Clear Advantage Windshields by Pilkington: Everything You Need to Know

Pilkington has been in the business of glass for almost 200 years, so it knows glass (and especially windshield repair) like nobody’s business. Over the years, Pilkington has been the driving force behind many innovations in the glass manufacturing industry. For the past half-century alone, Pilkington has single-handedly brought glass design and innovation advances to customers all over the world. The results speak for themselves: The company proudly displays a signature line of high-quality windshields that provide customers with unprecedented value as well as performance.

The latest result of its tradition of innovation is the Clear Advantage line of windshields. If you want to go quieter, cooler and greener, then you have to choose Clear Advantage for your vehicle’s windshield. These windshields were constructed to reduce heat while driving, provide drivers with great performance and offer unbeatable value and comfort. Get in touch with Pilkington today to learn more about this special type of windshield.

Introducing the Clear Advantage Line of Windshields by Pilkington

Pilkington knows that not every driver is made the same. His needs change from situation to situation and vehicle to vehicle, which is why the company came up with several types of windshield in its Clear Advantage line. While they all may be highly unique, they share one thing in common: giving the highest possible quality to the customers.

EZ-KOOL

Meet EZ-KOOL, Pilkington’s basic Clear Advantage windshield. The EZ-KOOL comes equipped with QE quality and great performance for all sorts of makes and models. The windshield is constructed in an eco-friendly manner, using 15 percent recycled glass. The EZ-KOOL helps drivers to control of heat energy that seeps into the vehicle, and there is an enhanced sealing system, which features roof line symmetry and finished edging.

EZ-KOOL comes with various benefits. It offers drivers and passengers protection against UV rays as well as a reduction in infrared heat transmission. It also provides protection against any glass distortion, being built with supreme strength and engineering. Environmentalists will be pleased to know it helps your fuel economy, too.

EZ-KOOL Plus

EZ-KOOL Plus is a better version of EZ-KOOL. Essentially, it has all the awesome features of the former, but it also comes with precision molding and brackets for simple and fast installations.

EZ-KOOL Plus also comes with a number of advanced features: less glass distortion that makes for a safer and much-improved driving experience; presence of OEM quality glass for better performance and fit; the ability to block 3 times more ultraviolet light that would otherwise get into a vehicle; and the filtration of almost 99 percent of all UV rays.

EZ-KOOL Soundshield

As its name implies, the EZ-KOOL Soundshield has additional benefits that others in the Clear Advantage line don’t have. This type of windshield comes complete with a layer of sound insulation, which provides drivers and passengers with a smoother, more comfortable and quieter ride.

In addition, EZ-KOOL Soundshield features solar reflective glazing and solar absorption. This leads to a reduction in the cabin temperature of your car or van, thus making for a more comfortable ride. It also results in better efficiency that features quicker AC cooling durations as well as reduced AC power usage.

EZ-KOOL Ultra

EZ-KOOL Ultra is the ultimate version of EZ-KOOL windshield glass. It is a combination of all of the best features of the three other versions of EZ-KOOL windshield glass. The result of this combination is a superior OE high-quality replacement windshield that is available for select makes and models of vehicles.

Why Clear Advantage Windshields Are Superior

Clear Advantage windshields are superior to anything else on the windshield market because of the many benefits that they come with. First of all, there is solar control performance. This means these windshields are coated so that they reflect approximately 30 percent of the sun’s damaging UV rays. This equals greater protection for the things inside your car, such as interior finishes, dashboards and seats.

Reduced cabin noise is another benefit of Clear Advantage windshields. Passengers in the vehicle will enjoy greater comfort due to the reduced sounds from the road, wind and engine. The good news is that this benefit will not compromise the enjoyment and use of additional devices such as GPS systems, alarms, phones or radios.

Safety is a big priority for anyone riding a car, regardless of whether he’s a passenger or the actual driver. Clear Advantage windshields feature an embedded safety film that keeps your windshield glass firmly in place. This all adds up to shield you and your family from personal injury while, at the same time, protecting your vehicle from thieves and vandalism.

