My Windshield chip stopper ?

[JW Jeep]

2000 miles Jeep Gladiator Overland. I love this Jeep but can’t handle the wind shield chips any longer (4 that I know of) no cracks but still ? I had to try something and here in Colorado these small stones are at every intersection . Think some are from my front tires and running into them ? I’ve picked many stones large and small out of these all weather tires. I think all terrain tires would be better with larger tread ? If it works at all I’ll make new more tapered ones that fit better . Abs textured material actually matches bumper pretty well. Maybe I’ll just run them in winter ?

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[Zybane]

Interesting. Ya I just got back from Colorado, was on a gravel road by myself and got a chip in my windshield when there was no other vehicles around. Was trying to grasp the physics of a pebble bouncing around the wheel well and what kinda crazy angles involved to get a pebble up and over the fender flares and hood with enough force to chip ones own windshield.

 

[exfil offroad]

I was driving in a rough parking lot (lots of loose pebbles) in my wrangler jl and i had a curve ball rock shoot out from my tire, swing over the front corner of the grill and hit square in the middle of my windshield and actually crack it. I watched as if in slow motion and thought, 'you got to be effin kidding me,' I was going maybe 15 mph. Sometimes it seems as if a leaf will crack that windshield!

 

[ShadowsPapa]

2000 miles Jeep Gladiator Overland. I love this Jeep but can’t handle the wind shield chips any longer (4 that I know of) no cracks but still ? I had to try something and here in Colorado these small stones are at every intersection . Think some are from my front tires and running into them ? I’ve picked many stones large and small out of these all weather tires. I think all terrain tires would be better with larger tread ? If it works at all I’ll make new more tapered ones that fit better . Abs textured material actually matches bumper pretty well. Maybe I’ll just run them in winter ?

I KNOW some are from my own front tires - I've got proof and I've got pictures of the stuff that gets thrown way forward clear onto my snow plow.
One day, NO OTHER vehicles around at all, I was turning a corner where a driveway met the road and there was gravel from their driveway washed onto the road. SMACK! When I got home, 1 mile away, the rock was still sitting on the cowl of my JT.
My own front tires.

 

[PlayfulBird]

I doubt this will do away with the issue.
A specially thick film/wrap on the glass (self healing would be great) might help-
Honestly I can't imagine the stated situation of your own tire shooting a rock out front and ricocheting/curving to hit your own glass.
Had plenty of rocks hit wells or side of the jeep, but nothing like what you describe. Tbh my understanding of physics kinda makes me an unbeliever of described events. Not saying your wrong, just right now have trouble imagining it or explaining it scientifically as possible.
The chips can easily cause cracks in future though. Heat, cold differential, any kind of stress. Another chip near and they connect with a crack.

 

[PlayfulBird]

I KNOW some are from my own front tires - I've got proof and I've got pictures of the stuff that gets thrown way forward clear onto my snow plow.
One day, NO OTHER vehicles around at all, I was turning a corner where a driveway met the road and there was gravel from their driveway washed onto the road. SMACK! When I got home, 1 mile away, the rock was still sitting on the cowl of my JT.
My own front tires.

Yeah but it ricochet off of your plow and right back at you right? Without anything in front of you I cant see the car accelerate at a differential to the stone in a matter that the stones velocity is reduce by drag to hit you with enough force

 

[PlayfulBird]

Hey maybe a EU Bumper would do the trick

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Yeah but it ricochet off of your plow and right back at you right? Without anything in front of you I cant see the car accelerate at a differential to the stone in a matter that the stones velocity is reduce by drag to hit you with enough force

No, the rock hit was in summer of this year, on my 2020, just driving along.
There was also a ding on the hood from a rock.
When I took the truck in for the trade for my 2022 in July, I had to explain that there was new damage since they had seen it in May when we made the deal so it was either May or June of this year for that hit.
I thought I took a picture of the rock sitting on the truck but can't find it.

