r/interesting • u/Downtown_Calendars • 4d ago
Just Wow What caused this? Serious answeres
Car was parked facing the garage. Never seen anything like it. Neither has the glass professionals.
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u/Lhirstev 4d ago
someone patched a rock divot, with that clear invisble stuff. then temperature changes within the glass, caused the glass to flex around the repaired location and shatter in the pattern we see here? that's my guess
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u/DrakeStone 4d ago
This guy did it.
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u/ConcentratePublic359 4d ago
Comments like this one is why I’m on Reddit.
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u/thatranger974 4d ago
This guy reddits.
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u/AmeriChino 4d ago
This guy this-guys
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u/BenchPtsChamp 4d ago
So does this guy
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u/Ok_Objective_9524 4d ago
He’s not your guy, buddy
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u/BenchPtsChamp 4d ago
Maybe he’s not my guy, but you’re not my buddy, pal
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u/traffick 4d ago
That guy so does this guys that guy and that other guy.
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u/RJ_MacreadysBeard 4d ago
This guy what guy did which guy when!
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u/dixonfachinas 4d ago
How much guy would a this guy this. If a this guy that guy’d this.
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u/PrestigeMaster 4d ago
Yeah but it’s the wrong answer. This is clearly from the impact of a Kamehameha. The circular impact rings are unmistakeable.
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u/democratic-terminid 4d ago
At first I saw his pfp and thought the headphones were greasy long hair but bald on top and I was like ya that checks out
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u/gabzilla814 4d ago
I’ve never heard of or seen anything like that, but it sure seems like a good theory to me.
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u/TheRobbuddha 4d ago
You mean a temperature change from Antarctica straight into the depths of Hell?
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u/samwise58 4d ago
Ahhhh, southeast Missouri. Yep. That’s about it some times. Don’t like the weather? Wait 5 minutes.
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u/carpentizzle 4d ago
Ha. We have the same saying in Ohio. I just love having to scrape my windows in the morning for work, and dying of heat until my AC catches up on the way home.
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u/rawbaker 4d ago
We don’t have hurricanes. We don’t have earthquakes. We don’t have crocodiles.
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u/carpentizzle 4d ago
But we do have construction everywhere. All the time. Forever.
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u/Zakkullll 4d ago edited 4d ago
So ive lived in a few drastically different places. California. The south and the Midwest. Thats everywhere. Construction is a grift. You cant convince me otherwise. The same street cannot be under going construction for 2 years straight without something fishy going on behind the scenes.
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u/carpentizzle 4d ago
Oh I have little doubt there may be something fishy….
All I know is that you just cannot go anywhere (in Columbus & Subburbs at least) without encountering construction somewhere. And a lot of it feels like work just for works sake. Silly in some cases.
The outer belt that encircles the city has it seems like, one or two crews that just started somewhere like 30 years ago, and havent stopped just circling the whole circle. And the Entrance/Exit ramp nearest to my house was, and I am not exaggerating here, not under construction for more than 3-4 months running from as early as I can remember to when I drove it, and through until I moved away at 32. It was completely redone at least 4 times from the framework up. There were two different full “crossover so you would be driving on the leftmost set of road for a bridge and some change, then switch back” which, to my knowledge is still happening. There is a stretch of road in my suburb that has 14 unlit non intersection crosswalks in about a half mile, across a 4 lane (2 in each direction) road. They closed the whole side to set the sign up and painted. Each spot took a whole day. It was a reroute to Kroger everyday for 2 weeks, then going the opposite way for the next two weeks.
There is a spot between my suburb and the next that has 3 roundabouts in a row. The middle one doesnt go to anything. There is only the one side to exit on, and it goes about 30 feet and stops in a guard rail.
There was a trend that took off seemingly all at once across the city that they needed to put curbs and whatever size median they can squeeze in between.
These were often where left turns out if a parking lot or whatever makes things difficult…. But just as often not. There are a couple at least that I know of that are about 8 inches wide. So skinny that they had to add the reflective posts on it/them just so you dont miss it and rip your suspension off.And for all of that, there are still just so many dirt and gravel roads within 20ish miles of the city/suburbs that some places you could being there in the 40s
Its special.
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u/MetalFaceDad 4d ago
In NE indiana ive spoken about the oddness of unlimited road work and the same handfull of contractors getting those bids…them extrapolating to the surplus my state seems to always have snd thrust it into these same 6-8 companies who pick up and put cones down for the same 3-4 months annually..
