Do you take on the big ugly ones?

[jayjacque]

I had a windshield today that had 3 nice ugly combo breaks. They weren't extra huge, but were good size, 2 maybe the size of a nickel with chipped out pits, and the third a little smaller. I took them on and told the dealer 80-85% not my usual 90-95%. He was fine with that, and that's exactly what happened. I've had some in the past where I told them 70-75%. Was just wondering is that about how you guys handle it, or do you turn some down that you don't think will come out cosmetically as nice?

[Sneck]

I repair the big ugly ones all the time. I always tell the customer...

"Man, that sure is an ugly one! ... but the damage will soon spread and then it will be alot uglier if I don't attempt a repair now. If the repair turns out and your are happy with it, then its a chargable repair. If it is still ugly when I'm done, and you are not satisfied with it, there is no charge".

Many times, even a large ugly rock chip larger than the size of a quarter turns out better than I expected and I get to knock my customer's socks off with an incredible repair. One time I did a repair on a BMW that had a huge nasty rock chip, it must have been the size of a silver-dollar!

I actually tried to talk the customer out of letting me do the repair because the damage was so large and extensive and he had such a perfect immaculate vehicle inside and out, and that no matter how good this chip repair turns out, it would be a blemish on his beautiful vehicle. He said he opted for repair, so I did the best darn job I could and this big-o chip turned out so nice it blew me and my customer away. He got a great deal by me saving his windshield, and I made a good profit doing it. And that's what this business is all about.

[screenman]

How long is a piece of string? a large damage on a very small winshield which can sometimes be supplied and fitted for not much more than a repair I would say is questionable. However a lot of the vehicles I repair have windscreens of over 48 square feet so a 2 square inch repair out of line of vision should not be a problem, these windscreens also cost upwards from $2200 fitted. As long as the repair is of top quality I can see no problems.

[GlassStarz]

sometimes at closing time

[dgarza]

I have never turned one down and they have all turned out great. they use a little more resin but not enough to break the bank. usually these have pits too big to put the seal on so i have to put pit fill in and make a new hole. the first one i ever did was the size of a silver dollar. it looked nasty. it was like a bulls eye with flower petals on it plus a couple cracks. it only used about 2x the resin and turned out great. we were both amazed.

[jayjacque]

I had a premonition someone was going to say all theirs come out great. I have some that surprise me too and turn out much better than I thought. But realistically there will always be the occasional stubborn leg or too much damage or old break preventing or at least hindering a good cosmetic repair.

[screenman]

I tend to sell my large damage repairs on structual quality not cosmetic.

[Nomad]

I'm with Screenman here. I do a lot of motor homes with WS $700 up to maybe close to $5000, no kidding. Now if the repair is in a spot where the driver can't even see it from behind the wheel, why not give it a try. I fix a lot of these.

It's another story if it's right in front of the driver. Sometimes I also say I'll try but if you don't like it when I'm done, then no charge.

I have heard that motor home WS may be going to a three layer setup instead of two. That is three layers of glass for strength. I don't think this will affect the repair process too much but don't know for sure. Anybody else heard of this?

[Brent Deines]

I've done some commuter train windshields that were more than 3 layers thick. In fact I think they had 5 layers of glass or more with PVB in between each layer, but I don't remember for sure. All I know is they are very heavy, very expensive, and designed to stop bullets from what I understand.

They repaired exactly the same in my experience as the outside layer of glass and first layer of laminate were no different than a standard windshield.

[jayjacque]

That's good to know Brent. Reminds me, I had a dealer about a week ago ask me about a sunroof chip repair. I assume that is repairable. That's what I told him anyway. Was I right?