This is an important question to determine if it makes sense to repair a windshield rather than replace it. Assuming that the damage to the windshield is repairable and the customer is aware and accepts the fact that the repaired damage will still be slightly visible, it is much less expensive to repair a windshield than to replace it. In many parts of the country it is possible to have a small rock chip less than the size of a quarter repaired for under $100.

On the other hand, replacing a windshield without ADAS will typically start at $300 and up, while windshields with ADAS start around $600 and up. There are many windshields that could cost over $1000 and some several thousand.

It is wise to repair small rock chips before they spread and replacement becomes the only option.

When your windshield gets a chip or is cracked, a question that frequently comes up is whether you have the liberty to pick a repair shop of your choice, or if your insurance company has the right to make that decision for you.

In most states you have a legal right to choose where your vehicle is repaired. When you contact your insurance company about your glass claim, in most cases you will be dealing with a TPA (Third Party Administrator). The two big ones in the United States are LYNX Services and Safelite Solutions and these handle the vast majority of auto glass insurance claims. Very often the customer is strongly advised to have their repair or replacement done at one of their preferred shops and the one they are most often directed to is Safelite Auto Glass. Sometimes the customer feels as if they have no choice but to use whom the TPA recommends. This is unfortunate because the consumer has the right to use whomever they wish. Safelite Solutions and Safelite Auto Glass are just two divisions of the same company, Belron International. It is no wonder that Safelite Solutions pushes as much work as possible to Safelite Auto Glass, their auto glass division. Lynx Services also directs customers to Safelite Auto Glass often leaving customers feeling as if they have no other good options. It is important for you to remember that you may pick the shop of your choice regardless of their effort to persuade you otherwise.

Instead of succumbing to the pressure often exerted by the TPA, make your decision based on your own due diligence. Check the online customer reviews for the shops you are considering and find out about their track record in the community. You can eliminate some shops by reading about the experience others have had and pick the shop that you feel comfortable with. It is not always the companies with the flashy ads that are best, but the ones who are committed to a quality product and excellent customer service.

In recent years do-it-yourself windshield repair kits have been made available at popular retailers and people sometimes ask if these actually work. These kits are typically priced between ten and fifteen dollars, come with everything needed – mounting bridge, injector, resin for several repairs, some other essential items, and instructions.

To give a fair answer, I bought one of these kits sold by a leading brand and tested it. For the price, the product looked pretty good. I was impressed by its simplicity and function. The injector was modeled after a very popular professional product. The instructions were understandable.

The first repair I attempted was rather small – a simple two-legged crack with a center pit about one inch long. I attached the bridge, screwed in the injector, put in several drops of repair resin, and began to fill the two legs of the crack. Using only the methods detailed in the instructions, I was able to get a decent repair in about half an hour.

The second repair was a star break with six or seven legs a little larger than a quarter. Using the same techniques, I was not able to get the repair resin all the way out to the end of each leg after going through the sequence the instructions detailed several times.

There are important reasons why the kit failed to produce the results on the second chip that I was able to get on the first. To start, the instructions do not provide any way to prepare the impact point other than scraping at it with the included razor blade. This type of star break needed the impact drilled about halfway through the first layer of glass and then to fracture the glass at the bottom of the pit with a probe to open pathways for the resin to flow. With proper pit preparation it would have filled much easier. Additionally, there were no instructions on flexing techniques without which this size break would be very difficult to fill.

I have seen more than a few failed windshield repairs brought to me from vehicle owners after attempting these do-it-yourself repairs. My sense is that though it is possible to get a good repair with these kits in some cases, a good percentage of the time the vehicle owner will not succeed in fully filling the break. This leaves the windshield vulnerable to further cracking, not to mention the unsatisfactory visual aspect. It becomes very difficult to fix a failed attempt at a repair. In some cases, it would require drilling multiple holes and the finished product would not look good while also being expensive.

