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On the way to Orlando yesterday, I heard a loud noise which turned out to be a rock hitting the windshield. A few hours later, there was an 8 inch crack from the impact near the top center towards the passenger side. After the ride home, it was considerably bigger. I guess the moral to the story is if you hear something hit the windshield, stop immediately and find it. If you see a chip, go to a glass repair place right away.
I will be calling the local dealer tomorrow to get it replaced. I know they sometimes sub that stuff out to Safelite and the like (lots of windshield replacement threads on MBWorld), but I figured the dealer can make sure they replace the glass correctly. My thought is how many new S550s could the local glass tech have replaced yet (zero is my guess).
On the bright side, I did find out that in Florida, it is covered by comprehensive and no deductible can be charged. I have always just paid for the glass to be replaced in cash, but a quick check of the Internet parts houses shows a list price of $1500 for the glass (w/night vision). That's enough to let insurance pay it. So that's a bit different than the $200 I paid in the past on my lesser cars. Even our glass is special!
I attached two pictures. Sorry about the focus on the impact crater. It is hard to get the iPhone to focus on that in the wider field. You get the idea, anyway.
Has anyone had to replace the glass on their recent S550 —especially a 2014 or 2015? If so, where did you have it done.
On the way to Orlando yesterday, I heard a loud noise which turned out to be a rock hitting the windshield. A few hours later, there was an 8 inch crack from the impact near the top center towards the passenger side. After the ride home, it was considerably bigger. I guess the moral to the story is if you hear something hit the windshield, stop immediately and find it. If you see a chip, go to a glass repair place right away.
I will be calling the local dealer tomorrow to get it replaced. I know they sometimes sub that stuff out to Safelite and the like (lots of windshield replacement threads on MBWorld), but I figured the dealer can make sure they replace the glass correctly. My thought is how many new S550s could the local glass tech have replaced yet (zero is my guess).
On the bright side, I did find out that in Florida, it is covered by comprehensive and no deductible can be charged. I have always just paid for the glass to be replaced in cash, but a quick check of the Internet parts houses shows a list price of $1500 for the glass (w/night vision). That's enough to let insurance pay it. So that's a bit different than the $200 I paid in the past on my lesser cars. Even our glass is special!
I attached two pictures. Sorry about the focus on the impact crater. It is hard to get the iPhone to focus on that in the wider field. You get the idea, anyway.
Has anyone had to replace the glass on their recent S550 —especially a 2014 or 2015? If so, where did you have it done.
Sorry to hear of your windshield breakage.
Unfortunately I am an "expert" in this area since every S Class I have owned since the year 2000, I have averaged one windshield replacement per year in my S Classes.
I have not had to replace my '14 S550 4matic glass yet but I know it is a matter of time.
My routine is this: I first call the insurance company to file the glass damage claim (I have a $250 deductible). They ask me if the damage is greater than a dollar bill (anything smaller than a dollar bill they will attempt to fix without replacement). If it is larger than a dollar bill like yours, the insurance company wants to replace the windshield by using Safelite since my insurance company farms this out to them. But I always ask to have a local glass replacement company work with the MB dealer to get it order through the dealer. I found out in the year 2000 that the MB dealer subs windshield replacements to this local company so I know the routine.
Bottom line is I always make sure the glass is ordered through the dealership and not a second rate company. And yes these are about $1500 windshields. My insurance company must love me.
The glass for the '14 S550 is made by a PGW (Pittsburgh Glass Works) which is a spin off of the company I used to work for many years ago--PPG Industries here in Pittsburgh.
I am very picky about this process. I make sure the glass replacement company even replaces the sticker on the bottom part of the windshield that is the OEM Daimler sticker.
Even if Safelite does the work, make sure they buy the glass through the MB dealership.
Sorry to hear this happened Tom. I hope they can replace the windshield for you in a very short time.
I believe, I also had some sort of a rock hit my windshield on about the 3rd day I owned the car back in April. I was driving on the right hand lane in a busy city street when this hotrod sports car with a young driver on the left lane suddenly accelerated with a noise that could be heard for hundreds of feet. I was furious when I think a heard something hit the windshield but after inspection I could not find any damage. But, when I was cleaning the windshield a couple weeks ago with a Griots window cleaner, I saw 2 very tiny marks (one above the other). These spots are likely less than a millimeter in diameter and they cannot be seen unless one knows exactly where to look (driver's side high up on windshield). I have not taken any action to this point since I don't think these tiny spots will get any bigger, but perhaps I should take it to a dealer or a glass place here in the city to check it out.
I worked with State Farm this morning. They had me call their glass services group that handled glass claims. As the car is so new, they decided to authorize replacing dealer glass. I then called the local Mercedes dealer and they said they use NWR as the glass replacement company. They agreed to take State Farm's price for replacement even through they were not on State Farm's list.
My guess is this is because the car is so new. The service advisor at Mercedes told me they have had some new S550's done so I am not the first for the NWR techs to learn on. Also, no issues with the warranty. Sadly, I was told the glass will take 1 to 2 weeks to get in stock at Mercedes. Good thing the crack is not in the my field of view on the driver's side.
I spoke with the parts department at Lokey Mercedes today. He talked to MB corporate. Apparently, the glass has to be shipped from Germany. If that is true, the only thing I can figure is that MB Germany has been buying all the glass from PGW and maybe didn't leave some here to ship to the MBUSA dealers. Unless PGW is not the exclusive supplier for MB glass anymore. That seems incredibly odd, but it will be 20 days from order to when the glass arrives at the distributor. Then another 5 days or so to get it to my parts place for the glass folks to replace. I hope a month to the ordeal is due to the new-ness of this car.
The lesson is if you hear anything hit your windshield, stop RIGHT away and check. If you see a chip, drive to a glass place immediately. Better yet, decide where in your town you want to have the chip repaired and just drive there.
I spoke with the parts department at Lokey Mercedes today. He talked to MB corporate. Apparently, the glass has to be shipped from Germany. If that is true, the only thing I can figure is that MB Germany has been buying all the glass from PGW and maybe didn't leave some here to ship to the MBUSA dealers. Unless PGW is not the exclusive supplier for MB glass anymore. That seems incredibly odd, but it will be 20 days from order to when the glass arrives at the distributor. Then another 5 days or so to get it to my parts place for the glass folks to replace. I hope a month to the ordeal is due to the new-ness of this car.
The lesson is if you hear anything hit your windshield, stop RIGHT away and check. If you see a chip, drive to a glass place immediately. Better yet, decide where in your town you want to have the chip repaired and just drive there.
Chances are the PGW glass is made in Europe. Greater chance that the major distribution point for the windshield is within a 1 to 5 mile radius of the assembly plant in Stuttgart. Parts suppliers need to be within a very close proximity in today's auto assembly process for the just-in-time inventory to work well. This was even somewhat common 25 years ago when I worked for PPG Industries (the company that spun off PGW).
Additionally, I am guessing that not many people have had to replace windshields on '14 and '15 S Classes in the US so the need for the glass to be distributed in the US has been minimal. So virtually all of the glass is for these cars are near the assembly plant and need to be distributed from that point.
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and every car since 2000 huh? that's LAME!
