Windshield chips are bound to happen. To make matters worse a couple of miles of highway we travel multiple times per day recently got resurfaced with a chip seal treatment. It is nice in the end, but there is a lot of loose rock while it is being applied.
We ended up with two significant chips on the windshield of the car our son drives. I had a local windshield repair shop repair them. They charged $40 for the first repair and gave me a discount on the second one for a total of $65.
This weekend my wife came home with a new chip in the windshield of the vehicle she drives. We had just replaced that windshield 18 months ago due to a chip that grew to a crack that spanned all the way across. We didn’t want that to happen again.
I had contemplated buying a windshield repair kit when getting a chip before, but had always shied away. I watched the following video to get a sense for the effort and time involved as well is if it worked or not.
I was able to find the Rain – X Windshield Repair Kit mentioned in the video at Wal-Mart for $11. The instructions were clear. The process was fairly easy and only took about 20 minutes. Since it is around 20 degrees today I did warm up with windshield with some indirect heat using a heat lamp. One thing to note is the instructions mention parking the vehicle in the sun for the product to cure. The reason for this is not the temperature, but the UV light.
Keep in mind the goal here is not to make the chip disappear, but rather to minimize it and keep it from spreading. I think it turned out pretty well. What do you think?
Frugal Fixes 