My first impression of Apex was great.
Unfortunately, things…read moreonly got worse from there.
I called around for quotes and found Apex, with high praise reviews. Chris walked me through three options for my Q5: OEM glass, non-OEM acoustic, and non-OEM non-acoustic glass. I confirmed calibration was included and chose the acoustic glass to balance cost and quality.
The appointment went smoothly. I dropped my Q5 off around 11am on a Saturday and it was done in under an hour. Chris was upfront that a piece of plastic on the mirror housing was already cracked, and told me before I noticed. At this point I thought I'd found an honest shop.
Around 8pm that day, back in the car after some errands, it threw a loud warning that Audi pre-sense had malfunctioned. This is what I was trying to avoid by passing on lower rated shops with reviews of calibration problems.
I called the following week to report it, mentioned a bubble in front of the camera, and was told it was a manufacturing issue. That didn't make sense, since they installed the glass and mounting pad. Any defect there is an installation issue, not manufacturing.
I brought the car back about a week later. When I arrived, I was asked if I'd left a review yet. I hadn't yet, since I was waiting to see how things played out, but it made me feel like treatment might depend on the answer. I dropped the car off, got breakfast, and came back an hour later to find it sitting out front, done.
They said they'd fixed the bubble and recalibrated the camera, but the pre-sense error was still showing. The GM apparently said it should clear after 50 to 100 miles, which raised a red flag, since that's the kind of behavior you'd expect from clearing a fault code, not fixing the problem. I asked what would happen if it came back and was told they'd try again, not promising after two attempts with no plan.
The error cleared itself later that afternoon, but something still felt off. My pre-sense system wasn't detecting nearby vehicles the way it normally did. So I bought an OBDeleven scanner and learned to use it. A scan showed the last static calibration on file was from 2019, the year the car was made, meaning no static calibration was ever performed after the windshield replacement. Further research confirmed dynamic calibration depends on static calibration being done first, and even a small camera misalignment can cause a range of downstream issues.
Worth noting: both times my vehicle was ready in under an hour, which I've been told doesn't align with the time needed to calibrate. Both the dealership and independent shops told me ADAS calibration typically needs 3-5 hours.
Within a week, the pre-sense error came back. Then things got worse. My seatbelt locked up and pinned me to the seat mid-drive. Another day, the car failed to recognize my key fob was inside the vehicle. A follow-up scan showed fault codes across the board: the SOS button housing, the key fob, the light sensor, rain sensor, and Audi pre-sense.
I called Apex and explained everything, including that I'd taken the car to an Audi dealership and two other independent shops, all of whom said I'd likely need OEM glass, since Audi's ADAS cameras can be sensitive to non-OEM glass. I was assured at booking that calibration was included, and felt dismissed raising these issues. The team claimed the dealership was just trying to make money off me and said the other issues were unrelated. Dealerships are known for that, sure, but when two independent shops back the same claim, it's not an easy dismissal. It also doesn't add up, since my car had zero issues before this replacement and everything started right after.
While looking back through their reviews, I found another customer on Yelp who described the exact same problem: a windshield replacement with no actual calibration performed. I have photos backing up my own diagnostics.
My latest call took place just over a week and a half ago, ending with my info being passed to the GM to determine how to proceed. I'm hoping to hear back soon so we can resolve this amicably.
