So while my Bronco is no longer my daily freeway ripper to work, I got the front windshield protected with some XPEL film (this is a new product from them), and I’ll report back here with how successful it is. Supposedly it should prevent rocks from cracking the windshield unless they are enormous.
I’m curious as to how well it works. I went 3 years on the OEM and three weeks on the Safelite replacement. I still haven’t replaced the current, cracked windshield.
My fist one lasted I think 18 months, the second one so far held up over a year. I do have a strike on the edge, but when I had the film installed they said that was fine. I also have 70% tint on the inside and I don’t seem to get any distortion or extra light deflection so that’s good too.
1 Like
I have the Exoshield. Just over a year now. It’s held up pretty well. There are some negatives, but they don’t really bother me.
-
it gets pretty dirty and you have to be careful about cleaning it. Cannot use anything with alcohol in it. I use a foaming glass cleaner.
-
if you look carefully, you see rainbows from inside the vehicle. So probably something to do with the optical clarity. Again - you have to look for it. I rarely notice it.
-
the windshield wipers chatter/studder on the return stroke. Usually, I just let a bit more water accumulate on the windshield. This is the most obvious negative. Again - not that big a deal for me. I’ve had two HARD rock strikes - I’m sure they would have bullseyed or cracked the glass without the film. There may still be tiny chips in the glass -I can’t tell. See photos.
I had chatter on mine before anyway due to RainX. Good to know on alcohol. Need to check whats in Invisible Glass.
I’ve been riding along with hopes, prayers, and that plastic wind/rock deflector thing on the front of the hood.
It’s worked good so far, but it’s only a matter of time.
Glad to hear that the XPEL works well though.
I’m super curious about this one. I have considered a film of some kind, but wasn’t sure if trying one was worth potentially blinding myself, or having a big sheet of plastic fly off on the road.
i did order headlight protector film today to get those protected. i figured with the stories of windshields taking hits, the headlights were just as susceptible.
My headlamps also have XPEL on them (well so does everything that isn’t MIC). But the windshield is working well. I think I’ll get it put on my other cars are some point. Probably Ranger first and Corvette 2nd, the Ranger gets driven the freeway to work and back 3 times a week.
Invisible Glass cleans it well. I’m guessing I can’t RainX it (pretty sure Rain X has alcohol in it), but it seems to have the same properties. I wonder if there is anything needed to be done to it outside of wash it.
1 Like