Thousands of internal "micro-cracks" in windshield -- anyone else seeing this?

[berkeley_ecar]

When the sun was low in the sky and I was heading toward the sun, thousands of tiny internal crack-like reflections became visible in the windshield of my relatively new Model S, most visibly in parts of the glass
nearest the image of the sun. When I pointed this out to my local Service Center, they suggested it could be due to defects in a plastic layer of the laminated glass. They very kindly replaced the windshield. The situation, sadly, is unchanged. Moreover, the windshield in the loaner Model S was the same. I never felt this was a dangerous defect, if indeed it is a defect, just a somewhat visually distracting annoyance in an otherwise splendid piece of engineering. I had not observed this in any of my previous vehicles (was I simply oblivious?). Has anyone else observed this optical behavior in their windshield? What if any actions have you taken? Any other thoughts on this issue? Please, let's keep this discussion as fact- and evidence-based as possible.

 

[chillaban]

If you have an AP2 car, the "micro-cracks" actually appear to be a material suspended in the glass for heat/IR reflection. It replaces the original purple coated glass of DOOM that blocks garage door openers and toll pass responders.

The new material is clear and allows radio signals to pass, but unfortunately it does have the look of air bubbles or metal specks in the glass at certain angles....

 

[berkeley_ecar]

What a marvelously sensible explanation (and yes, I have an AP2 car, and was pleased that it had no issues with transponder placement). I'm surprised that the kind folks at the Service Center were not aware of this. I feel badly to have wasted a perfectly good windshield. Thanks chillaban, and if you have any pointers to further documentation or information about this phenomenon, I'm sure other owners would be as interested as I in knowing of it. I guess we are all learning as we go along...

 

[chillaban]

What a marvelously sensible explanation (and yes, I have an AP2 car, and was pleased that it had no issues with transponder placement). I'm surprised that the kind folks at the Service Center were not aware of this. I feel badly to have wasted a perfectly good windshield. Thanks chillaban, and if you have any pointers to further documentation or information about this phenomenon, I'm sure other owners would be as interested as I in knowing of it. I guess we are all learning as we go along...

I'm not a windshield expert so I'm not sure how to find the technical name for this windshield treatment, but googling "reflective windshield specks" gets lots of reports from Priuses, Ferraris, and other cars that use the same kind of windshield:

Tiny Windshield Specks in Bright Sunlight
Windshield "Glitter/Sparkles" in the sun


EDIT, just to say, I've had both kinds of windshields, I'll take sparkles over the purple coating ANY DAY. The purple stuff makes it impossible to use garage door openers or even toll passes within the car. You can find dozens of threads with people here that are trying to place toll passes in a spot that works with the purple windshields.

(They also block radar detectors, diminish cellular and wifi reception, and affect other radio signals too)

 

[SilkySmooth]

I'll defer to what others are saying about the cause, but to seal actual micro-cracks that you probably can't see in your windshield, this will strengthen the glass for $100, which is a fraction of the replacement cost:

http://cbondsystems.com/nanoshield/

 

[⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️]

I've noticed real fine lines that look like a fine length of spider silk, in certain lighting. I've tried to remove them with my fingers, but it doesn't wipe off. I came to the conclusion that they were just fine scratches. Not sure how the inside of the window would get scratched, though. Is this what you're talking about?

 

[Sharps97]

I haven’t seen this on my Tesla, but the same effect described here is something that I saw after treatment of RainX on my old Honda Accord. Looked like scratches, but they weren’t. Couldn’t ever get it right, but I heard using clay to buff out the chemicals might help.