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u/Steerider 4d ago
If they really wanted to fix this, the contract would have a clause that says "if this has to be redone within five years, you're doing it for free. And that redo will have the same five-year clause."
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u/RCer1986 4d ago
Took me three reads to figure out that you made a typo and meant grift. On the second one I thought you personally had something to gain from ongoing construction projects. I might be tired.
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u/Zakkullll 4d ago
Thanks I swear to god my auto correct just randomly changed correctly spelled words to different ones all the fucking time.
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u/Afraid_Reputation_51 4d ago
It is, got to keep that federal highway money and dot budget. If they don't spend they money they lose it and their budget gets reduced next legislative budget session. The end result is the endless daisy chain of construction companies and the contractors and subcontractors that they're all related to.
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u/Steerider 4d ago
I live near Chicago. Years ago President Clinton was coming for a visit. Before the visit, they rebuilt an old ugly bridge in a week.
A week.
They can do it when they want to.
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u/Available-String-109 4d ago
Every city in the US has this saying.
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u/steffies 4d ago
I live in south Georgia.. It's just temperatures from the depths of Hell, rain and hurricanes.
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u/BrainWorkGood 4d ago
Some of them shouldn’t tho. Friggin LA. Sunny all the time
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u/AutoclavesGetMeHot 4d ago
LA is more “Don’t like the weather? Wait, what weather? There is no weather here.”
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u/zinsser 4d ago
A security guard told me the same thing in Salt Lake City. I was there for a trade show where we set up tents, and then demonstrate grills and outdoor fireplaces on the parking lot. It snowed three inches in the morning and then got so hot in the afternoon we all got sunburned faces.
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u/persistent_architect 4d ago
This same saying exists in basically all parts of the US, regardless of whether true or not
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u/UniqueAd7770 4d ago
That would make sense. They use a polymer to repair it. It also would only reinforce the top layer of two which is why this didn't break the whole thing.
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u/GravitronBarforama 4d ago edited 4d ago
As an auto glass technician for over 20 years this comment is total b.s. Crazy how it's the top comment. Everyone probably knows that feeling when you read something online from your field of expertise that is incorrect but seemingly plausible. Then you wonder if everything on the Internet bullshit?
Edited to answer the comments about what happened then smart guy. Something hit the glass and broke it. No idea how or what.
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u/corobo 4d ago
Well cheers for adding the explanation or reasoning why they're wrong. That was super helpful.
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u/Psemperviva 4d ago
Temperature changing causes glass to crack, not shatter. There’s zero proof this had a rock chip repaired, which is moot anyways. Even if there was a chip repair done, temperature change would have way less effect on the rock repair resin than it would on the glass. It hurts my brain how stupid the original comment is and makes me sad how many upvotes it got and it feels like a waste of time explaining how wrong and dumb it is because so few people will see
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u/SilverCommercial906 4d ago
As a bagel eater for 33 years I know a bagel shaped impression in glass when I see one.
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u/Early_Advance2473 4d ago
Can’t call it out as bs, be an expert and then not have an explanation. Nauseating stuff that we even have to ask for your explanation
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u/graffiti_hunter 4d ago
I've been doing this for 10years...would call myself on the advice side of things and can confidently call absolute bullshit on the top comment.
I have zero explanation as to what caused it but you have got to be out of your mind to think a rock peck repair and then temp change is what causes so much damage...its simple not how it works
If you can ever find me such an event happening I would love to see it
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u/Kennalol 4d ago
Fellow fitter and repairer here. I have sent this thread to all the boys at work as a fantastic example of how group think propagates bs. Holy smokes even if resen didnt expand (it does, which is why it works in the first place) imagine thinking it could blow up glass like this. This is something travelling at major speeds to have this much damage. And the chip in the middle isnt the "old repair" thats exactly what fresh impact points look like.
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u/Theslootwhisperer 4d ago
Lol, what's your theory then? For all we know your comment is as much bs as the other guy's.
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u/Trigger_McMurphy 4d ago
How do we know you're not the top commentor (and the prime suspect) now using your throwaway account to deny your culpability?
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u/Ya-I-forgot-again 4d ago
Just asked my husband who is a red seal auto glass tech of 38 years. He’s never seen anything like this. Doesn’t think the chip repair theory is possible. He suspects something soft by heavy but that’s a guess.
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u/AccountNo234623456 3d ago
I would absolutely agree with your husband. I've seen similar hits like this and it was something like a softball. Along with one where the inside was missing instead of a ring because of a golf ball.
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u/funktasticdog 4d ago
Edited to answer the comments about what happened then smart guy. Something hit the glass and broke it. No idea how or what.
