Windshield Pilkington or OEM Volvo

Pilkington glass has never let me down, except their distribution centers. A bit of the best and the worst bundled into one name.

I've had good luck with Pilkington.

We replaced our entire front windshield a few months ago after a rock cracked it on the road. We made sure it was OEM (Pilkington) and the calibration was completed. The shop ordered the windshield from a local Toyota dealership they work with. Process was fast and quick. Took about a few days (2-3) for the windshield to come in and even after it came, they didn’t like it due to some blemishes on the window so they re-ordered another one. Installation took about > 1 hour and is 100% exactly as the original one.

We told Safelite it had to be OEM/Volvo windshield due to the vehicle being a lease. We paid our $50 glass deductible and they replaced it with OEM as we requested. They also calibrated everything in house at their shop. Pretty smooth process!

340 for a Pilkington windshield. ADAS was $180 on a 2019 Pilot EX-L. Works fine.

We have replaced the windshields in both the Tacoma and Highlander with Safelite 'Pilkington' OE equivalent glass. All safety features work just as expected.

I used Safelite for a windshield replacement on my 2016 340i last year and they did a perfect job. They used the same glass manufacturer as BMW - Pilkington. BMW doesn't make glass. HUD and rain sensor were perfectly calibrated. No issues whatsoever.

I just got my Impreza windshield replaced with Pilkington after seeing comments in various Subaru subs. The glass is just okay, it has a weird but minor horizontal wavy spot and no idea if it’ll actually be more durable in the long run. It did calibrate fine and EyeSight seems to be working without issue.

I bought mine with an aftermarket replacement pilkington glass already installed - not sure for how long. So it's been on their at least 7 years now and the quality has degraded more than any other car I've had. There are no cracks or major dings but it just has microscopic pitting all over that glares in the right light. I can clean and claybar it to perfection and it's still not great.

It took a month for me to make Safelite to replace my cracked windshield to the new Pilkington.

I have OEM coverage in my insurance policy, so I had to negotiate Pilkington instead of OEM windshield. They approved Pilkington and created an order to Safelite.

Once I came to the appointment, I found they ordered OEM instead and wanted to install OEM. Took the car back and asked them to order Pilkington, rescheduled for 5 days later.

7 days later came and found out they forgot to order one. Offered to install OEM instead. Asked them to order Pilkington and reschedule the appointment.

Another 7 days later came to them again, they said the new windshield is non-oem, asked them to double-check what vendor is exactly. And it was FUYAO. I declined to install fuyao and asked to order the glass I want at past.

7 days later next appointment - they confirmed Pilkington has come, ready to install. Left a car, was told everything will be ready in 3 hours. 1 hour later incoming call from them: “It happened the windshield we’ve got is for previous outback generation, not compatible with yours. Would you like to have FUYAO instead? We already removed your old windshield”. I declined this, I was struggling with them to have Pilkington, and didn’t want to back down. Told them they owe me a loaner car if my is not drivable, and I will wait for my Pilkington glass. 20 minutes later their manager called me and offered me to install FUYAO as a temporary solution, they will order Pilkington and once it will come they’ll replace it. And that I (insurance) will pay only for one glass. So I agreed, they installed the new Fuyao, recalibrated EyeSight (they even left lane-assist enabled). The glass was crystal clear, they cleaned it.

In 10 days Pilkington glass had come, I drove the car to them, they replaced fuyao to Pilkington. The new windshield was not clean as the previous one, and I also doubt they made recalibration one more time (lane keep assist was disabled).

Coming home I found they lose windshield cowling clips, one was absent, the second one was incorrect bigger size and didn’t fit the body hole. They grabbed it from the intake collector resonator mount.

So, overall, I disappointed of their work and organizational quality.