preventing stone windshield rock chips

[Torvy]

It's worse in areas up north where they put gravel on the road for ice abatement. We used to get a lot more when we lived up there.

Oddly enough, you may be less likely to get them tailgating as the rocks don't have time to get high enough to hit your windshield.

The worst one we ever had was crossing the lake on I30 in Rockwall. A truck was in the middle lane maybe 40 yards ahead of us. Dropping 2" rocks bounding down the road behind them. Too much traffic to dodge and got hit right on the seal. Instantly spiderwebbed. At least it was on passenger side.

 

[WinterDeere]

Don't have to be tailgating. We caught a rock from a truck coming toward us.

Of course this is true, but also more the exception than the norm. Case in point, every vehicle my wife has ever owned has a front end that appears to have been sandblasted after 50k miles, whereas mine still look like the day they were purchased after a decade or more. The big difference is how closely we follow the vehicles in front of us.

I have friends driving the same exact roads and routes as me, who seem to routinely lose windshields, whereas I never do. At some point, simple statistics should be telling them that no one has "bad luck" as consistently as they do.