Cracked windshield from jacking up car
 

Hi guys,

I just finished installing my rear camber arms today, was pretty happy, and after I lower the car, I see a big crack in my windshield. Now I'm :mad:

Did I **** up? Do I not know how to jack up a car? The car naturally goes up on one side when you jack from the rails points in the manual. Are our cars that flimsy?

On close inspection, there may be a tiny rock chip on the crack line, but it's hard to tell.

If I've embarrassed myself here, at least let this be a warning to others.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Wq...U=w798-h599-no
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/u3...8=w798-h599-no
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/E7...U=w798-h599-no
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/7E...U=w798-h599-no
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/tw...w=w798-h599-no
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/3u...A=w798-h599-no

Full res: https://goo.gl/photos/GXdSGCYwiXRTMh1bA

Wow that's kind of surprising. I'm thinking there must have been some preexisting/unseen prior damage. Our cars shouldn't flex enough to crack a windshield like that. Is that the factory windshield?

Yeah, it's the original glass. Very surprising to me, since I've managed to go 4 years without a single scratch or chip that I've noticed, and I clean it very closely..

Jacking the car up like this did NOT cause this crack. This is the exact way I jack mine up to change from street to autox wheels for every event I do (10-15/yr) and I've never had an issue.

Yeah, jacking was just the last thing it needed to crack. There were probably a number of things that were just stressing the the glass already and a big bump in the road would have resulted in the same crack. Just replace it, sometimes **** does happen.

wow dat sucks. hadnt seen that on a Z yet. :(

yah, shouldnt crack from just jacking up the car on one side.

I agree with the other commenters - jacking up the car, using the frame rails, shouldn't cause enough flex to damage the windshield. I've been pretty active on here for over four years and, like kenchan, I don't remember seeing this problem reported.

Your insurance may cover windshield repair/replacement. Worth giving your agent a call and asking.

Flex man, its the flex. Normal of there is a weak link in the glass already. It could have even occured with spirited driving - if a weak link like a chip already existed that is.

Thanks everyone! Sounds like it was just waiting to happen. I guess better in my garage than on the track.

That is bizarre.

On the other hand, nice choice in camber arms.

Not to say you did anything wrong, but i'm positive the chassis did flex at least a little bit. I would never let a wheel hang like your front one is doing without any support. It might be fine if you're swapping wheels over a few minutes time (and you don't need it that high to swap over a wheel) but leaving it like that while you work on the car is probably not so good.

You could have just jacked it up from the rear and raised both tires and at least kept the chassis from twisting.

(Yes, I did the same thing many years go, but from the front and let the rear wheel hang, and the gap in the door and front fender were never the same. The car sat up for a few hours while I was doing a timing belt/water pump replacement.)

These windshields are garbage, once they get a small chip or something, the crack is soon after. I had the same type of crack on mine and still can't tell you how it happened. Parked the car at work, came out 12hrs later, warmed it up, go to pull off and notice the crack, almost look like it was cracking as I was looking at it.

Yet your avatar is you on a track. You either track by yourself, or your statement is untrue. I'm on my second OEM windshield and am thinking of getting another one. The track destroys them. I'm going to use tear-offs when I replace it again.

It is due to where you jacked the car up....it is due to the uneven surface. Yes that little bit of a difference between the garage and driveway will flex it enough to crack.

In the future either have the car all the way in the garage or all the way in the driveway. Much easier to move the other car out then to keep replacing windshields.

I seriously doubt that would cause the crack unless you have an extremely cheap glass from the third world country that was sold illegally.

All glass sold in US has to meet safety requirements and even the cheap aftermarket ones that meet the minimum requirement would not crack from jacking up the car. While Nissan may not use the best quality parts, I'd bet that the OEM glass is better made than the aftermarket ones.

Furthermore, I would be afraid to jack up the convertible Z at all if that's the case.