A chipped windscreen, or windshield, can be more than an annoyance. If not promptly repaired, the chip can widen into a crack that threatens the structural integrity of your windshield. If the damage impairs your view of the road, it can even be illegal to drive that car until the windshield is fixed. Some chips can be repaired at home, but others are best addressed by a professional.
Instructions
- 1
Check to see if windshield repair is covered by your auto insurance policy. It's cheaper to have a damaged windshield repaired than to replace it entirely, so insurers are therefore more likely to cover repairs.
2Buy a do-it-yourself injection kit from an auto supply shop. An injection kit has a tube of clear resin and a syringe; you clean all glass fragments from the chip, inject the resin into the chip with the syringe, and let the sun dry and harden the resin, which is formulated to be undetectable when dry. This kind of repair works best on small chips, not cracks.
3Buy a bridge-style repair kit if you have many chips to repair, or anticipate future repairs. These kits differ from the syringe kits in that syringe kits are single-use, and the sturdier bridge kits can be refilled and reused. These are the kits preferred by professionals, though they can be somewhat more expensive than single-use kits.
4Admit the truth if your windshield is too far gone for home repair. If the chip has widened into a large crack, has branched out into "spider legs" or is otherwise growing, take it to the shop.
