road pellet strike to windshield..

bigchillcar · bigchillcar's Garage

what are my options? first time it's happened. sorry, it's too dark for a pic tonight, but i can post one tomorrow if needed. it's near the top edge, but the lower streak is two inches long. would you go with a home repair kit for these things or go to pro glasss shop? i don't think it warrants replacement at this point..
ryan

jwetering · jwetering's Garage

Just had this happen yesterday too. A very quick trip to the glass shop and they fixed it pretty much like new for $50. Two inches sounds kind of big though. Mine was a double star, each less than 1/4".

bigchillcar · bigchillcar's Garage

yeah, jasper..one tiny star, i mean little, but a single streak reaching down from it two friggin' inches long. what did they do to fix it? fill it with something? i suppose you can still see it, but it won't get any bigger, right?
ryan

Netspeed · 04-10-2006, 07:50 PM

Most of the repair kits you can buy and the ones that professionals use are made to keep a chip from spreading. If yours is already two inches long, there's no use trying to repair it.

bigchillcar · bigchillcar's Garage

Quote:

If yours is already two inches long, there's no use trying to repair it.

nooooooooooooooooooooo!

ryan

Netspeed · 04-10-2006, 07:58 PM

It may not spread and could just sit here for years. Then again, you could go out tomorrow and see it four inches long....

bigchillcar · bigchillcar's Garage

Quote:

Then again, you could go out tomorrow and see it four inches long....

definitely a case where 'gaining inches' isn't a good thing..

ryan

Netspeed · 04-10-2006, 08:03 PM

lololol!!

JBO · 04-11-2006, 10:08 AM

You may want to check with your insurance agent. Many insurance policies cover windshields with no deductible, for safety reasons. State Farm replaced mine several years ago, no cost to me. I didn't even know about this until someone mentioned it to me and I called my agent. I had driven around over a year with a cracked windshield when the whole time I could have had a new one for free!

bigchillcar · bigchillcar's Garage

excellent advice, jbo..and as a matter of fact, i just upped to 'full coverage' less than a month ago.

ryan

Jgordon · 04-11-2006, 12:21 PM

yes on all points - I drove around with a crack at the bottom of my windshield for a good 9 months - didn't care (ok a little, but not $1000 worth). didn't spread, I was fine, etc. etc. - then had some work done, figured I'd replace it when they took it out, and found out that I have glass insurance (through allstate). it was like a $300 or $500 deductible, but still saved money. I wouldn't replace unless you either can't live with it aesthetically or it spreads.

jwetering · jwetering's Garage

I guess I should tell my other windshield story...

I've got a Sparco seat in my car, it's got a reclining back, which of course also flips forward. Well, TWICE now I've flipped the seat forward and gotten into the back seat of my car to wash the window or something and TWICE I've pushed the seatback *forward* and into the windshield. Well, let me tell you a windshield won't take much of an impact from the inside, so TWICE now I've had to replace my windshield because of my own stupidity.

The good news is that I bought new windshields in both cases for less than $200 CDN (about $0.65 USD). The first one was a "second" because of a tiny little scratch in the passenger side corner. The second one was a brand new PPG, with a nice blue shade at the top. I paid a guy $50 to install it, but the next time I'm doing it myself...it's really not that hard, lot's of threads around discussing the technique

So....if you're not totally anal about having a sekurit windshield (they're apparantly not as good as the PPG ones anyway) you can get the job done cheap. I don't carry glass insurance on my car anymore.

As for the repairs, they use a suction cup device to "open" the wound up and then they inject epoxy into it. Once it cures, the crack will not propagate.

cheers

:

74cookiecutter · 74cookiecutter's Garage

Ryan, I'll check with my bro-in-law tomorrow am. He just had a windsheild replaced here local and they did it and waived the deductable.
I'll call you with the name and number.

bigchillcar · bigchillcar's Garage

thanks for all the advice, fellas..sounds like no reason for me to go 'jumping off a cliff' just yet..

heheheh..hey there robert. talk to you tomorrow..er today..
ryan

stormmaster · stormmaster's Garage

If it has a run ( streak) of any thing over 1/4 inch most likely it cannot be repaired...time for a replacement....try to find a glass company that uses PPG or factory glass....your insurance company will cover it under your comprehensive deductible....