I caught a stone on my way into work this morning and I have a small (<.100") chip in my windshield. Has anyone used one of those kits to repair it themselves and if so, how did the repair turn out? Or is it not worth the effort?
I had a chip in the windshield. Took it to a local glass place and they did the epoxy thing. Took about an hour and lasted without issue for 6 years until I traded the car in. Don't know how well the do-it-youself-kits work, but the epoxy fill thing definitely works if you get it done before the damage spreads.
I've seen some epoxy kits for ~$10 at the auto parts stores. The local shop with good reviews quoted me $40. I'm probably splitting hairs here, but $30 is $30. I'm more worried that the repairs are more complicated than I think and it's best left to professionals.
Pretty sure the glass guys use a vacuum to get the resin in the crack, don't know if that kit comes with something that does that, if not I'd pay a pro if you want it to work properly.
I paid to have a chip fixed. I don't remember the price so it must not have hurt too bad. The repair was virtually invisible. They'll come to you, if you want.
I have used this 3 times with excellent results: https://www.rainx.com/product/windshield-repair-kit/rain-x-windshield-repair-kit/#.WsU97pZlBGo
Contact your insurance company. They may have the chip repaired for free. The premise being that they would rather pay a small fee to repair the chip than to replace the entire windshield. That’s what I did.
I used the 3M kit on my ram about 60K miles ago. Still good as new. Comes with a suction syringe thing to fill it all the way down. Can't even tell it is there.
It's a trap ! I don't do that shit anymore. If you do the chip repair thing, it counts as a claim with your insurer. Plus, there's no warranty your windshield won't crack. So might as well leave it and claim a windshield when it does crack. At least your claim will have given you a solid new windshield.
Our insurance has replaced the windshield on our FJ Cruiser twice for no cost. It's about due for a 3rd one.
For those of you who claim the chip, how does that effect your premiums? I ended up paying for it out of pocket because I went to the shop before the thread took off, but I'm curious for the future.
In our case, they claimed it didn't change the premiums, and it doesn't seem to have. I consider that stuff too. For my business, I have small losses all the time, used batteries stolen, (7 forklifts and work truck batteries hit in one weekend) windows broken, etc., since I'm in the ghetto of Long Beach. I haven't filed claims on any of that stuff, maybe stupidly, because when something big happens I want coverage and I don't want a few piddly claims to get me dropped. There aren't that many companies that I've found to write insurance for forklift companies.
I’ve done the self repair and also have had safelite do another repair. For all the effort involved it’s just easier to have someone do it for the price and also it comes out better and it has a warranty
Safelite, 1 year warranty that it won't spread or they replace the windshield. Had 5 done same shield, all good until the truck was gone. All but one was invisible, the last one not worth mentioning.
