Windshield Repair Forum

After seeing a line on the Olympic thread I thought I would post this up. After 22+ years and thousands upon thousands of repairs I must say that a damage is a damage and I do not think any are harder than any other. But if there is one that gives you a problem or nightmares lets talk about it.

Good topic Screenman! It seems like I have more trouble with smaller damage. More specifically like a small star break or just a straight line crack that is only about a 1/4" long or smaller with just a very small impact point. It also seems like to me that damage like this is a bit more unstable than say a combo break. I am beginning to think I should just drill these types of breaks from get go.

Good question Screenman!

We all will experience difficulties.
If I had any, my problem would be having no damages to work on.
Fortunately: I don't have that problem

After almost sixteen years in this wonderful trade, I honestly cannot think of any damage type.
There is ONE that I do not like, but it doesn't cause any problems.
Desription of damage:
A fairly large combination break (1'' or worse) with several ''rings'' (circles) around it.
Those will fill, but in my opinion it is too much work (and a lot of drilling too).
I've had a few in all those years, I can remember at least four.

Like Roo I too have difficulty on smaller repairs such as 1/8" cracks and bat wings. Seems that sometimes the resin will not get into these tight spaces. I often end up drilling and tapping a bulls-eye to fix these breaks. How do you senior rock chippers handle these?

I hope nobody from Delta is reading this, but I normally drill and pop those that I know will be really tight. I feel that in an area say 8 foot square the drill mark which is less than 1/32 of an inch is unlikely to cause any problems. Now with the new slide hammer drilling and popping is made even easier for some of you, can I just say that to those who have problems with air bubbles in drilled repairs, MAKE SURE YOU ARE NOT DRILLING UPWARDS, by this I mean your drill angle must be perpendicular to the glass, many guys drop their hands slightly when drilling which means the hole goes upwards, this makes it far harder for you to pit fill.

Frank I agree with you on the larger breaks, well doable but not much fun, got to take the rough with the smooth though. Sometimes when we do this tennis ball size stuff we should really be saying it needs a new windshield, but then that is walking away from the money and is going to cost the customer way more.

I guess the most problem breaks I have is the one with multiple pits that kind of form one big one. Leaks, leaks and more leaks from (around) the seal. And if you start injecting without realizing what you have then you most likely have the center filled with regular resin so you can't go back with a pit fill and seal and smooth the pit before starting. So now you have a chip that is half filled, you can't get much if any pressure on it from the center and can't cure it without creating a really bad mess. I usually have to drill around the edges to set things right in this case, but it's still difficult.

I also do what screenman does on small tight chips, I drill and pop creating what I call, at least in many cases, a cats eye. Drill slightly off to one side of the crescent or flies wing, on the inside of the curve, and pop from there. Either side of a small straight line will work. Kind of like this -(). If you do it right it will fill very quickly. I know Delta doesn't recommend this but it is what I do and seems to work well for me. I think screen and I are on the same page on this, except that I don't have to worry much about moisture when it's 115 in the shade here and hasn't rained for more than six months. Cooler weather next week!!!

When inspecting larger damage that you think might leak try this.

1. Take a spare seal and place it over the impact point.
2. Look along the windshield at a narrow angle, this with practise will let you see how big the pit is and any other surface damage will also be visible.
3. Use a blunt scribe and slide over the surface of the damage this will help you pick up and surface damage.
4. Do these and it will only take a few seconds but could end up saving a lot of time in the long run.

115 and sunny, that is rubbing salt into the wound.

I too have had the problem with the smaller breaks. Especially those with tight legs. I personally choose to just drill the smaller ones out from the get go!
I have a much successful fill by doing so compared to not drilling. Sometimes even with flexing the glass I have noticed that resin doesn't want to flow into the legs w/o drilling to open up the void!


JMHO!

Dr.Chipster wrote:Like Roo I too have difficulty on smaller repairs such as 1/8" cracks and bat wings. Seems that sometimes the resin will not get into these tight spaces. I often end up drilling and tapping a bulls-eye to fix these breaks. How do you senior rock chippers handle these?

I like doing batwings, but they often require drilling
If it doesnt fill; drill and pop a small bullseye.

Mr Bill wrote:

Dr.Chipster wrote:Like Roo I too have difficulty on smaller repairs such as 1/8" cracks and bat wings. Seems that sometimes the resin will not get into these tight spaces. I often end up drilling and tapping a bulls-eye to fix these breaks. How do you senior rock chippers handle these?

I like doing batwings, but they often require drilling
If it doesnt fill; drill and pop a small bullseye.

Do you like Nomad pop the bulls-eye to one side of the break? Or do you pop one in the center of the break? I pop mine in the center of the break.