I had Safelite do replacements on my car as well as my husband's car. Of course the insurance wouldn't cover OEM (had eSurance at the time) but I heard that the aftermarket glass that Safelite uses on these cars (Pilkington I think but spelling could be wrong) is an OEM supplier for a lot of German brands. It's been a few years now and both cars aren't showing any issues with the replacement glass. We both have '11 Golf TDIs. FWIW, the replacement glass on our cars also had the tint strip along the top and mirror area in the same place as the OEM glass, you really can't tell the difference unless you look at the manufacturer's stamp.
I just had to replace the windshield in my STI today actually. The installer used a windshield from Pilkington who is also the OE supplier for Subaru. The Pilkington windshield has the exact same sun deflector dot pattern at the top, between the rear view mirror and the roof and has the integrated heater lines for the wiper defroster. The only difference is that the replacement has the Pilkington logo instead of the Subaru logo.
Pilkington makes a good product, too...it matches the acoustic and heat-blocking characteristics of the OEM. No optical distortions and decent chip resistance.
VW uses the highest quality glass manufacturers out there, Sekurit, Splintex, Soliver, and Pilkington. These companies make the finest glass out there.
I have a Passat with Pilkington, which also has the sound deadener, and I have no distortions
A local one near here put in a brand new Pilkington windshield for $160 installed.
Not knowing any better, I didn't specify an OEM windshield, and they installed one from Pilkington. It fit fine, and I didn't see any issues, other than not liking the shading/dot pattern around the rearview mirror as much. It was acoustic glass and it seemed to look (and sound) identical. However, my Ford dealer could not get the Lane Keeping Assist system to calibrate with it. It just wouldn't work properly, and they ended up deactivating it. Aftermarket windshield screws up Lane Keeping Assist!
They put yet another in, and it also cracked soon after. They insisted they saw an impact location at the edge of the crack and wouldn't cover replacement so I had to pay for it. I insisted they use a non-Safelite window, so they installed a Pilkington. Twice as expensive, but no problems since.
I had a Pilkington windshield installed a few weeks ago. I agree, the fitment isn't the greatest. On the OEM and Guardian I had. I could fit my sunshade between the glass and dash, no such luck on the Pilkington.
I had a pilkington windshield on my jetta MKIV and it had to be replaced because I hosed the car off in the sun and the windshield broke.
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