Stupid rocks

[Scott Crosby]

I swear every trip we take I get some glass damaged by rocks.  I remember hearing two really loud rock impacts on the day we returned from our trip we just finished. It was raining so I didn't locate it right when it happened, but we looked while we were driving and talked about how loud they were.  Well I've been pre occupied with our engine trouble but I just inspected the windshield  last night and I have a rock chip on the top strip of glass over the driver side about the size of a dime right on the weather strip seal. Also my destination sign glass took one and is cracked all the way through from top to bottom just right of center.  I don't think the sign is laminated but I didn't look really close at it.  It also looks at first glance to be flat and more easily replaceable??  I guess all this glass is a big vertical target but seriously these are our 4th and 5th impacts with damage this year.  I think I need to start locating some spare glass just to have on standby.... Omg having a spare parts bus is looking more and more attractive... My wife would kill me if I parked another bus on our property!  I now see that this could be the humble beginnings of a hillbilly back yard, junk yard....    Stupid rocks!               

[Boxcarokie]

I swear every trip we take I get some glass damaged by rocks.  I remember hearing two really loud rock impacts on the day we returned from our trip we just finished. It was raining so I didn't locate it right when it happened, but we looked while we were driving and talked about how loud they were.  Well I've been pre occupied with our engine trouble but I just inspected the windshield  last night and I have a rock chip on the top strip of glass over the driver side about the size of a dime right on the weather strip seal. Also my destination sign glass took one and is cracked all the way through from top to bottom just right of center.  I don't think the sign is laminated but I didn't look really close at it.  It also looks at first glance to be flat and more easily replaceable??  I guess all this glass is a big vertical target but seriously these are our 4th and 5th impacts with damage this year.  I think I need to start locating some spare glass just to have on standby.... Omg having a spare parts bus is looking more and more attractive... My wife would kill me if I parked another bus on our property!  I now see that this could be the humble beginnings of a hillbilly back yard, junk yard....    Stupid rocks!               

Hey Scott, I used to suffer thru the same problem, and Eagle windshields are not an everyday stocked items at NAPA or Truck Pro (about $400 each too).  In my case a lot of it was my own making, instead of waiting or holding a little back to pass a truck, I would get up close to him before passing. 

Bad deal.

More than one time, for some reason, no sleep, bad driving, inattention, he would drift over towards the safe parking and pow.  End of game.

Now I just hang back, get 'em lots of room and like the window washer who fell off the bank building ... so far, so good ... So far so good.

BCO

[buswarrior]

Yup, what BCO said.

Lots of windshield hits suggests following too closely, not giving the stuff kicked up ahead enough time to get back down and stop bouncing.

There are a few that are beyond control, but they should come along most infrequently.

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[Ed Hackenbruch]

Had rocks hit the windshield of our jeep twice this summer. The first was on a backroad that they were oiling and graveling and a gal in a pickup came flying down the road at us and i knew we were going to get splattered. She must have been doing at least 40 even though they had signs up about the gravel and a temp speed limit of 20. I pulled over to the edge and was almost stopped when she went by and still got hit by at least 2 rocks to the glass and half a dozen more to the body.      The second time was out in the woods somewhere and i got myself,.....a rock flipped up from my front tire and hit the glass.   

[lensilva]

Stupid rocks that attack the windshields are no where near as bad as the stupid telephone poles that attack the right side.

[Boxcarokie]

Had rocks hit the windshield of our jeep twice this summer. The first was on a backroad that they were oiling and graveling and a gal in a pickup came flying down the road at us and i knew we were going to get splattered. She must have been doing at least 40 even though they had signs up about the gravel and a temp speed limit of 20. I pulled over to the edge and was almost stopped when she went by and still got hit by at least 2 rocks to the glass and half a dozen more to the body.      The second time was out in the woods somewhere and i got myself,.....a rock flipped up from my front tire and hit the glass.   

Two years ago, we took the grandkids to Grand Canyon and they were doing the same thing.  Hot asphalt and chip surfacing, we are going along, 10MPH or so and here comes this donkey doing about 40MPH.  Peppered the ____ out of us, and the end result was $175 for a new windshield on the return home.

Some people just do not observe the signs, nor care about others on the road.

BCO

[cody]

I learned that after I put the floor in the bus I stopped getting rock chips on the inside of the glass.

[Sean]

We have this problem in spades, because our windshield is just 30" above the ground, and is reverse-raked.  We always give plenty of following distance, but that doesn't stop people, including semis, from pulling in front of us at an unsafe distance after passing.  The majority of our rock strikes have been kicked up by passing cars, BTW, not trucks.

Because our windshield is one-piece and costs upwards of $3,000 to replace, we learned after the second windshield to fix rock strikes ourselves, promptly, before they get a chance to spread into an unrepairable crack.

I wrote an article on this for Bus Conversions Magazine, and you can find it in the December, 2009 issue.  Ironically, that's the issue with our bus on the cover and in the centerfold.  I also detailed the procedure, along with photos, in this blog post:
http://ourodyssey.blogspot.com/2007/09/arkansas-2-odyssey-0.html

The repair kits are only ten bucks at Walmart; we carry two with us at all times.  I've now got dozen's of repaired strikes on my windshield, and most are completely invisible after repair.  Since we started doing this, we've never had to replace a windshield.  The trick is to pull over at the next safe spot and effect the repair right away, before flexing of the bus or wind pressure causes further damage.

FWIW.

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com