dnewton3
Staff member
Well, I had the misfortune of having a rock hit my beloved MX-5 the other day and put a nice divit into the windshield, along with a few large spider lines. Time for a replacement.
I scheduled a replacement at my local independent glass shop; they've done great work for us in the past. Good prices and good work on our Villager, Grand Marquis, F-250, Expedition when those needed the shields replaced.
I pulled up for the job yesterday in my 2019 MX-5 and the guy said "I've never done one of these before. I didn't even know this was a convertible ..."
That didn't install any confidence in me. Then he said "I'll probably end up breaking a few if not several of the clips and tabs. Did you bring any extras?"
"No I didn't. I called and scheduled this a week ago, and told the girl on the phone what it was. She didn't mention anything about this being a problem."
So, the install-tech was actually honest and said he didn't want to do the job, buy only because he didn't want to mess up my nice car. We (he and I) did take some of the trim off the windshield frame just out of curiousity, and it looks VERY complicated.
There are very few YT vidoes on MX-5 windshield replacements, and practically none on the newer ND generation.
Any suggestions or tips other than the obvious "shop around and find someone who's done it before"? When I called the two local Mazda dealers, they both said "we farm that work out; we have no idea how it's done.". I've even looked on some MX-5 forums and not seen much info.
Any BITOGer out there have any experience with this?
I scheduled a replacement at my local independent glass shop; they've done great work for us in the past. Good prices and good work on our Villager, Grand Marquis, F-250, Expedition when those needed the shields replaced.
I pulled up for the job yesterday in my 2019 MX-5 and the guy said "I've never done one of these before. I didn't even know this was a convertible ..."
That didn't install any confidence in me. Then he said "I'll probably end up breaking a few if not several of the clips and tabs. Did you bring any extras?"
"No I didn't. I called and scheduled this a week ago, and told the girl on the phone what it was. She didn't mention anything about this being a problem."
So, the install-tech was actually honest and said he didn't want to do the job, buy only because he didn't want to mess up my nice car. We (he and I) did take some of the trim off the windshield frame just out of curiousity, and it looks VERY complicated.
There are very few YT vidoes on MX-5 windshield replacements, and practically none on the newer ND generation.
Any suggestions or tips other than the obvious "shop around and find someone who's done it before"? When I called the two local Mazda dealers, they both said "we farm that work out; we have no idea how it's done.". I've even looked on some MX-5 forums and not seen much info.
Any BITOGer out there have any experience with this?