Repair or Replace

It's a very frequent event, you're riding down the highway when the automobile in front of you kicks up some debris, which falls on your car's windshield while you are driving at full speed. The event can result in a chip or crack, ranging anywhere in size from a bearly visible indent, tinier than a pea, to a crater with a diameter larger than a .50 cent piece, or a crack several inches or longer.

In the majority of locales, driving with a chip or crack in the front windshield is against the law, and you might be stopped by a traffic policeman , and be issued a repair order. But even if you aren't caught, or if driving with a windshield, subject to the stress of driving and weather, might expand. So that a small chip or crack, may after a while become a major chip or crack.

Therefore, when you get to where you are going, you will want to contact a local auto glass repair shop. Now the big question is whether the windshield needs to be repaired or entirely replaced. With current technology, many damaged windshields that would have needed replacement a few years ago, can be repaired instead, at a great savings to the car owner. Whether the car window can be repaired depends on if it meets insurance guidelines.

Usually, if the crack is in the driver's line of vision, which is usually considered to be 8 1/2 by 12 inches, the windshield needs to be replaced. Even a high quality chip repair sometimes leaves a small area that reflects light more than the rest of the windshield. The brightly reflected light will potentially impair the driver's concentration and is consequently an hazard to safe driving. Insurance companies also recommend replacing the window if the diameter of the chip is greater than a 50 cent coin. Even though cracks 5 inches or more have been repaired by auto glass shops, the results are not totally acceptable to all customers.

There are are some further limitations on which windows can be fixed, for example heated windows should be replaced rather than repaired.

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