Tiny Stone Chips in Windscreen

Paul224

Had my windscreen hit by a stone yesterday leaving about a 4" long crack protruding in from the very edge of the screen (driver's side). Well, I say stone, more mini meteorite!

Went out today for a drive and the crack has literally grown about another 4" so got a screen replacement booked in with Autoglass on Thursday (as you say, no need to contact the insurer). £75 excess to pay but safety comes first, especially with two kids.  Second stone to hit the screen in about a fortnight mind so I'm hoping that's my quota for the year!

Autopilot

Those types of surface (not full cracks) chips won’t get any worse, only worth fixing for cosmetic reasons or if they are in your eye line. Although if deep enough can effect your wiper blades.

I used to repair widescreens. Dead easy to fix those, just grind it out very slightly with a dremmel (seems counter productive, but so it’s completely clean and the resin will hold). A little glass resin, a little finishing resin, level with a blade and polish out. Should be virtually invisible even when right in you eye line. Never more than £10, I would usually charge £5 for one or £15 to do the whole screen (some people end up with lots).

The kits are rubbish if you want an ‘invisible’ repair. Halfords are often done by inexperienced teenagers who don’t care about the quality. And the big firms like auto glass either won’t do that type of repair, or just care about fitting a whole new screen. Maybe try proper repair company, like Optikclear.

Autopilot

You might not believe it, but if you went to a decent glass repair specialist, you might be able to get that repaired. Thus preserving the factory seal. I used to do large cracks, especially on HGV’s which have very expensive screens.

Paul224

Many thanks for the advice. Tbh I've no idea if it's repairable but when I was on the Autoglass website it stated that the only option available with a crack was a replacement.

No doubt Autoglass will agree when they see it (more so if it's more financially viable for them!) but for the sake of £75 at least I'll have a new screen regardless.

And it needed a clean anyway... [emoji12]

Bl4ckGryph0n

I moved from a company vehicle to a private insurance as well. I think it was from A-Plan to Aviva. Did not cause any issues for me.

Autopilot

Yes that’s exactly what they will say, because a replacement window is quicker, easier and a lot more profitable.

I have had customers tell me that Autoglass told them their damage was impossible to repair, which I then repaired.

But finding people with the skill is next to impossible these days, as the big firms squeezed them out, so if you are happy to replace then do that.

nheather

Thanks,

That is what I was wondering.  It looks like a white dot, less than 0.5mm in diameter - have to look hard to find it.  There is a tiny depth to it which is not obvious to look at but you can feel by running your finger over it.

Which is why I was asking the question - is it worth/necessary to do this, not whether I should do it on insurance.

Asking here rather than a windscreen repairer on the assumption that they will say "of course it needs repairing" even if it doesn't.

Cheers,

Nigel

Autopilot

That’s exactly what I was taking about, just a small white pit, with no cracks. You should be fine leaving it.

mikes48

Well that's reassuring to me - my current car, which was 3 yrs old when I bought it last August,  has 55 chips on the windscreen. I tried counting them but kept losing track so I ended up putting a little yellow sticker on each chip and taking a photo -

                                                                               

Annoying thing is, the car I traded in, a 59-reg XF with 80,000-odd miles on the clock didn't have a single chip on the screen, yet my "new" one has 55 . (old one had much better tyres on it, too ).

Anyway, looks like the chips won't come to anything, so that's good.

Yeah, I'd have taken the car back to the dealer when I found the chips - but that would have been a 490 mile round trip so didn't bother.

So, no worries about the tiny chips .

LJx

Autoglass won't even repair them if they are smaller than 3mm