Problems with Drystar

[Brent Deines]

I try lots of new things as well, and hopefully will never stop learning. If your methods do the job more power to you. It's the people who are having problems that need to make sure they go back to the basics and follow the manufacturer's instructions. I'm always amazed that new customers will sometimes ask their friends, neighbors, people on this forum, our competitors, and anyone else they can find before ever calling us for advice or attending a training class. By the time they do get around to calling us they have already developed so many bad habits and have been given so much conflicting advice that it is hard for them to go back to the basics.

[harrellbenjamin]

What works for me and I use the DryStar religiously(thanks screenman) is to heat element until it glows and then release the button.I move it around a little over damaged area .Let cool and recycle the same way.No problems with this technique.I will not hold the trigger on during contact with the glass as I feel its just to touchy.JMO Because the area we heat and the moisture so small I feel this is the way to go.Also even if its 75-80 degrees out side I an seeing glass temps well into the 100"s .This might be something to also take into account.

[GlassStarz]

I still like the lit match am not a big believer in putting the hot coils of a cigarette lighter on the glass I know many swear by it and obviosly have great sucess I just choose to go another dirrection as my old scot grandmother told me maybe im the only one in step in the parade and everyone else is off beat? works for me

[jayjacque]

The inventor of the thing says he rests one edge of the drystar against the windshield. Ever since he said that, that's what I've done with no problems. But I have had some start to run just as has been said. I immediately pull up, and it stops. Every time that's happened the break and the run both filled. But it's freaky when it happens.

[starstruck]

A lit match in the high winds we get around here on a daily basis? Yeah, that'll work.

[GlassStarz]

Is there wind inside vehicles in Kansas? I do it the same way as a star run a lit match back and forth from the inside also not tempted to give it a little to much heat this way you burn you finger if you do I sometimes use a dryout solution but not often.

[starstruck]

A lit match inside a customer's vehicle is not a good idea. For one thing, matches leave a sulpher odor inside the vehicle that might be offensive to them. Second, lit match tips can fall off risking damage to the vehicles interior. A simple bic lighter is much safer and easier to control if you insist on using inside heat as a source of dryout. Personally I don't feel that trying to dry out damages from the inside is a good idea. You would have to heat longer from the inside to effectively dry out the damage since the pbv layer is now between you and the moisture. I doubt that there is a single company out there that teaches or trains people to dry out damages from inside the vehicle, using a lit match.

And yes, in Kansas the wind blows inside inside the vehicles! Just ask Dorothy!

[Brent Deines]

Even using a lighter I have never been able to get the glass hot enough to actually dry out a chip. I used to warm from the inside all the time as that is how I was trained, and still do if I don't have a hair dryer available, but I agree that warming from the outside is more efficient, and drying out a break from the outside is the only way it can be done safely.

If others are able to get the job by using less heat and/or heating from the inside, more power to them, but in all of the testing we have done over the years we have found that the moisture needs to be heated to the boiling point, which is 212 degrees at sea level. The boiling point lowers at higher elevations, and also under vacuum which is why some windshield repair technicians use a mightyvac brake bleeder when removing moisture from a break. Since the DryStar only takes 20 seconds without using a vacuum I have never found it necessary to use the mightvac, but for those concerned about that intense heat produced by the DryStar it is an option.

In our testing it was necessary to heat the inside of the glass to 230+ degrees in order to get enough heat to transfer through the PVB and second layer of glass to evaporate the moisture in a typical bullseye. That required too much heat for too long long to be safe in my opinion.

By the way, I wish I had figured all that out on my own, but frankly we didn't start researching it until the DryStar was introduced, and by then the inventor had already done the research, we just verified the data.

[screenman]

We still have companies over here that train the inside method, I also agree with the last 2 posts, it needs to be too hot for too long. Also how would you dry out near the top, bottom or side of the glass using a match without risking damage to interior trim, but hey as I have said before of it works for you then it works for you. I tested the Drystar yesterday using Brents method although it made me nervous I had only one small 1 inch run on ten tests. So I will increase my time but for about 12 second as I am not brave enough for 20.

[starstruck]

You make a very good point. Many times the damages near the far edges of the windshield, particularly at the base of the windshield, are blocked by interior trim or the dashboard and lighting a match and holding it in those areas would be impossible and dangerous.

I can't believe there are companies that train techs to try to dry out damage from inside the vehicles. Common sense alone should tell you that it's not a good method,