Criteria for Deciding if You Can Repair a Chipped or Cracked Windshield

Repairing a cracked or chipped window is a lot less expensive then replacement. With modern technological advances this option is more readily available; nevertheless, there are many misconceptions floating around, even among windshield repair technicians about when it can be repaired instead of replaced.

Most technicians use metrical guides to determine when a chip or crack is repairable. For example, a commonly held belief is that a chip less than the size of a half dollar in diameter can be repaired, whereas a larger chip requires replacement. Regarding cracks, most people believe that a crack longer than a half dollar or certainly longer than 8 inches cannot be repaired. In fact, these concepts are not relevant to true industry standards, which determine when a windshield can be repaired.

According to the Windshield Repair Industry and the National Windshield Repair Association, the size of a windshield crack or chip is not the criteria that determines when a windshield can be repaired. The real critical component is that the windshield repair has been properly performed and should be judged by visual inspection. Seen in this light, it is understandable why different technicians make different claims about the size of chip or crack they can repair. A skillful technician with the best equipment will be more confident that he can repair a larger crack or chip then a less experienced technician.

Windshield Repair Industry leaders are most concerned about repairs made in the acute area of the windshield. The acute area is an area approximately 8-1/2" wide by 11' high area starting at the top of the steering wheel encompassing the area which is directly in front of the driver. (see diagram). Cracks and chips in this area can be repaired provided the repaired damage does not hinder the driver's vision, and contains no cosmetic blemishes. If the crack or chip goes all the way through the windshield, it can't be repaired. Furthermore, if the damage has pierced the windshield's inner PVB layer or has broken the inner layer of glass, then the NGA's National Windshield Repair Committee recommends windshield replacement.

A good windshield repair should significantly decrease the visibility of a crack or chip. It should increase optical clarity in the damaged area, and reduce distracting light scatter and haze. The repair should restore the structural integrity of the windshield and thereby prevent further spread of the chip or crack, and the repair should restore the smooth contour of the windshield allowing unimpeded wiper movements.

If all of the above requirements are fulfilled, the repair will be successful and will save the driver a considerable amount of money. For example, an average windshield repair may cost 1/5 to 1/6 of the cost of replacement. The repair will also save the insurance companies money. Perhaps most important increasing use of windshield repair protects the environment by preserving landfill space and reducing harmful pollutants produced by unnecessary auto glass fabrication.

To Repair or Replace Your Windshield?

It's a very common occurance, you're riding down the road when the auto just before you kicks up some debris, which falls on your auto's windshield while you are driving at a high speed. The event can result in a chip or crack, varying in size from a bearly visible chip, tinier than a pea, to a crater with a diameter greater than a .half dollar, or a crack several inches or longer.

In the majority of jurisdictions, driving a car with a chipped or cracked front windshield is illegal, and you run the risk of being stopped by a traffic cop ,who will issue you a repair order. But even if you aren't caught, or if driving with a windshield, subject to the vibrations of driving and weather, will tend to expand. So that a tiny chip or crack, can after a while become a major chip or crack.

Consequently, when you get to your destination, you should contact a nearby auto glass repair shop. Now the big question is whether the windshield should be repaired or entirely replaced. With current technology, a lot of damaged windshields that would have required replacement a few years ago, can be repaired instead, at a significant savings to the car owner. Whether the windshield can be repaired depends on if it meets insurance guidelines.

Usually, if the crack is within the driver's line of vision, which is most often considered to be 8 1/2 by 12 inches, the windshield needs to be replaced. Even the best chip repair can leave a small area that reflects light more than the remainder of the windshield. The brightly reflected light might impair the driver's concentration and is therefore an imperilment to safe driving. Insurance companies also recommend replacing the window if the diameter of the chip is larger than a 50 cent piece. Even though cracks as large as 5 inches have been repaired by auto glass shops, the results are not uniformly acceptable to all car owners.

There are are some further limitations on which windows can be fixed, for example heated windows need to be replaced and not repaired.

Auto glass repair shops select resin that matches the appearance auto glass, so that when the crack or chip repair is completed, the window looks as good as new. The entire repair takes only hours, and can be completed in a shop or at the auto's location, by a mobile auto glass repair team.

Mobile Auto Glass Repair

Imagine driving to an imprtant meeting, and along the way you have a small auto accident causing a serious chip or a crack in your windshield. Technically speaking, you could be pulled over by a policeman, who wil issue you a repair order, as it is not permitted to drive in a car with a crack or chip in the windshield that could impede vision. You don't want to be pulled over by the police; however, your busy schedule leaves you insufficient time to drop yoiur car off at the shop. So you phone a mobile auto glass repair service en route to your meeting. While you are at the meeting, the auto repair unit arrives on the scene and fixes your windshield.

Mobile auto glass repair was invented in 1934. Since then, it has developed into a burgeoning industry. A mobile auto glass repair team will come to where your car is parked to fix a cracked windshield or a cracked door glass or to entirely replace the automobile glass replacement can be caried out there. You might have thought about how the mobile team knows what type of windshield or auto glass to bring with them to your car's location. The answer is they will ask you over the phone about your automobile's make, model, and year. so even before they reach your car, they will know exactly what size and shape glass it requires, and they will take along the appropriate windshield or door glass, or back glass in their mobile truck when they come out.

The advantage of mobile auto glass repair is that frequently the windshield can be fixed right at the car's location and it won't be required to have a total auto glass replacement job. Avoiding a windshield replacement is a nice cost savings for the automobile owner.

Modern science permits mobile auto glass repairman to frequently fix windshield cracks and fill in the crack with a resin that matches the windshield in every way. But it the auto glass must be replaced the mobile auto glass replacement unit can do that job as well.