Everyone,

My 1997 C2 has just 25,000 miles on it and the original windshield. I'm surprised by the number of small rock chips in the windshield - probably a half-dozen in various spots. Not bad enough to warrant windshield replacement, but ugly from a cosmetic standpoint. I've had cars with 4x the mileage w/o this number of chips. Car has never been tracked - anybody know why the w/s chips so easily?

Safelite Auto Glass Company (I believe they are a national auto-glass repair company) says they have a system to repair these stone-chips. I talked to their tech guys in Syracuse and checked it out on-line and it sounds very good. I even talked to their competitors and they said that Safelite has a very good system. Basically they enlarge the hole, fill it with a special clear resin, draw a vacuum on it and cure the resin with UV light.

My question to the group is whether anyone has repaired small stone chips this way and what their experience has been - particularly with Safelite. Any reponses would be appreciated.

Mike Cap
1997 C2
Arena Red

 

There are a couple of interesting threads in the archives... look at "windshield chips". Seems that Safelite did a good job for at least one Rennlister.

So.... why are our windshields so soft?

 

German Glass is soft to prevent cracking. It will leave small chips and not crack and spread as easily but the down side is the sandblasting effect itgives you. I washed mine with Dawn dishsoap and wiped RainX on the window it filled alot of the pitting and helped clear the view up a little.

 

I agree about the German glass. My 1974 Mercedes 450 SL windshield looked like the dark side of the moon. Thanks for the tip on the Rainex, I'll give that a try.

 

Is anyone aware that newsprint is a glass polish ?? I clean my windshield twice a week with damp newspapers (black & white only) and buff with a dry one - over the past 2 years, this simple little procedure has *greatly* reduced the pitting in my glass. I have 80K miles on my car now, and the glass looks almost new, save for the serious chips.

Hope that helps!

sean

 

Is anyone aware that newsprint is a glass polish ?? I clean my windshield twice a week with damp newspapers (black & white only) and buff with a dry one - over the past 2 years, this simple little procedure has *greatly* reduced the pitting in my glass. I have 80K miles on my car now, and the glass looks almost new, save for the serious chips.

Hope that helps!

sean

 

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by Sean Spicer:
<strong>Is anyone aware that newsprint is a glass polish ?? I clean my windshield twice a week with damp newspapers (black & white only) and buff with a dry one - over the past 2 years, this simple little procedure has *greatly* reduced the pitting in my glass.
</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Before Giuliani, you used to get this done for a quarter every time you entered Manhattan via the Midtown tunnel. Somehow, I don't miss it. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

 

Mike:
If you lived in Southern California, your windshield would not just be chipped, but it would also be cracked by now. Courtesy of all those stupid gravel trucks that drop rocks all over the freeway. My daily commuter Toyota truck has received 3 chips and one long crack in just the first year I've had it. But, it does seem, to me, that the windshield glass in my Porsche is tougher than that in my Toyota. The Porsche has had rocks hit it but has yet to crack (said while keeping fingers crossed). I've had the resin repair done on a windshield before. It's good on bullseye chips, negating about 50% of the distortion. But, once the chip begins to spider, forget it. Live with it or replace the windshield.