me again with more car issues. makes me think i have bad luck or perhaps this area has problems. does this chip require repair or will the crack stay where its at? pretty sure this happened yesterday i heard something hit my windshield pretty sharply while i was driving
A chip in tempered glass can quickly turn into a crack.
I’d have it repaired before it does.
Tester
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This is a question for an auto glass shop . Sometimes they can use their magic glue and buy you more time.
If you carry glass coverage on your insurance, a lot of companies waive any deductibles and pay for pro repairs. I guess it’s cheaper than eating their portion of a full replacement.
Definitely get it fixed, and see if insurance covers it as mentioned above. If not, there are several do-it-yourself kits out there, but I’d prefer a pro do it.
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On a cold day when you turn the defrosters on you will hear a loud crack. A little unsettling if it happens at night and not sure if you got shot at or not. My company lets me decide if I want to try the epoxy or just replace the windshield.
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I’ve actually used the DIY kits, but have also had the pro work (when covered by insurance - if not covered by insurance, then I figure why not give it a whirl). I didn’t mention it because I’m not sure they work. Ambiguous results.
I haven’t had any success in making a crack - more or less - disappear, which suggests to me that I didn’t get enough vacuum going to have the resins fill the cracks. But, I’ve also not had a crack spread after using one either. So, you know. Who knows?
If insurance will cover it, best to use a pro. But the kits are cheap if not. Can’t hurt.
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If you have a glass company perform the repair, pay attention so you can perform future repairs yourself.
Windshield glass chips are a simple repair, in the past a local dealer trained the driveway attendants to perform these repairs, then collected payment from insurance companies. The scheme lasted about two years. Customers began complaining about escalating insurance premiums after so many glass repairs.
I would never call an insurance company for a DIY $20 repair.
Not sure about now as things/technology changes…but years ago if the chip or crack was within 4-5 inches from the edge then it couldn’t be fixed and had to be replaced.
does anyone know how long the resin takes to cure in cloudy weather? it says do it in sunny weather but unfortunately its cloudy today and will rain this evening.
Put a piece of tape on the chipped area if you want to keep water out. When the Sun comes back, pull the tape and do the repair.
i used the repair kit and its a sunny day today. it looks ugly but i hope the windshield holds. cost me $13 at walmart.
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Take a nice, new razor and scrape off the excess. (Don’t use an old nasty one or you’ll risk scratching the glass). It should clean up pretty easily.
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Yep, go to a hardware store and buy some of these:
I use them to help replace my registration sticker.
And if you want to make it real easy on yourself, find one of these: 52000 Razor Blade Scraper | Lisle Corporation
It doesn’t have to be any particular brand (that one is Lisle). Auto parts stores usually have them. Maybe hardware stores too.
Good idea to have a handle. I got a smaller, cheaper one from Lowes for about $5.
I use a version that looks like this.
The stop, the thing that is to supposed to hold the blade in place, always pushes the arm through the slot that’s supposed to hold the stop. Am I doing it wrong? Perhaps @It_s-Me’s works better.
I never got the DIY window repairs to work - probably because they had happened years before I owned the vehicle.
That happens to me sometimes too, but the cause has been me inadvertently holding the stop down while trying to get a firm grip on the tool. The stop isn’t in the most user-friendly location. I have a similar problem with my Stanley utility knife.