How To Deal With A Windshield Crack
Other than dealing with slow drivers, horse-drawn wheeled contraptions in the slow lane, and incessantly lurking speed cameras, drivers have also got one other major pain in the neck to put up with during their everyday automotive excursions – windshield cracks.
Whether they’re brought about by a catastrophic hail storm that comes out of the blue, or a passing truck propelled a tiny pellet from off the road straight into your car’s face, so to speak, these occurrences can not only be annoying, but pretty dangerous if the damage dealt is left unattended.
In this article, we’ll talk about these tiny (hell-bent on getting bigger, as well) cracks ‘n’ chinks in your car’s frontal armour and provide you with some tips on how to deal with them when they do occur.
Without further ado, here’s the deal.
Perils of a Cracked Windshield
Other than being a major eyesore and massively distracting, a crack in your windshield can also create a slew of problems for you if you don’t fix it in time.
The rub is, of course, that, as is the case with pretty much any crack – it tends to spread. Since a small hole or a chink in a material such as glass or even plastic represents a weak point, any kind of pressure will likely cause it to deteriorate.
In the worst case scenario, a wee crack can cause your windshield to completely smash into smithereens! Have this happen to you in the open road and at speed, and this initially small problem can easily snowball into a major car accident.
Even if you don’t experience this sort of automotive disaster, a crack in the windshield that’s left unattended may mean you’ll have to replace the entire windshield rather than just fixing the initial damage!
Insurance and Windshield Cracks
Depending on your insurance package, you may get your windshield fixed as a part of the deal you’ve made. Typically, many car insurance companies offer bulk deals (that probably cost more money) that cover any sort of unpredictable fall damage to your vehicle.
This would include anything from a hail storm to a rogue piano crash-landing on your roof!
With some other, less well-rounded insurance deals, you may not get this as a part of the package, so make sure to read your contract carefully, as you may have the opportunity to spend less money on fixing your windshield with the insurance thing onboard rather than paying for it yourself.
How to Take Care of a Chipped Windshield
Get a DIY Kit
If you’re, in fact, not covered by insurance in regard to your windshield situation, the first best way to get it fixed would be to do it yourself. Be cautious, however, as this solution would only really apply to smaller cracks. For the bigger ones, you’ll probably be better off calling in professionals for car window replacement.
Luckily for a handyman at heart, there is a decent amount of DIY kits out there which you can use to repair your windshield.
So, if the chink’s not that large and you think you can take care of it yourself, getting a DIY set might just do the trick. Just make sure to follow the instructions to a T and you should be good.
Whip Out Some Nail Polish or Superglue
Another crafty DIY solution you can try out would include obtaining some nail polish or superglue of all things!
While not the most cosmetic solutions out there, both of these seem to do a good job of stopping the crack from spreading further. (Mind you, this would only represent a temporary solution, and you should definitely get your windshield check by a professional as soon as possible anyway.)
The thing to do is the following:
- Clean out any impurities that may have accumulated in the opening along the way,
- Take some nail polish or superglue and apply generous amounts of them in the crack,
- That should be it!
The idea here, really, is to stop the chink from expanding rather than fixing it properly, so if you’re in the middle of nowhere and happen to have some super glue on you, you may want to try out this solution as a first aid thing.
All things considered, addressing the crack in a windshield, no matter how small, before it becomes a full-blown view-obstructing, shard-shattering automotive peril is a must if you mean yourself well out there on the road.
Remember, while fixing the thing yourself can sometimes do the trick, you should always consider this solution a temporary one, as consulting a professional should always be the go-to move in these situations.