Windshield replacement gone wrong..BEWARE

[Eclipse]

Two years ago, I replaced the windshield in my speed6. If any other speed6 owners have done also, they know that the "speed6" makes the damn windshield two or three times as much as the SAME windshield for a regular 6. SO, being the money saving conscious guru that I am, I ordered the regular 6 windshield, fitment was perfect, no issues at all.. until now

Weld County is requiring emissions now, so I went to take my car to get emissioned. They came back saying that the vin plate is missing on my car, and they cant emission or register it at all..

Turns out that the vin plate is mounted 3" further to the left on a regular 6, which means that the ceramic painted edge that has the vin plate area exposed is in the wrong location!

I called the windshield installers that did my car, and he is going to TRY to get it replaced under a warranty of some sort, but he didnt sound to promising.. My only other option is to pull the carpet on the passenger side floorboard to reveal the ONLY other stamped/etched vin location on the car... which has me thinking.. if I get pulled over, and the cop cant see the vin, hes probably going to have a few questions for me.. asking him to wait a few minutes while I pull the interior out of my car to show him the other location might not be the best scenario

Anyways, just make sure that you get the correct windshield for the job..lesson learned

[RX-7 Chris]

why would mazda even do that?

[ecam8000]

That's wild! But I wonder if that is to make faking a car harder. I know there are plenty of things different between the cars but is that a quick ref to which car is which? Supply and demand, would make the unique windshield more expensive. But why carry two part numbers and basically the same glass?

[speedjunkie]

You don't have the VIN stamped in the engine bay somewhere? Mine is along the top of the firewall behind the engine, VERY visible.

[GR-8]

No the speeds don't have them on the fire wall. They supposedly have the by the strut tower but Idk. We discussed this before.

[G-Man]

I thought US import law requires about seven different VIN stamps, including engine, tranny, and a couple of places on the body.
Also, I've had several Mazdas with the VIN on stickers on fenders and other places where it is easy to see if the body part has been replaced.
But most of all, what about the door jamb? That's where the bar code is that emissions scans - it's part of the manufacturer's plate that includes VIN, Manuf Date, and other stuff (GVW, I think.)

[chickenwafer]

I had a friend this happened to in Phoenix who cracked his MS6 windshield and got a normal 6 replacement due to cost. Didn't realize it covered up the VIN until he want to register it.

[Learjet45]

Any flaws with your current windshield? If you end up having to buy another and it isn't covered under warranty, I might end up being interested if you want to sell it lol. My windshield on my 6i has a crack running all the way across it a little ways up from the bottom.

[Eclipse]

there is ONE other place the vin is stamped, and thats under the carpet on the passenger side near the seat rail.

Safelite will cover it under warranty, lol they came to fix it today and brought the same regular mazda 6 windshield... so tomorrow i guess.. they will also be taking the old windshield with them obviously, so no sale on the old one, sorry..

the doorjamb location is a sticker only, and is not verifiable. If the car was ever wrecked, and the door was replaced, the sticker wouldnt match

[erod550]

I thought the door jamb sticker was usually on the frame not the door. Can't really replace that, hehe. But I suppose someone could peel it off and put it on another car.

[Eclipse]

you might be right on that... null though, because its not etched /stamped