It happens - we've at other times wondered "what the XXXX threw that rock at us" when there was no other vehicle around.
The rock that hit and dinged us was about 1/2" diameter, rough white gravel commonly used in driveways in our area.

 

[PlayfulBird]

No, the rock hit was in summer of this year, on my 2020, just driving along.
There was also a ding on the hood from a rock.
When I took the truck in for the trade for my 2022 in July, I had to explain that there was new damage since they had seen it in May when we made the deal so it was either May or June of this year for that hit.
I thought I took a picture of the rock sitting on the truck but can't find it.

It happens - we've at other times wondered "what the XXXX threw that rock at us" when there was no other vehicle around.
The rock that hit and dinged us was about 1/2" diameter, rough white gravel commonly used in driveways in our area.

 

[4xjeepr]

My 2020 w/ factory Air dams. Still have 3 chips in my windshield. They will stop the small amount that come from your tires however, not gonna stop them all.

 

[Jeeperjamie]

My 2020 w/ factory Air dams. Still have 3 chips in my windshield. They will stop the small amount that come from your tires however, not gonna stop them all.

I was about to say the same thing. I had my air dams on my 2020 and the third day of ownership, the day after I had my 35 BFG KO2S installed mine threw up a rock and cracked my windshield. Nothing's gonna prevent all of them.

 

[Almost]

Unfortunately, these things are self-destructive when it comes to paint. Between rocks getting ejected out the front and running into them and rocks going out the back blasting the hinges and rear fender you can't win. Even with Rokblokz I still had two somehow either narrowly miss it or pushed through it enough to still smack my rear bottom hinge. I've already given up and just given in that I will get the fenders and front repainted since the paint is already bubbling on my hood and one of my door hinges. I was going to PPF it, but it's already too late for that.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Here is the explanation better than I was going to do.
The car ahead of you does not throw a rock back - it launches it up and you run into it.
The most damage is done from a vehicle going the opposite direction than you and "throwing a rock".
But note the last sentences here -

https://www.123helpme.com/essay/Physics-of-How-Tires-Throw-Rocks-153479

 

[GrubbyBaja]

Probably most likely to happen when turning and the rock would originate from the opposite side of the direction of turning (i.e. driver side tire if turning right). Rotating tire picks up stationary stone in tread; stone then must accelerate with tire but the centrifugal force causes the stone to release from the tread at approximately the 2:00 o'clock position, launching the stone upward & forward across the top of the fender flare/hood to a point in front and above the vehicle. Gravity then brings the stone back down and aerodynamic friction slows the horizontal velocity such that the stone is now in your path and you hit the stone (instead of the stone hitting you). The OP's solution could potentially stop any stones that make it to the 10:00 or 11:00 o'clock position and are then launched forward & downward and ricochet off the bumper upward into the path of the moving vehicle. There must be a differential equation in there somewhere.

 

[DBravo]

2000 miles Jeep Gladiator Overland. I love this Jeep but can’t handle the wind shield chips any longer (4 that I know of) no cracks but still ? I had to try something and here in Colorado these small stones are at every intersection . Think some are from my front tires and running into them ? I’ve picked many stones large and small out of these all weather tires. I think all terrain tires would be better with larger tread ? If it works at all I’ll make new more tapered ones that fit better . Abs textured material actually matches bumper pretty well. Maybe I’ll just run them in winter ?

I've accepted that windshield chips are a fact of life with Jeeps - it's been an issue on every wrangler and now Gladiator I've owned. I enjoyed the pristine windshield on my brand new '20 overland for at least 3 months before I took the first sickening chip. Now, 3 years, 56k and 3 glass repairs later, my still original windshield looks like it's been sandblasted. Yes, some are admittedly from my own tires and some have been from UPS trucks and dump trucks on the highway. When I have a choice, I don't follow in the same lane with dump trucks or people with boats or mattresses tied to their roof?

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