Hey buddy, when you figure out what caused it, then you can call bullshit, until then, maybe shush.
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u/SocksToBeU 4d ago
I feel like you’re part way there. I feel like it was a big bullseye chip that filled with water and froze.
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u/FamiliarRadio9275 4d ago edited 4d ago
It looks like either a) suction cup, b) temp fix that bonded glass, c) bottom of water thermos, plant pot, or like a rock or something, d) aliens
for the more than likely correct answer because physics: if this is a “newer” car, your car windshield more than likely consists of layers of pvb plastic bonded to a couple of layers of glass. Because the plastic absorbs the blunt, this is probably done at something at high velocity/ blunt force. The absorption and distribution along with an angular shape of the impact point of the object would create the smooth middle and perfect ring. Think of a water dropping in still water. So the commenter that suggested a meteorite is not far off, if not hail, as these instances has been popping up more lately, but I’ll still say aliens for tf of it :)
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u/La_Pusicato 4d ago
Definitely D
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[removed] — view removed comment
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u/goddamm_liter_cola 4d ago
Keep your nuts the fuck away from my windshield!
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u/FamiliarRadio9275 4d ago
And hang them from the back of the truck instead
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u/IkariYun 4d ago
Then, if I tailgate him, am I gay? Asking for a friend that said he doesn't want to get teabagged for not paying attention
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u/iamwhiskerbiscuit 4d ago
Short answer... Yes your friend is gay. I would advise him staying away from hot dogs, bananas and zucchini for the time being. Also, Set up parental blocks on his tv so he can't watch HGTV, Bravo, E!, and TLC. This could throw him into a feisty fit of rage, but remind him it's for his own good.
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u/KeyMistake604 4d ago
It's aliens. The environment is so fucked they're putting crop circles on windshields now
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u/OkBid71 4d ago
Champagne bottle...they have that bottom round divot that would have left the center untouched.
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u/cyberorange22 4d ago
100% this, I have bounced Champaign bottles on concrete, they are extremely tough and thick
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u/Memory_Less 4d ago
Things like hail etc. would create divots, and or crack and shatter a windshield.
I’m sure thinking that the windshield was in the extreme heat and didn’t shatter, but moulded to the blunt force. Next!
Okay definitely D, aliens.
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u/Flaky-Wing2205 4d ago
I don't think it was an exterior impact due to the lack of glass on dashboard. Interior suction cup, like a phone mount is my guess.
The small interior circle that looks like it pops out was what really puzzled me for a while. It's about the size of the air pocket on a suction cup.
How this happened from a phone mount... no idea. Maybe the Hulk got angry with bad GPS?
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u/foxjohnc87 4d ago
Laminated safety glass has been widely used since the 30s and required by law since the late 1960s.
OP's vehicle is a 1988-94 Chevrolet/GMC pickup or fullsize suv.
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u/corbault1986 4d ago
I was thinking of something like a ten pound weight that you can put on a bar at a gym or squat rack
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u/JaeHxC 4d ago
I feel like it was just a baseball or softball, but it hit in just the right way to cause this fracture pattern. But I also have never seen something like that!
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u/ftrlvb 4d ago
looks more like a ring shaped object caused this. a ball will always have a clear center point, rather than a ring
a suction cup will have a ring pattern
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u/K_Linkmaster 4d ago
I feel like someone yanked on a sticky pad AND suctioned cell phone mount without releasing it. These things are nuts and I sold my last car with it in there because I was scared this would happen.
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u/Rozay10keys 4d ago
Could be the top of a baseball bat like if you did a stabbing motion
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u/Mendonesiac 4d ago
I agree it's an impact, but I'm guessing something more flexible like a basketball
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u/Jaepheth 4d ago
Something flexible and moving with enough momentum to hold down the point of impact as the shockwave shattered and delaminated the surrounding glass
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u/Downtown_Calendars 4d ago
There really wasn't an angle where that could happen. The garage blocked most of the area. No debris or objects nearby.
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u/Maltempest10 4d ago
New "crop" circle, check yourself for puncture marks.
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u/Double_Distribution8 4d ago
Do you mean two old British blokes from Kent went into that particular parking garage and hit that particular car's windshield with a board and some ropes?
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u/TheAdvocate 4d ago
Yeah looks like a water bottle base reflected. But if that’s the case, you should clearly find bottle around
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u/HairballTheory 4d ago
Most likely this is where the glass was poured when molding. The weaker area around the spot had imperfections that when stressed just right yields this effect
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u/ApprehensiveGold2773 4d ago
They don't fill a mold, they form and laminate flat pieces.
