Chinese vs pilkington

Discuss all aspects of windshield replacement, including techniques, billing, etc.
new2thebiz

Chinese vs pilkington

Post by new2thebiz »

whats the difference between a Chinese made windshield and safe-lite or pilkington? why is there a big price difference?
Lee

Re: Chinese vs pilkington

Post by Lee »

A worker in a USA glass plant is probably getting $15-$18 dollars an hour.
A worker in a Chinese glass plant is probably getting $15-$18 dollars a month.
All Manufactures of glass are moving to Chinese suppliers for their replacement glass.
new2thebiz

Re: Chinese vs pilkington

Post by new2thebiz »

what about quality? is there a difference?
Glasseye
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Re: Chinese vs pilkington

Post by Glasseye »

Probably not, in terms of glass quality they still have to meet the same international standard, and I would guess, since the companies are outsourcing they will use the same or similar manufacturing processes & quality control. As Lee said the big difference comes from the labour costs.
Is a customer always right? - No, but they are always the customer.
missingdna

Re: Chinese vs pilkington

Post by missingdna »

There is a major difference in the quality between the chinese glass that we get in Australia and Pilkington or other OE or aftermarket glass.
Obriens went from using locally made aftermarket glass for most makes of vehicles to cheaper chinese glass, and there has been nothing but problems with distortions or "rippling/waves" ever since. The chinese side glasses have severe rippling and some shape problems (ie: shape of leading edge curve compared to channel/track) which can cause the side glass to sieze up when winding up or down.
I dont know if all chinese manufactured glass has gthe same problem but the chinese brand glass we now use is shocking for a big company that is meant to pride itself on being a market leader.
I know when my car needs a new glass it wont be a chinese supplied glass of the brand that i use now.
Glasseye
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Re: Chinese vs pilkington

Post by Glasseye »

We had a similar problem in the UK in the past with glass manufactured in South Africa but after feedback from the installers the problems were resolved
If the glass is not from the OE manufacturer ,e.g. Sekurit for VW, then the drop frames will have been made using an OE glass the slightest imperfection in that glass will be amplified on the copy, hence mishapen glass. Rippling occurs when the glass has had too much/little shaping heat. Trust me, give them time and the Chinese will get it right, it is only a matter of time before the Chinese become OE manufacturers on high volume makes ( if they're not already)
Is a customer always right? - No, but they are always the customer.
AGSS

Re: Chinese vs pilkington

Post by AGSS »

The main problem is with the temerping process, Pilkington slow temperes their w/s's thus the glass is softer, some of the other cheaper w/s's are tempered very fast to move more quantity. With the fast tempering process, you get more distortion and also more sand chips due to the very hard glass (less bounces off without chipping).

Another problem with some aftermarket w/s is the glass is not seamed or not seamed well. This leads to more stress cracks. If you get a w/s with raw edges you should always seam the glass before installation.
new2thebiz

Re: Chinese vs pilkington

Post by new2thebiz »

how do you seam it?
Lee

Re: Chinese vs pilkington

Post by Lee »

To seam a glass you sand the edges at an angle to remove the sharp edges of the glass. Kind of like routering the edge of a piece of wood. We use a wet belt sander and hand held sanders for this.
AGSS
Windshields are not tempered glass. Tempered glass is used in the sides and rears of vehicles and is illegal in the windshield. In the 50's and 60's some Eruopean and Japanese vehicles had tempered glass but it"s use has since been banned. The condition you describe is the cooling of the glass after it has been bent. It is my opinion that if the glass is cooled too fast it gets harder than glass cooled slower. We do a lot of cutting of w/shields making one glass sub for another(We make a Porsche 911 w/s out of a BMW 3 series glass in clear for the TV/Movie industry). It seems that the harder the glass the more difficult it is to cut. With some of these if you just start a cut the glass will run off on a path you didn't want and ruin the glass. On other glasses you can cut the w/s in half with 2 cuts and have no problems. You just don't know what will happen until you start cutting. HTH
sydfloyd44

Re: Chinese vs pilkington

Post by sydfloyd44 »

Along with everything said, Missingdna pointed out the most common issue we see. Waves in the glass. Over the years we have always seen occasional spots of distortion, but it has become common to see vertical distortions, A LOT of them! We are even seeing it from OEM. Did a new Kia Sedona w/s replacement a while ago. Cust requested OE which we got from dealer. Installed and customer complained of these distortions. We pulled the old w/s from the dumpster and it also had it but customer wanted a new w/s. Ordered another and told the customer we WILL NOT install another one with the same problem. Sure enough, same thing. Never heard from the customer again.
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