Windshield Repair Forum

I was speaking with Peg Stroka the other day (concerning the texas licensing situation) and we drifted to another topic, surface damage. She had some information that I thought was interesting, according to the folks at one of the windshield MFG outfits (PPG or Pilkington) that surface pits were at risk of cracking out according to testing they had done!! We usualy do these repairs as a courtesy to our customers without charging for it while in the process of a repair, I call them near misses, (rock hit the shield but didn't create enough damage to justify a billable repair) I don't have the particulars on the specifics of the damage they were referring to, depth of damage etc.. any thoughts? Scott :~)

Can't comment. I'd definitely like to see an example of what they consider surface damage and under what conditions they found them to crack out.

Greetings maxryde,

I've been looking at stone damaged windshields for some time now. Never have I seen a windshield crack from surface damage.
BTW at some of auto dealers we do work for, if it's a decent vehicle we always charge for "pit work". Often times potential customers complain if there's a surface pit. Consequently we ask to repair them and are authorized to repair many of them. I'm not sure how many car dealers you service, but it's something to keep in mind if you see them at the dealers.

Like A1 I also bill for sufrace reconstruction. On lease returns it's quite popular, and i charge the dealer the same amount as a regular repair. There is one tech that I know in Nova Scotia (Mac "daddy" Macnamara) that does a hole bunch of surface chips, and he lives quite well. I will do them as a coutesy when repairing other dammage on a car, but if the dealer wants me to do a car with no other dammage other than surface chips he gets billed the same as the others, no complaints so-far.

Merci

I also do surface damage on rental vehicle turnbacks for the same price as a star repair.

We do the same at the airport in Burlington, It's cold in the winter with the wind blowing up our skirts, but worth the effort. So anyone who reads these posts, if you live near an airport, or have car rental agencies near or around you, keep that in mind.
Cosmetic surface damage for car dealers & rental agencies is a problem for them. Much of it needs to be repaired, and we WSR tech guys, are the ones who can help them.