06 A4 2.0T - five weeks old, 1900 miles and I have about half a dozen little chips in the windshield. This car seems to attract them. Luckily nothing major, but I was wondering if anyone knew of or had experience with any product for polishing or sealing glass, so the chips don't get bigger once the snow/ice season starts. If I get a big enough chip or crack I'll go to one of those windshield repair places - they do great work. The chips I have at this point are 1/8" or smaller. Today I saw the stone (walnut sized) fly up, bounce off the hood and ding the glass. Nobody ahead of me for probably 1,000 ft or more. Stones seem to like the B7's big nose and go right for it, always landing way back almost near the wipers, so a bra-type product at the leading edge of the hood wouldn't really help. Today there was no damage to the paint, just the glass.

Thankfully none of mine hit the paint, they went right into the windshield. And I mean with a horrendous impact, I literally ducked both times when I saw the rock incoming at the last second.

They didn't crack the glass or even make the typical round chip mark in the glass -- rather, they leave little, tiny divots in the glass where the corners of the rock made impact. So the resulting mark is a cluster of tiny little 1mm chips. You'd never notice them, but they are right in my line of sight so *I* notice them and they are annoying.

Yeah, I had couple that came right in at eye level: made me swerve, duck and cuss. Funny thing with all my chips (windshield-type) is that the stones seemed to be just hanging around in the air as I came along - no traffic ahead of my to kick them up. Maybe there's a new form of "floating rock" that's targeting Audi's.

Argh, at least I wasn't too close to the dump truck (about 5-6 cars back) but it hit a rough part on the highway and decided to spew out small pieces of gravel. Haven't checked the hood but did hit the brakes hard as I seen these little things flying towards me. I never found the time to get a clear bra installed so there are a few chips on the front part of the hood :(

THe Audi windshield in general is pretty soft. Not sure about this one but it seems to be the case still. My old windshield on the 2001 was littered with specks and had a few cracks from flying rocks. Managed to hit one the other day but the windshield held up fine.

But soon enough I'll be dodging rock salt!

I don't know what it is that attracts the rocks.

The two that have hit me (or did I hit them, hmmm) were really big -- like at least half the size of a golf ball I would say. Well, I guess it is sort of hard to judge an object coming at you at 55-60 mph...but they were substantial rocks, not just chips or gravel.

Steven Hawking was in town here last night, maybe I should have asked him if he had any theories on gravitational anomalies relating to rocks and Audi windshields!

Not for me either. The clear bra package my dealer showed me had the hood protected only about 13" back from the front edge. All my stone chips landed further back, about a 4" to 8" distance form the windshield. Maybe there are versions that protect the full hood, but I think I'd rather take a chance and if I have to get the hood painted at some point it will probably cost about the same, and I wouldn't have to look at a Saran-Wrapped A4 in the meantime.

we have plenty of gravel on roads here in CO>

I had chip and got it filled in. It cost $60.

Really -like what kind of "driving style" would encorage or lead to stones chipping the car? One of the chips came when I was stopped at a red light and the only source of the stone I could figure out was a car crossing the intersection across my path. Is that a matter of my "stopping style?" I do not tailgate, I avoid roads with trucks: today, about 15 minutes before the stone appeared in the middle of a deserted highway I pulled on to the shoulder because a contsruction vehicle loaded with nasty looking crap was about to overtake me and I didn't want my little baby (A4) injured. I drive like a little nerd most of the time trying to avoid this kind of crap, and yet it seems to just happen. Just be happy your luck is not like mine - piss poor!! Ditto with parking lots - I park half a mile away and hike for 10 minutes to the Home Depot, then when I come out there is shopping cart laying against my door, or some rusted hulk parked 4 inches away. Again, consider yourself lucky - you probably drive much more aggresively than I do - nothing personal, but just about every car on the road does. I am by nature risk-averse and am always trying to protect myself and my things - little good that it does. I have not had a moving violation since 1988, and no accidents of any kind since the the early 1980's. I still love my Audi, though - just bitch'in!!!

Try driving our highways here in Toronto all the time. Roads always needing some sort of repair, dump trucks and gravel trucks on there all the time dropping bits of gravel at times. You will get hit by a rock, just a matter of time.

Maybe you guys are correct! On the other hand naybe it is something about me personally (not the driving style) that attracts the little buggers. Maybe they're telling me to go faster and not worry so much, since it doesn't help anyway.

but I do drive pretty far back from the vehicles in front of me. You know the rule - one car lenghth for every 10mph. It works as my record shows.

And my friends who are more agressive (and with no tickets) the more agressive they drive (closer to the cars in front) the more their windshields need to be replaced.

Just my observations.

None taken - guess I'm just getting grumpy because of the chips. Honestly and truly, I do the same thing - I leave lots of room and slow down when someone pulls in front so I'm not up their butt. I do believe, however that luck pays a big role in life. My friend parks his 2004 Benz E class on NYC streets every day since he bought it new - no damage ever. I parked on his block a few weeks ago to visit and came out to see someone had rubbed against my rear bumper corner and left a big black rubber mark (I compounded it out, so no problem). Life's funny. In reality this is a minor issue, but that's the kind of stuff I like to blow out of proportion. Happy motoring and I'll try to keep all the Audi-loving pebbles here in NY for you!!!

I hear ya about your buddy - sigh!

My best friend put two (2) dings in my windshield while driving my 1998 A4 2.8QSTip -- once on Rt. 27 near Southampton and once near Sequim, WA. The first time I was about to say, "Hey, you may want to get out from behind that truck, because they tend to kick up stones" when "thwack!" on the windshield. The rest is history. The next time I wasn't in the car, but he said a rock kicked up from an on-coming logging truck.

I still drive the car and think of him often (i.e. every time I look through the windshield) :)

earlier this week i wrote my state senator and representatives to write or support legislation to require them to have covers on those trucks in our state, and i referenced california b/c they have a similar law.

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