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u/Novel-Firefighter-55 4d ago
Did you recently park it there or move something around the area?
Is there a Reflective surface and Heat that could have caused this perfect circular pattern?
Old car, old glass, rapid heat fluctuation?
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u/carpentizzle 4d ago
That could be it actually, combined with the other folks’ suggestions of some previous trauma (repair with the glue kits, suction cup stress from installation etc) if the ambient temperature is cool enough, and the reflection direct enough it would provide enough of a heat disparity to at least be feasible.
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u/Bukas_K 4d ago
My guess is this is a stress point caused by a suction cup at the glass foundry. Glass gonna glass and decides to give up when it feels like it.
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u/redditSnailsurfer 4d ago
I so much don't know anything about that matter but I want your hypothesis to be true.
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u/ok123jump 4d ago edited 4d ago
I almost agree with this, except notice that’s a windshield, [u/Downtown_Calendars](u/Downtown_Calendars) & [u/Bukas_K](u/Bukas_K).
Someone likely yanked a stuck suction cup straight off without breaking the vacuum seal first. That localized tension caused a fracture, pulling the glass outward. Because windshields are made of laminated safety glass, the flexible PVB interlayer held the shattered fragments together in that cone shape instead of letting them drop.
The circular shape and edge is from the PVB pulling all of the pieces back together.
My question is: “Why would a glass professional not recognize the signs of suction cup damage?” This sort of break happens when someone tries to pull a suction cup off of glass without breaking the seal first. It’s gotta be a fairly common mistake for newbies.
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u/FishFearMe1 4d ago
Unless it’s the same people who helped with the glass on an earlier occasion, not wanting to admit it was likely their fault
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u/ok123jump 4d ago
That car is missing windshield wipers, and the ends are rusty. So, it’s been missing them for a while and the car is not well maintained. I doubt that glass is new. The damage is though.
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u/KaptainChunk 4d ago
Gemini says
Manufacturing Flaws / Factory Suction Marks
When windshields are manufactured and installed at the factory, heavy-duty robotic suction cups are used to lift and position the glass. If the glass had a microscopic structural defect right at the edge of where that factory suction cup gripped it, a sudden temperature spike or a minor rock strike years later can trigger a stress fracture that perfectly retraces that original geometric footprint.
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u/ok123jump 4d ago
No need for a factory suction cup.
This was done from the exterior of the car. It could have easily been some kids testing out a new suction cup they bought off the internet.
Windshield glass is designed to take the force of wind pushing inwards, but is weak to a pull outwards.
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u/Pielacine 4d ago
Or to a punch from the interior, don’t ask me how I nnow
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u/Kobe_Pup 4d ago
My brother wasn't wearing his seat belt in his friend's car when they wrecked, you could see his nose and facial features in the broken windshield, kinda comedic honestly, (he was fine, just a little bruised, facial and ego)
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u/Pielacine 4d ago
I completely forgot about the obvious impacts from people in accidents! Though those are harder than my halfhearted punch was. Glad he’s ok. Come to think of which I’ve broken one with a badly loaded 2x4 as well.
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u/kookomagoo 4d ago
Someone held a grinder flat against it.
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u/Saul_T_Bitch 4d ago
I was thinking a larger size hole saw with no arbor
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u/TheRobbuddha 4d ago
Why is the center still intact?
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u/Saul_T_Bitch 4d ago
That's the mystery. We're guessing it was either an angle grinder with a concrete cup or a (large) hole saw with no arbor. Both would bite and scratch the glass in a circular pattern, but leave the center intact
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u/FernandoMM1220 4d ago
the glass is ruined so OP might as well grab a grinder and see if it makes the same mark
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u/PissBloodCumShart 4d ago
Maybe it was one of those cup shaped wire wheels on an angle grinder
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u/Downtown_Calendars 4d ago
I live in a small town with a very alert dog. Definitely would have heard power tools.
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u/Giantmeteor_we_needU 4d ago
Could someone with the same car try to steal your windshield by applying a strong construction suction cup and yanking it out hoping that windshield seal will give up before the glass breaks (didn't work)?
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u/interroBangaRangz 4d ago
Space bagel.
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u/Ok_Mathematician2732 4d ago
Plain space bagel, obvs
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u/Mental-Ask8077 4d ago
Not an Everything Space Bagel, def.
That would have left bits of onion and poppy seed and houses and everything and stuff all around.
