Windshield Repair Forum

I repaired a star about 3 months ago and it turned out wonderful. however, I received a call to come take a look at it and when I got there i was shocked!
There was no significant change in the repair, yet there was a "NEW" crack which had ran clear across the shield, this was not connected at all to the repaired star. There was at least a 3-4 cm. gap between the two. I did flex the glass from inside and out and thouroughly inspected to ensure my eyes were seeing the gap and there was no connection.

Do you guys think the repaired star had this additional crack already present and i just overlooked it?

If not what in the heck could have caused this to happen and why would it be giving the effect as if it were coming from the repaired star?

Years ago I had a similar experience. Turned out that the original damage had also apparently compromised the interior layer of glass and the new crack was on the inside. The original repair was still perfect and upon inspection I determined that the crack was on the inside. I could even feel a very very small pit on the inside directly behind the outside impact hole, not any bigger than a grain of sand.

Hi, first time posting here but a long time reader. I think I can be of assistance. I worked 18 years in parts and service for premium auto dealerships and don't know how many times I was called upon to inspect what a customer thought was a stress crack in their windshield and wanted it covered under warranty. Take a ball point pen and put the tip in the crack and run along the crack. Somewhere it will come to a stop or fall into a small pit that is almost otherwise invisible. This is the way I was shown when I started and every piece of glass I inspected like this always had a small pit somewhere. Some rocks or debris barely leave a mark. Hope this helps and good luck!

Did the crack go all the way to the edge? If it did was there any evidence of a rock hitting close to the edge, the impact does not have to break the glass it just can be as small as a pen point, enough to put a weak spot where it can crack. Also did you notice the crack closest to the star, was the end of the crack flat or pointed? If it was pointed then chances are that it originated from the edge.

Big E wrote:Hi, first time posting here but a long time reader. I think I can be of assistance. I worked 18 years in parts and service for premium auto dealerships and don't know how many times I was called upon to inspect what a customer thought was a stress crack in their windshield and wanted it covered under warranty. Take a ball point pen and put the tip in the crack and run along the crack. Somewhere it will come to a stop or fall into a small pit that is almost otherwise invisible. This is the way I was shown when I started and every piece of glass I inspected like this always had a small pit somewhere. Some rocks or debris barely leave a mark. Hope this helps and good luck!

I love this idea! Thanks for the tip. I'm going to use that next time.

Big E I wouldn't trust that method as always being accurate. They edges of cracks will not always be completely smooth. It's glass and edge flaking can occur anywhere along the crack and not neccessarily be where the cause of the damage was. If there is any small pitting in the area that the crack ran through you will find small flaws along the edge of the crack.

BigE's Method is designed to find fault to the customer and not to dealer or manufacturer.

You got that right! Dealers and manufacturers are notorious for not wanting to cover the cost of windshield cracks that aren't caused by an impact to the surface. Ive seen it firsthand.