My advice is that if you want to take the rather high risk if an incomplete repair with the do-it yourself kits, go for it. It may work and you will have saved a few dollars. On the other hand, new windshields are expensive. An incomplete repair may end up costing you an entire windshield when for a few extra dollars it could have been professionally done.

There are hundreds of different models of vehicles being produced today, all with various moldings, wipers, cowl panels, electrical connections, cameras, sensors, and more. This makes each model of vehicle unique in some ways requiring a lot of knowledge on the part of auto glass technicians to properly replace a given windshield. Nevertheless, there is a clear process to replace a windshield that applies to almost all newer makes and models which allows for consistent quality regardless of the vehicle.

Here is a step-by-step guide to how professionals complete a windshield replacement:

1. Document. This first step is to make note of any prior damage to the vehicle and take photos and videos.

2. Verify. It is important to make sure that the correct parts have been delivered and they are free of damage.

3. Glass prep. The new glass must be properly decontaminated, the gluing area scuffed, cleaned, and prepared with the proper moldings and primer if needed.

4. Disassembly. In this step, all the parts of the vehicle that must be removed to accomplish the install must be carefully taken off and set aside for reassembly. This may include wipers, cowl panels, moldings, exterior or interior trim, rearview mirror, sensors, camara(s), electrical connections unplugged, etc.

5. Cut out. To cut the windshield out, many tools and methods may be employed. The goal is to cut the glue bond without causing damage to the vehicle.

6. Clean. After the old windshield has been removed, any dirt and debris must be cleaned away so that in the next step contamination of the glue area doesn’t occur.

7. Trim. The old glue bead must be trimmed down. This makes a clean surface of freshly cut urethane which is the ideal gluing base and makes room for the new adhesive.

8. Prime. After the old urethane is trimmed, any bare spots, or minor scratches from trimming must be primed to prevent rust and promote good adhesion.

9. Install. When the primer dries, a triangular bead of urethane is applied and the windshield carefully set and decked to the proper height. It can be temporarily held in place with special tape.

10. Reassemble. When the windshield is set, reconnect all the electrical wires, reassemble all the parts that were removed, and mount the mirror, sensors, and camera(s).

11. Clean. Once everything is reassembled, clean the windshield and make sure everything looks good.

12. Recalibrate. If the windshield has ADAS features, it must be calibrated next. This realigns the camara back to factory specifications ensuring these safety features will perform correctly.

13. Test drive. This last step confirms that the ADAS features are working properly.

Depending on how many features a particular vehicle has and how many parts must be removed to enable the installation, the time it takes to replace a windshield can vary a lot. A simple vehicle could take as little as an hour, while a complicated one could take several hours. Depending on the SDAT (Safe Drive Away Time) of the urethane being employed, a vehicle with no ADAS could be ready to drive away in as little as an hour, but most newer cars have these safety features and the customer should be prepared for two to three hours

The amount of time it takes for windshield repairs depends on several factors but the steps to take are the same. Assuming that the rock chip is repairable, the technician first must assess whether the damage has water in it. If it does, a procedure to dry the chip must be taken. But before drying, the chip must be prepped properly. Most chips radiate outward from a central impact point. This is the point where all the damage connected. Using a small carbide burr, the impact point should be drilled partway through the first layer of glass. When this is done a small probe is put into the hole and tapped lightly to fracture the glass around the center making sure all the legs of the crack are well connected. This prep usually only takes a couple of minutes.

When the prep is done the drying process can begin. (Obviously, the drying step is skipped if there is no moisture in the damage.) Drying can be done by applying heat to the surface of the windshield and allowing it to cool. Moisture removal can be sped up if a vacuum device is employed. Sometimes two or three cycles of heat and cooling are required to remove all the moisture. This process can take from between five and fifteen minutes.

Next, a bridge with an injector is mounted to the windshield with suction cups. When properly set, the technician usually utilizes several vacuum and pressure cycles to remove the air and inject the repair resin into the chip. Sometimes this must be aided by other techniques like flexing individual legs of the crack to get them to fully fill. This process may take from two to twenty minutes.

