Glasman66 said:
Delamination is a weird deal. I seen it happen but it is pretty rare. Usually it is from poor manufacturing. Keep in mind when they make a windsield run they will may enough to cover themselves for years. The demand for that windshield would be light so there are still plenty of the crap ones still out there.
Actually, you may be surprised, but a large number of ZR-1s are afflicted with this delamination problem. Several ZR-1 owners that I'm in touch with have had problems locating an original ZR-1 windshield that does not have the delamination taking place. In many cases, they have received 2-3 windshields that are NOS and they've rejected them due to the delamination.
Factor in that there are two different types of ZR-1 windshield, one with a small cutout and one with a large cutout (base of the windshield). The one with the large cutout was used in the early ZR-1s and the smaller cutout was used on the later model years. If you're a ZR-1 owner who wants to replace his/her windshield, you may have a difficult time locating a trouble free, correct windshield for your model year ZR-1.
For those of you that are not familiar with what I'm talking about, if you look at a ZR-1 head on or from behind the wheel, you'll notice a square or rectangular area at the base of the windshield...almost in the middle where there is no UV protective coating. This was done to allow garage door openers to operate. Legend has it that it was actually done to allow radar detectors to operate because the UV protective coating blocks the radar transmission. While this legend may or may not be true, the fact remains, garage door openers and Toll passes (as used here in the Northern Virginia area) will not operate when behind the windshield. I can personally attest to this as I have to stick my hand out the window with either my garage door opener or Toll pass to operate them.
I do agree, getting the insurance company to foot the bill for this will be difficult as the car in question is not a genuine ZR-1 and did not come equipped with this option from the factory.
Here is my own personal advice....don't waste the money on a ZR-1 windshield. There is no guarantee that you will get one free of delamination. There is no guarantee you will get one that will not delaminate to the point that it begins to obstruct vision (although rare, I have heard of one or two cases of this happening).
If you really want to try and keep the interior of your Corvette cool.....put the solid roof panel on your car and tint your side windows and rear glass hatch. The rear glass hatch is an enormous piece of glass and when combined with the glass roof panel, you might as well be sitting in a greenhouse because that's the exact same effect your creating. A ZR-1 windshield is not going to keep you cooler than a non-ZR-1 windshield. Take it from my personal experience. When it's hot....it's hot and a windshield made with UV protective coating is not enough to prevent it from getting like a greenhouse inside your Corvette.
