After over 200,000 miles on the same windshield from factory, my visibility (especially when the sun hit), was pathetic. I worried about finding a good piece of replacement glass without trading in my kidney for a mazda oem piece (if they could even source it!). So many glass companies, even PPG, who were sold and became PGW...now manufacture their glass in china. Not that I have anything against the chinese, but a majority of the glass that comes out of there has an overtly strong blue or purple tint at the top, that just doesn't look very factory. Word has it, that a lot of the glass from China ends up pitting easier as well.
But hey, no visibility problems here, with the windshield removed!
My stock glass had a very small, lightly blue tint at the top, but all said and done, I decided to opt for a grey/grey tinted glass instead - the last available anywhere near around me.
Safevue, South African glass.
Funny, I called around to several stores...and everyone, including Safelite were telling me the difficulties of getting anything besides the chinese glass, and tried charging me up the wahzoo for the Safevue...telling me it was the last piece of glass available. But my dad found a local wholesaler, who snatched up that last piece of glass and sold + installed it for me for half the price of the rest. I love living near an industrial area, with some searching...great deals can sometimes be found
I purchased the oem window seal from Ray @ Malloy, and as you can see - perfectly fine replacement, no flaws in the reflection, and only a $140 dent in my pocket for the mobile service to come here and take care of the windshield!
