I just received a big stone hit in the black below the wiper and it has spread six inches. Any way to contain the damage, i.e. drilling a small hole, etc.?

Thanks,
Mike

 

I've seen places that advertise fixing cracks up to 6" or 12" in length, but in practice, I haven't seen any really good repairs on anything bigger than stone chips, fisheyes, or stars. Once they start to run, you're pretty much SOL. Of course, I'm 3 for 3 on broken glass on my cars - '93 Wrangler shattered, '03 Pilot clear across the botton and one more on the passenger side, '04 MCS bottom of the driver's side, and one on the passenger side. Thanks, Colorado roads. . .

 

Call safelite www.safelite.com. They have a patented windshield crack repair system called "Repair medics". They do have a limit as to the length of the crack to be reparaible. Your insurance glass deductible should cover the cost of the repair (Done while you wait at home or work, about 25-30 minutes) and you'll save the all important windshield factory seal.

Give them a try and don't even attempt to repair this yourself!

 

its in the black.


any strong wind will crack it now, once its on the black, its only a matter of time before it spreads......

 

I have something to share, but please don't even consider doing this to your car (or having someone else do it)!

I grew up in a small farming town in Illinois, population <2700. This is the kind of town where the mechanics would do things like going out back and pulling parts off a rusted old tractor, to get some city guy's Cadillac running good enough to get him back to St. Louie.

My dad's Oldsmobile convertible got a crack in the windshield, starting right about the center at the bottom. It was gradually snaking its way up the middle of the windshield. My dad took the car to the local mechanic and he took a glass cutter - one of those metal things about the size of a pencil, with a tiny wheel at the end - placed the wheel of the cutter right at the end of the crack, and - zzzrreeeek! (that was supposed to sound like a glass cutter) - pulled the cutter around in a circle, about 270 degrees. No charge.

As my dad continued to drive the car, sure enough, the crack followed the line the mechanic had scratched in the windshield. It turned around, back on itself, and continued on until it intersected with the original crack. (Looked like a tall, skinny capital "P" with a tiny head.) And there it stopped.

I was only about five, but I remember it so vividly. The car had a bench seat, so I always sat in the middle, between Mom and Dad, right in front of the crack, watching it turning back on itself, getting a little longer each day. Once it came all the way back, I kept waiting for the day when the middle part of the "P" would fall out, but it never did. (Now I realize it was probably safety glass back (didn't they have it by 1954/55?) and the piece never would have fallen out.)

Ah, the good old days of the shade tree mechanic!

 

. . . I'll give the pros a call tomorrow and see if they can at least control it. Maybe I can use a glass cutter to etch an "OEM GLASS SUCKS" starter course for the big split to follow!

Mike