[Brent Deines]

I have done plenty of successful crack repairs over the years, but depending on the location, the age of the crack, contamination, etc., I generally recommended a replacement, even before I started replacing glass myself.

Even in the best of circumstances I believe the failure rate is somewhat higher for long cracks than for bullseyes, star breaks, combination breaks and short cracks, but when properly repaired the failure rate should still be quite low. In fact, I don't recall ever having one of my completed crack repairs fail, but then again less than 1% of my windshield repairs involved long cracks.

There are several reasons that I don't like to do long cracks, the first being that cosmetically I am generally not all that satisfied. My completed crack repairs still look 80%+ better, but when you are talking about something 10, 20, or 30 inches long, that simply is not good enough for me, mainly because when the light hits it just right a crack will nearly always show. It's not that my customers were unhappy with the results, but my own expectations that could not always be met.

The second reason I don't like to repair long cracks is a bit more selfish. It takes more time, and more resin than other windshield repairs. The resin really isn't that big of a deal, maybe an extra quarter per repair or so depending on the length of the crack, but I find that it often takes me nearly twice as long to do a good job on a long crack, and all that extra time requires my full attention. I would much rather spend that time repairing an extra chip or two, doubling, or even tripling my money.

My final reason for shying away from long cracks, and this one may be a bit controversial, is that insurance companies and for the most part the glass industry as a whole do not recommend the practice. The last thing I need is a liability issue because I did not follow the recommended practices of insurance companies, or to damage the relationship between the glass replacement and glass repair industries that I have worked so hard to establish.

If you do decide to repair long cracks be sure you spend plenty of time practicing first. The learning curve is greater for long crack repair than it is for other types of breaks, and most training programs do not spend a lot of time on it. For instance, we teach proper methods for repairing long cracks in our free one day training and certification classes, but typically technicians only have time to repair one long crack that day. I recommend at least a couple of days to practice your long crack skills before working on a customer's vehicle, and we just don't get enough interest in long crack repair to devote the resources to the extra training.

For all of you long crack specialists out there, as long as your are doing them correctly, more power to you. I just believe it is a personal choice and since I found plenty of work without promoting long crack repair my choice was not to promote it. I certainly don't see anything unethical about choosing not to offer long crack repair if that is not your preference, but I will say that it is a good skill to know and practice, just in case you have a soft heart and get talked into it from time to time as I did.