Environmentalists can rejoice that this line of windshields is friendly to the environment. All of the windshields are constructed with 15-percent recycled glass, which means less energy is used during the manufacturing process. After all, getting control over the heat energy that gets into your car or van produces a direct impact upon the amount of AC that you use inside of your vehicle. Further, it also produces less fuel consumption as well as CO2 output. As a result, you have less of a need for AC, and your fuel efficiency improves.

How Clear Advantage Windshields Are Made

The Pilkington process has revolutionized how glass for vehicles is made. It all starts with the right materials. Float glass utilizes popular raw materials that are great for making glass. These include limestone, dolomite, soda ash, sand and salt cake. Pilkington’s windshields normally contain about 15 percent recycled glass; this environmentally-friendly approach also reduces energy consumed in the manufacturing process.

The molten glass is then floated on a molten-tin bed. As the molten glass flows onto the tin surface, it shapes a floating ribbon of equal thickness with very smooth surfaces. As the temperature drops, the sheet may then be lifted from the tin and put onto rollers. To deal with internal stress, the ribbon gets treated with heat in a lehr, which is a long furnace. Glass sheets of different thicknesses are then formed through a variation in both the roller and flow speeds. Select plate sizes are made through computer-controlled cutters. Finally, shaping is used to result in even and high-quality glass products. Pilkington’s glass shapes are durable, strong and supreme.

Installing a Clear Advantage Windshield

Installing a Clear Advantage windshield will prevent both future damage and injury. Prior to your installation, there are certain things you should do to make sure your installation goes smoothly. First, make sure that your installation company only utilizes glass that fits the unique performance specifications of your vehicle. Then, make sure that only the manufacturer’s recommended type of urethane adhesive is used. It is also a good idea to always ask if the installer you are going with is a registered AGRSS member. AGRSS is the common abbreviation of the Auto Glass Safety Council (formerly known as the Auto Glass Replacement Safety Standard Council). AGRSS is a non-profit organization that promotes safety practices among auto glass replacers. Registered AGRSS members are glass replacement professionals who adhere to the highest safety standards in the industry.

After ensuring your installer is an AGRSS member, double-check with your installer that primers, urethane and being used within their use-by dates only. If not, demand the proper materials. See if your installer is wearing gloves while he is removing your old windshield glass. Wearing gloves will prevent contamination of the bonding surfaces when he is preparing the area on your vehicle for the new glass to be set. After the installer takes care of the priming and cleaning of your glass and the vehicle, your installer will both set and then deck the glass area while replacing the fasteners, clips and moldings.

Even after the installation has been finished, it is prudent on your part, and therefore highly recommended, to inspect the installation to determine if it was done properly. You needn’t be an expert on glass to check for problem signs. For starters, the glass must be flush with your vehicle’s body, and the windshield itself has to be nicely centered. In other words, the distance between the right and left sides of your windshield and your vehicle’s body will appear equal.

There should not be any visible gaps around the edges of your windshield glass either. The molding should fit nicely and tightly around the whole edge of your new windshield. And, of course, any of your old vehicle equipment ought to still perform as it did in the past, even after the installation of your new windshield glass. This old equipment refers to the usual suspects such as AC, lane change sensors, rain sensors and measures of the levels of cabin noise.

At Pilkington, auto windshield glass is taken seriously–very seriously. That’s why the company has been around since the 1800s and has also introduced windshield glass innovations for the better part of 50 years. Today, it has further introduced innovation into the auto glass marketplace with the dawn of its new line of EZ-KOOL windshields. These windshields are top-of-the-line and second-to-none, available in various models to ensure that Pilkington customers and drivers of all walks of life are able to find the one best suitable to their needs. The Clear Advantage line of windshields are produced through a sophisticated process and tested to make sure they last.