Have you ever wondered how much protection the roadster windshield is?

[Cooter]

Vehicle in front of me kicked up a large tire tread. We were doing 80 mph on the interstate. Only injury was a very small scalp laceration to my passenger. Not sure what hit her but thank goodness it wasn’t the tire tread.

[cv2065]

Those pieces of truck tire are very heavy and dense. Hitting one at 80mph with that damage wouldn't be surprising for any windshield on any car. The Roadster is just so low to the ground. My last car had quite a few small craters in the glass before I had it wrapped in PPF. I'm surprised it never cracked. I'll be getting Lexan this time around.

[Dave M]

Damn glad you’re ok.

[CraigS]

Wow, I am somewhat surprised it did that good of a job. I always figured these were probably still 1960s technology. I am sure glad your passenger is OK.

[RBachman]

Wow! Thank goodness there were no serious injuries. Thanks for sharing and hope your passenger is doing well.

[Hoooper]

Looks like the frame got bent down quite a bit? Or is that just the picture perspective? Glass performed like you would expect a modern built laminate to perform from the looks of it, which is good

[Fman]

Those pieces of truck tire are very heavy and dense. Hitting one at 80mph with that damage wouldn't be surprising for any windshield on any car. The Roadster is just so low to the ground. My last car had quite a few small craters in the glass before I had it wrapped in PPF. I'm surprised it never cracked. I'll be getting Lexan this time around.

I installed a Lexan windshield last year on a Mk4, I thought the same until you see first hand how much flex is in the Lexan. The flex is pretty substantial and is not even close to real glass, when mine breaks I will going glass again.

I am glad nobody was injured in that tread hit, I always try and avoid freeways when possible.

[JohnK]

Wow, I am somewhat surprised it did that good of a job. I always figured these were probably still 1960s technology. I am sure glad your passenger is OK.

Any DOT-approved windshield has to be laminated glass.

[Cooter]

Picture angle makes it look bent more then it is but yeah I will be replacing the whole assembly.

[scrubs]

I think you won here...anything with mass at 80mph is like a missile....even rain.

[CraigS]

Any DOT-approved windshield has to be laminated glass.

I understand. I figured there may be laminates of varying quality since everything else has progressed since the 60s.

[facultyofmusic]

Thank god you're alright! Hope your passenger won't get a scar from the incident. An eraser at 80mph is a knife!

BTW: Are you planning to replace the windshield with a glass one or one of those lightweight lexan ones?

[Ted G]

x3 on sticking with glass. I've also heard there is a dust problem with lexan and weird hues when wearing polorized sun glasses.

[Hoooper]

Only issue with "lexan" is the cleaning issue, which can be touchy to avoid scratching. If you underbuy and get material that is too thin it will bend noticeably but the right thickness won't. You can see rainbows in it with polarized glasses IF you have a dent or sharp bow in it. Mines held on with quick fasteners to a roll bar and where it's tightened down to the bar there are very small rainbows around when looking at the right angle at the sun. Nothing you notice when driving. Mine is only 1/4" thick, I've had the car over 140mph on track and can't say any bending from wind speed is noticeable. You don't just go down to the hardware store and buy any old polycarbonate though, you need the stuff with optical grade and coated, so it's clear and resists scratching.

Yes, polycarbonate bends more than glass, and that's the point. It's much tougher than glass, not more stiff. Can't say I would see much reason for most roadsters unless having issues with the frame cracking the glass. The main benefits are weight and that if a truck tire hits it it (probably) won't break. For most builds the 10lbs of weight savings or so wouldn't really be worth it on its own

[Cooter]

Thank god you're alright! Hope your passenger won't get a scar from the incident. An eraser at 80mph is a knife!

BTW: Are you planning to replace the windshield with a glass one or one of those lightweight lexan ones?

I will be going back with glass. Before this happened I gave lexan some serious thought because I really didn’t think that the glass would hold up to anything major, well I was wrong. The glass was pushed to its limits, the rubber gasket pulled out with the glass in the center of the frame, but overall I am very pleased with the glass. I’ll grab some more pictures.

My wife who was the passenger received a small scalp cut from what I can only assume was the sun visor that broke off with impact.

[Cooter]

more glass pics...

[ydousurf]

YIKES and DAMN and WOW! All I can say is... I'm really glad you are both safe and shared this possibility of a road hazards! That, and I love the "shaker" scoop! Cool!

Doug

[Mastertech5]

DAMN! I love the shaker too! Glad there were no serious injuries. I had a vice fall off the back of a truck I was following at about 60 Mph once. It bounced on the road and scraped across the hood of my daily driver and then smash! Didn't go through though. I was on my way to work at a dealership so I called the glass company and I was able to drive home with a new windshield. The hood scrape buffed out. The truck driver was oblivious and just kept going.