all know.

[pfm41]

Originally Posted by luvlabs

It's you and the roads you are traveling on, not the Sprinter. Stay away from trucks, gravel haulers, trailers with open wheels, etc.

Where do you suggest we travel?

[Ljwt330]

Originally Posted by luvlabs

It's you and the roads you are traveling on, not the Sprinter. Stay away from trucks, gravel haulers, trailers with open wheels, etc.

Originally Posted by pfm41

Where do you suggest we travel?

I don't think luvlabs meant it as an accusation, just an observation of the truth, except I would include the Sprinter (see my previous post.) All of us, I believe, avoid trucks, gravel haulers, open wheel trailers, etc.--a "Captain Obvious" statement-- but if we drive anywhere on any road, we are at risk of a hit. So, in that context, it is "you."

[Travelino]

We had it happend to our Class A twice, both times a big crack formed and had to replace the windshield. This was in the day when we had a left and right windshield, and both times the stone hit the lower part of the passenger windshield in about the same place. These were not on gravel roads but interstates. You can't really avoid some situations they can cause this. Once a dump truck pulled onto the interstate and as he accelerated in front of us,, he threw a stone from his tire.


We've also found in our minivan, that we've been using for trips the past few years, that we've had more chips from stones than we ever experienced before. Seems like the problem has gotten worse in the last 6 years or so.



Hope our new Wayfarer has better luck.

[richard5933]

Wondering if the glass in the Sprinter is thinner than in a class A, probably as a weight (and cost) saving measure. Thinner glass would be more prone to cracking than thicker glass.

[pfm41]

Sorry for my sarcasm. What I’m experiencing is small chips and bullseyes from gravel that is small enough to make less noise that some bugs. This windshield is a replacement from Safelight. They stated that the short hood is the reason that the Sprinter is prone to chips

[luvlabs]

pfm41 - just kidding you but some people tend to attract these things - me included.

All the chips I have ever gotten (now totaling 5, 1 new windshield, and two different RVs) happened in North Dakota and Montana. Not sure why but it just happened that way. Maybe states that have gravel roads (and therefore have lots of gravel haulers on main roads) and more likely to have flying rocks. Maybe it is time to start a research project.

[dennis45]

Originally Posted by luvlabs

pfm41 - just kidding you but some people tend to attract these things - me included.

All the chips I have ever gotten (now totaling 5, 1 new windshield, and two different RVs) happened in North Dakota and Montana. Not sure why but it just happened that way. Maybe states that have gravel roads (and therefore have lots of gravel haulers on main roads) and more likely to have flying rocks. Maybe it is time to start a research project.

Hmmmm, maybe a government grant is in order to research this issue. I'm sure a cure can be found given sufficient research funds.

[Travelino]

Last summer, while driving a stretch of interstate in Idaho, we cam upon a road construction area where you were in it before you knew it, with no exits.
They had both lanes in the same direction under repair, where they had scrapped the old surface up and put down oiled stones in prep for a new pavement. they had the vehicles drive on this section, for maybe 10 or 15 miles, with signs telling people to not exceed 35 mph to avoid damage to their windshields.


The sad part is if you did the suggested 35mph, you had cars passing you going much faster and throwing stones at your vehicle, like in a hail storm.


so to avoid as much passing traffic, you needed to speed up, and when you approached vehicles ahead of you, you got their stones thrown at you.


I have never seen a more irresponsible contruction area in my life. For a project like that, if they are going to do both lanes at once, they would normally have you cross over to the other side of the interstate, where it would be set up as one lane in each direction.


The suggested speed limit was a joke in this case, because almost no one adhered to it. They could have also closed one of the two lanes, so you had control of your own vehicle and could slow down to avoid being close to the vehicle in front of you.



We got some chips as a result. I feel really sorry for someone with a new vehicle or an RV in this situation.


Maybe this is "normal" for Idaho, but I've never been in anything that bad before.

[96 Wideglide]

Originally Posted by dennis45

Hmmmm, maybe a government grant is in order to research this issue. I'm sure a cure can be found given sufficient research funds.

A 'cure', or a 'recommendation' ?