You are on your way to your office in your car and suddenly noticed something little different on your windshield. If it is not making you happy, am sure it is definitely a chip in your windshield, a gift from a small stone, twigs, and any nature thing from the road. It may look small as a gem but it is not going to end well. With size, you can’t rest assured. In automotive and mechanics, before you know a small issue can turn into a large problem. If it is on your auto glass, you should work on repairing it immediately otherwise it will be worn out and charge you a lot of money.
Winter is coming. It is the best season for us! We get a lot of windshield replacements there. Jokes apart, in most cases we could see people pay more than they should because of their initial ignorance. We don’t want you to be on that list, so today we decided to help you take care of your auto glass with the easy tips.
Auto motors are prone to winter. It comes with salt, ice, freezing temperature, and visibility problems. If your windshield has a small chip or cracks untreated, the winter going to do very badly for you. It expands and makes a small chip into a large crack sometimes leading to glass breakage.
So, now you found the issue and us, you are in help already. If you fix the glass chip in the beginning, it is more likely repairable. Before deciding on hiring an auto glass installer, you should be sure that it can be repaired by you. Let’s take a look at different types of cracks and how to find the right solution to fix them.
Types
The most common types are chips and cracks. As you read you might know what is a crack. It is a line that ranges from an inch to the full width of the windshield. Typically, cracks are more serious than chips as they tend to expand and become larger in a short time, especially in the winter.
Chips come in different subcategories like star break, partial bulls-eye, pit, half moon, and crack chip. If untreated a chip will become a crack.
Size and Depth
When encountering a chip or crack in a windshield, we check two things, its size, and depth. It determined whether it can be repaired or will need a replacement. In general, if the crack is not bigger than a dollar bill, there is no hope for repair. The entire windshield has to be replaced.
Likewise, most chips only in a quarter size can be repaired.
Location
Where the chip landed or crack happened is also important to determine if it can be repaired or not. If the chip or crack is near or edge of the glass, it is prone to breakage.
The Result
Though most of the above are not in your control, the size and location be controlled by you if you treated the issue earlier stage. The timing is everything that can cut off hundreds of dollars from your repair bill.
Remember not all chips and cracks can be repaired but you can lessen them if you identified and treated them earlier.