I was just wondering about the same thing. Good thing someone brought up this post. I just got my CPO'd 2004 X5 last week and this past saturday as I was driving on the freeway I heard a little nick on the windshield and knew it was a rock or something. Might i remind you, I just heard a small nick and the minute I heard that started looking closely on my windshield and sure enough I found a sideways nick which leaves a black semi circular spot on my windshield.

There wasn't even any big trucks hauling dirt or anything...it was just all cars and SUVs.

Anyways, I also drive a Lexus GX and one night I was picking my brother up from the airport and I heard a big stone. I mean, it was loud and that sure left a star/crack on my windshield. That I was sure left a crack the minute I heard it because it was so darn loud. But the BMW, it was just a faint sound and it took a chuck out.

Am glad that I'm not the only one with bad luck when it comes to windshields.

I've been repairing my own small dings, pits, cracks and bullseyes for the last 3 years. It's not tough to do and I find it helpful to repair them right away before the cracking starts (or starts spreading). By the time you get the car to a repair shop, the crack has often spread beyond repair.

I use the following product:

http://www.amazon.com/Permatex-16067.../dp/B000HBI9XW

It not only works for bullseye damage, but I keep the syringe of resin around and repair knicks and cracks as they occur. You just put a few drops over the damaged area, place a thin piece of clear plastic over top of it and leave it overnight to soak into the damaged area...including cracks. Next day, expose the area to bright sunlight for an hour which UV cures it. You then scrape the surficial cured product off the windshield with a razor. Damaged areas become almost invisible, and I've never had a crack spread once it's been repaired.

I have a crack 5" long on mine right at the passenger A pillar. What does replacing the windshield run with OEM glass?

I have a few chips, but they never got bigger or did a spider web affect. The temperatures have varied severely where i live too. I pretty much expected them to get bigger but they never did. From my experience, the windshields on BMW's are much stronger then Honda, Acura windshields.. .Man those things, once you get a tiny little chip expect it to get bigger by the minute...

Ballpark I would guess $250 to $400 depending on if you choose OEM or aftermarket glass and the shop rate...also if it were me I would install all new seals and trims.

thanks. that is cheaper than what I thought. I should get around to doing this, but it has been like this for a year and I barely notice it...

This is annoying, somehow my wiper arm (the metal blades which hold the rubber insert) managed to scrach the far right of the winshield. It's this awful looking swirl, just like my back windshield rainbow scratch. It blows that after reading the posts, I replaced the blades, but, still got screwed. I commute 60 miles a day all highway, I am not replacing the windshield till I get major damage.

This is funny because I have terrible pits in my windshield but have thought it must be pretty good glass since it has never cracked and had to be replaced. Mine is so pitted that when washed, it still looks dirty!

I watched a rock the size of a golf ball get flipped up on the highway by a dump truck, fly over the car in front of me, and hit my windshield. I almost ducked. No cracks or anything though. No other problems [I]ever[I] before that and i have 94 thousand miles, just lucky I guess.

Actually, this estimate is only about half correct. A dealer will charge $700+ to replace your windshield. Safelite wil replace it for $600 (with an aftermarket windshield). Chips and cracks under 6" can be repaired. Anything larger requires a windshield replacement.