After the chip is filled, the bridge and injector are removed, and the pit must be filled. This in done by wiping off any excess repair resin and filling the impact point that was drilled earlier with a thicker pit fill resin and quickly placing a small clear square of mylar over it. This keeps the air off the resin while UV light is used to cure the resin. This takes a couple of minutes.

Finally, the cured pit filler can be scraped flush with the windshield and polished to produce a barely visible repair. After the windshield is cleaned the vehicle can be returned to the customer.

This entire process can take thirty minutes or more if the chip has moisture in it but may take less than fifteen minutes if it is dry. There are always exceptions and occasionally a chip can take longer. It is important for the technician to take the time to properly go through each step, so the chip is fully filled. This will ensure that the repair will hold up for the longterm.

1. Go to the shop’s website and peruse the pages. Take note of the services they offer and make sure they perform ADAS calibrations if your vehicle requires it. See what values they deem important and see if it a locally owned shop or a national brand. You will often get better service from a local company than from a large corporation.

2. Look at what other customers have said about the shop by looking at online reviews and see what their experience was. A history of satisfied customers is a good indication of a quality shop. Too many bad reviews may indicate inferior workmanship and poor customer service.

3. Look for a shop that offers a warranty against defective materials and workmanship. We all know the hassle it can be to try to have your problem resolved by people who don’t care or won’t take responsibility for the issue.

4. Check to make sure the glass shop can work with your insurance provider and handle any approvals that need to be gotten. Be careful about using a national brand even if your insurance company pressures you. You have the right to use the shop of your choice so use your own judgment and insist upon it.

5. Be wary of the cheapest quotes. Often these quotes will not include moldings or ADAS calibrations. Some companies will add these things later along with glass disposal fees. The cheap quote will get you in the door and then the surprises come. Also, the cheapest quotes often come from companies that have little commitment to quality or won’t warranty a job if anything goes wrong.

6. Good shops usually offer mobile as well as in-shop service but trust the shop if they tell you it needs to be done at their location. Many vehicles require a controlled environment for accurate calibrations.

One question we often get asked is “Is it safe to drive with a cracked windshield?” To answer this, it is important to understand what safety roles the windshield plays.

First, the windshield adds strength and rigidity to the cab of your vehicle. This is especially important in rollover accidents. The strength of the windshield is designed to reduce roof crush protecting the vehicle’s occupants.

Secondly, the passenger side airbag of many vehicles is designed to inflate from the top of the dash, contact the windshield, and fill the space between the windshield, dash and passenger. In this process, which happens in the blink of an eye, the windshield plays a critical role.

Thirdly, the windshield is made of three individual layers bonded together. Between two layers of glass is sandwiched an inner layer of polyvinyl butyral (PVB). This lamination creates a strong thin barrier protecting the occupants of the vehicle from flying rocks or debris at highway speeds. If there is enough impact to shatter the windshield, the PVB keeps the larger shards of glass from being launched into the vehicle.

In most cases of a crack developing from a small stone, the outer layer of glass is all that is broken. It is not likely that this alone would significantly compromise occupant safety though it cannot be ruled out entirely. The main concern of this type of crack is that it reduces and/or distorts the view of the driver. Additionally, the sun or other lights may be refracted into the driver’s vision creating an unsafe situation.

For this reason, it is safest to replace the windshield as soon as possible when it is cracked beyond repair.

We often get asked what the difference between OEM and aftermarket windshields is. OEM stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer and in the automotive industry OEM parts refer to the parts that were used in the vehicle from the factory. Aftermarket parts are any parts from other manufacturers that were not used in the vehicle originally.