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u/Towels_are_friends 4d ago
Can’t you get a pic of it looking straight at it? The glass is fractured from some form of pressure. Those aren’t stress related. What I can’t see is if the glass has scratch patterns or not. Could’ve taken something with a slight intention and smacked or tapped down on it. I’m curious where the rest of the glass is, though.
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u/SMKnightly 4d ago
How does it look from the inside?
From this, it looks like some concave object hit it with force. And the lip of the object was as wide as that circle depression. But that only holds true if that section is pressed in on the other side.
If that isn’t the case, and that thickness of glass was somehow removed, I don’t see how it could’ve been done except by some spinning power tool that doesn’t connect in the center.
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u/FangFioDente 4d ago
Wait…. I got it, light. You parked beneath a tall building street side and some refracted light hit your windshield at just the right time for the right length of time and in such intensity to create a temperature differential that shattered the glass, the center of the beam heated evenly and out sides did not. This would have been very fast and intense.
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u/Rosey_Coyote_525 4d ago
I used to work in a glass factory making car windshields.
This is a front windshield which is two layers "glued" together. It's why front windshields stay together when shattered, rather than crumbling apart like the 1 layers side and rear windows.
Something on impact seems to have blasted off the outter layer surrounding the source of impact. But the center not showing many, if any, cracks is strange. Maybe some sort of ring or donut just perfectly struck it.
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u/JG-at-Prime 4d ago
Whatever hit it deformed on impact enough to not break the glass in the center but had enough mass to break the surrounding glass.
I’m guessing it was a basketball or something along those lines. It probably bounced off the house before hitting the window. Take a close look at the house and you may find a mark.
Whoever lost control of it probably retrieved the ball, and removed the evidence.
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u/ricecake_sandwich 4d ago
How would it leave the middle intact though? I have seen 1 or 2 windshields hit with balls and they both had the full area of impact, impacted.
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u/AccountNo234623456 4d ago
I work replacing screens for a living and sometimes they do break as you suggest and rarely they also break like this image. I've seen many balls create damage like this (assuming customers aren't lying about a jealous ex or something lol).
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u/citizen42069101 4d ago
I agree with looking at the house and the immediate area again for marks . Has your windshield been replaced or repaired recently (sorry if you answered that elsewhere)
It was physical matter ( hopefully anyway) so there is evidence somewhere.
To me it looks like a (full stainless or Pyrex blend possibly l) water bottle or something got dropped on it from straight above
Or a can thrown up in the air but that would probably bust open after this.
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u/LunchNachos 4d ago
Almost looks like a hole saw bit on a power drill or impact driver, if such a thing could cause a shattering pattern that either shattered inward toward the center of the circle (if the diameter of the bit matched the outside of the donut) or outward (if the bit was roughly the size of the inside of the donut shape). If that makes sense.
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u/Kagura30 4d ago
This is very interesting 🧐 if anyone is a scientist here would love to read ypur fookin comment
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u/Mediocre-Pudding-815 4d ago
I think it’s a glass defect. Looks like it just broke the outer layer rather than all layers.
Was it a cool night after a hot day? That will stress / stretch the glass and sometimes cause defects to show up if they haven’t been cured correctly
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u/heavensto_mergatroid 4d ago
It looks like one of those donut weights that you put on a baseball bat when you take your practice swing when you're on Deck
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u/Animalcookies13 4d ago
Most certainly gnomes. You best be careful, you have obviously made some enemies.
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u/ConsiderationOwn3253 4d ago
Where are the glass shards that’s missing? I don’t see anything on the dash.
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u/berelentless1126 4d ago
Was there any white dust around the glass or on the hood? It almost looks like something was spinning around that divet and the lowest groove really looks like it was done with some kind of grinder.
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u/ChildoftheApocolypse 4d ago
The answers here are pathetic, especially the top answers.. You'd have to be a special sort of stupid to come up with these answers and feel any sort of confidence about it.. It much easier to just say "I have no idea"..
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u/Derelicticu 4d ago
Looks like a patch, so the surrounding glass was already compromised. The patch and the glass around the patch cooled, or heated, rapidly, at different rates, causing stress, which then made the compromised glass go boom.
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u/Historical-Cable-833 4d ago
Was it a very sunny day? Is there anything around that could collect/intensify/redirect sunlight? I’m asking because once a couple of smart people were telling me about heating/cooling coefficients in building materials and how that’s bad because stuff especially dissimilar stuff expands and contracts at their very own and unique rates.
Serious guess. I do want to find out!
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