Small Crack In My Windshield

How to Repair a Windshield Easily

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Windshield crack repair kits can be found in the auto parts department of many mass merchandisers like Kmart, Sears and Wal-Mart, as well as more traditional auto parts stores like Pep Boys and AutoZone. Failing that, the warehouse-distributor auto parts stores that cater to professional mechanics can supply you.

In the New York area, we found two different types of repair kits and there may be others. Expect to pay around 10 bucks. Procedures differ marginally, but the principle is the same. We fixed a couple of windshields, and the results were excellent.How Dry I Am

Start with an absolutely dry windshield that s somewhere near room temperature. Tough on a rainy or wintery day, so you may need to park your car indoors for a while to equilibrate. Dry is really essential--you don t want to trap any water in the repair. Use a hair dryer if the window is wet. If the surface is dirty, don t use any detergents or window cleaner. Lighter fluid or acetone can help dry and clean the surface, but don t use so much that it dribbles down the glass and peels the paint, or worse.Chips Ahoy

We first used a simple kit from Loctite with a one-part adhesive and an uncomplicated syringe to apply it. Start by peeling off the backing film on one side of the precut adhesive strip and applying it to the precleaned glass, centered over the chip. Burnish with the back of your thumbnail or a blunt object. Now peel the remaining film. Orient the plastic adapter so that the fitting is as close to vertical as possible and stick it to the film. Burnish again.

Pull the cap off the syringe, keeping it pointy-end up so the adhesive doesn t wind up on the fender. Attach the syringe to the adapter. Now here s the tricky part--lay your watch down somewhere so you can see the second hand. Grasp the syringe body with one hand to stabilize it, and pull the handle of the syringe out as far as it will go. Because you ve taken your watch off, you can hold the handle in this position for a full minute. This pulls a partial vacuum in the syringe--and in the crack. While you re holding this vacuum, the air in the crack bubbles up through the adhesive in the syringe, while adhesive creeps down toward the glass and chip.

Now let go of the handle. Don t follow the handle, let it go abruptly. The pressure wave from the handle slamming down will force adhesive into the crack. Repeat this suck-and-slam operation a half-dozen times or so, forcing the crack virtually full of adhesive.

Now remove the syringe, adapter and adhesive sheet. There will be a film of adhesive on the surface of the glass. You can chase that back with an alcohol-dampened paper towel, but leave the pimple of adhesive right above the crack undisturbed until it cures for a few hours.

With the pimple hardened, simply take a single-edge razor blade and shave the protruding adhesive off. Use a sharp blade, and you ll be able to do this in a single pass.

Take care to burnish the adhesive patch to a perfectly clean windshield and adapter, or you ll make a mess later.The Other Path

We tried a different crack repair kit as well. This differed in that it used a two-part adhesive. This required us to mix two small vials of adhesive and hardener in the syringe before starting, which was simple. The adhesive disc and syringe adapter were similar if not identical to the simpler kit s, and were applied in an identical fashion. The syringe, however, was more complex. It used a wire latch arrangement on the body that dropped into two notches on the handle when necessary. A simple pushpin stuck into the body was used as a very crude valve to let air in and out of the body. Once the syringe is attached to the adapter the adapter already being stuck airtight to the glass, the pushpin is removed. Now bottom the syringe plunger, pushing the air out. Insert the pin, and pull the handle out until the clip clicks into the slot. This will hold the plunger out, and the partial vacuum under it for the designated time.

Now, rather than rapidly releasing the pressure like we did with the earlier kit, remove the pin, admitting air into the syringe barrel. Now replace the pin, sealing the hole. Release the clip, and push the handle in, lightly pressurizing the barrel and forcing adhesive into the chip for a minute or so. The second slot will trap the clip as soon as you ve pushed in far enough. Repeat this vent, suck, vent, squeeze operation several times to force adhesive into the crack.

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