Is there a difference in quality? As far as the glass itself, both OEM and aftermarket are held to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) and must meet requirements for:

· Transparency

· Impact resistance

· Fragmentation

· Abrasion resistance

· Weathering resistance

Because of these standards the strength and performance of the glass itself will be similar. It is in the fit and the attachments where the quality difference can sometimes be seen. Aftermarket windshields are reverse engineered by measuring and scanning to match the size, shape, and curvature of the original. This is why sometimes the fit of the glass in the opening doesn’t always match the precision of the OEM. The attachments like the moldings, camera and sensor brackets, and the mounts for the plastic shroud around the mirror cluster will in some cases be less precise making the job of the installer challenging. Good technicians know how to properly deal with these deficiencies and can do a quality installation despite this. There are times when features like Heads-Up Display (HUD) will look distorted or blurry in aftermarkets. It is also not uncommon in certain models that the ADAS camara(s) will fail to calibrate.

With these potential problems, why are so many replacements done with aftermarket glass? It boils down to price. OEM windshields are often double or triple the cost of the aftermarkets. This is an important consideration for deciding what to use in your vehicle. If you are filing a claim under your auto insurance, the glass company will need to get special approvals for OEM and depending on your policy you may have to pay an additional percentage of the glass to get approved.

We recommend to our customers that have high-end foreign vehicles like Porsche, Mercedes, Land Rover, BMW, etc. to use OEM parts. Other vehicles that we recommend OEM are any that have heads up display or certain models that frequently fail calibrations if

aftermarket is used. For the rest, aftermarket is an acceptable and less expensive alternative.

Depending on the type and size of the damage, often a windshield can be repaired instead of the more expensive process of replacement. As a general rule, if the damage will fit under a quarter, it is most likely repairable.

The repair process uses an injector to coax the repair resin into the damage by pressure and vacuum cycles until it has reached the ends of all the small legs of a star break or completely fills a bullseye. The resin is then cured to keep the damage from spreading further. Longer cracks are possible to repair, but it is unlikely that the customer will be satisfied with the results as most repairs are still somewhat visible especially at certain angles, and the cost would also increase. Repairing small star breaks or bullseyes are a great way to keep longer cracks from developing and saving the customer the cost of a new windshield.

Replacement is usually your best option when a leg of the damage has spread more than an inch and is unlikely to result in an acceptable repair. Another reason replacement would be needed is if the damage is in the viewing area of the forward facing camara(s). The camera(s) are an integral part of the ADAS features of most newer vehicles which may include Forward Collision Alert, Automatic Emergency Braking, Lane Departure Warning, and Automatic Cruise Control among others. As a result, this could cause these safety systems to malfunction. A third reason windshield replacement is your best option is when the damage is in the driver’s direct view. This could result in distorted vision and/or sunlight refracting into the driver’s eyes making driving dangerous. Even after a repair the damage is usually still visible to some degree depending on the type of damage and could cause distraction.

If you have questions about whether your windshield damage is repairable or if replacement is warranted, take your vehicle to a reputable auto glass shop for a professional opinion.

It’s hard to keep up with all the acronyms we are confronted with every day. If you own a newer vehicle, it is likely that you have heard of ADAS. This stands for Advanced Driver Assistance System. Almost all newer cars are equipped with these driver assistance features. These may include:

· Blind-Spot Monitoring (BSM)

· Forward Collision Alert (FCA)

· Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB)

· Lane Departure Warning (LDWS)

· Lane Keep Assist (LKA)

· Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC)

· Traffic Sign Recognition (TSR)

· Pedestrian Automatic Emergency Braking (PAEB)

These features (and others depending on your vehicle) work utilizing radar, lidar, and one or several camaras. These sensors and cameras are often mounted in the front and rear bumpers, grill, side mirrors, and the windshield.

When your windshield is replaced, the camera(s) must be removed from the old windshield and remounted to the new one. It is almost certain that the camera(s) will not be aimed in exactly the same spot as it was before. Even a small deviation of one or two degrees from the original position could have the safety features activate at the wrong time or not at all which could become a hazard to you and others.

For this reason, it is always important to make sure the forward-facing camera(s) is calibrated whenever the windshield is replaced. Reputable auto glass companies will have specialized equipment to calibrate the cameras on the vehicles they service or will make sure that a third party does, so that you can be sure that your safety features work properly.