I also think that the glass is inferior to glass from years past; I have had lots of pitting, but more aggravating are the way the glass cracks too easily. My 2017 MS 75D is about to get its third windshield and second roof in only 14 months of driving. I do over 4,500 km (2,857 mi) per month, so I have already got over 64,000 km (40,000 mi) highway miles. Each crack was caused by small stones flying off of a truck that I passed at speeds from 80 kph (50 mph) to 120 kph (75 mph). I do not drive on gravel roads, although I grew up in the country on gravel roads and never had glass breaks even when hit by stones. I have had cracked glass before over the years, but NEVER this often on one car in just one year.
I did have 3M film installed by Andrew at
Auto Trim Design of London, and it has been great for impact protection of the body panels, but it was not appropriate for glass. I should also add that I have had all of my glass treated with
Ceramic Pro when I had the paint treated after the 3M film; it does nothing to protect glass against impacts, but the installer had warned me that it was simply for hydroscopic properties and not impact protection. I have had the Ceramic Pro on my paint for a year, I love how it makes it easier to clean and keeps a great shine.
The replacement cost of the Tesla MS windshield is C$1,400 (US$1,060) and the glass roof is C$1,000 (US$758); with labour it will be close to C$3,000 (US$2,270)!! My insurance will pay most of that cost; however, this is the second claim in a year, so I think that if I do not do something to protect the glass, my insurance rates will start to go up, which I do not want.
I have had glass repair companies say they can fix the cracks (see attached photos), but I have had that repair done before (even on my MS) and I can always see the left-over cracks which bugs me, so I am not going that way to fix this issue. I have been doing research on how to protect the new glass and have called several installers in Ontario and Quebec, Canada. The
ClearPlex is no longer being installed by any of them because they did not have good results: some diffraction/distortion but all of them were not happy with the yellowing over time. The film had to be replaced regularly. About half of the installers did not have an alternative option and no longer put film on windshields.
The other half of the installers have switched to a nanotechnology film by Alchemy called
ExoShield for glass protection. Alchemy has quite a few
installers in Canada and the US. I am so frustrated with my Tesla glass problem that I am going to try this newer technology: the windshield film will cost C$400 (US$300) installed plus tax and the roof glass film will cost about C$600 (US$450). The glass gets replaced by Tesla Service Centre next week (29 Aug) and the film will go on immediately after it leaves Tesla SC. I will give an update in September 2018 to let you know how it works.