# Forum Home Renovation General Odds & Sods  Windscreen chip repair

## justonething

On my way to Bunnings to buy a 20 cents o ring, I got a stone chip about the size of a pea on my windscreen. I was thinking about buying a repair kit from super cheap auto and have a go myself. Had a look at YouTube on how to repair with epoxy and found that you need a special jig to do a good job. Has anybody done such repair? I am tempted to get RACV to do it but I will check in to see the collected wisdom on this matter. It is looking like a $100.20 o ring by the minute.

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## chalkyt

Bugg*r... sometimes the collateral damage just pops up. I live in a rural area and these things do happen from time to time. I have just lived with them until the rego man says that the windscreen isn't up to scratch. With a bit of shopping around, a new windscreen can be just as cheap as a couple of repairs, and it is all shiny and brand new. Do you have windscreen insurance? 
A short while ago someone (not me, fortunately) put a rock from a whipper snipper through my rear windscreen. The quotes ranged from $1800 for a genuine part from the MV dealer, to $900 for a "replacement" part from the windscreen people, to $300 from the local panel beater who just happened to have a "non-genuine" one in stock! 
I have used the assorted friendly windscreen repairers in the past and they do seem to have all sorts of special bits that would probably cost as much to buy as the cost of the repair. I am not sure that any of the repairs have beeb "invisible". Horses for courses, sometimes it is worth paying the "expert", even though we all think we can do everything.

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## commodorenut

I have had a few done over the years on company cars by the professionals, and you can barely tell anything happened. 
But on one of my own cars, I used a DIY kit, to the letter of the instructions, and it was passable as a repair, but still very visible (can't see the chip, just a semi-transparent area).  
I wasn't impressed with the finish compared to the pro job, and I wouldn't bother again.

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## justonething

300 bucks is a good price for a windscreen. Anyhow, I saw this on youtube and I could buy the kit from supercheap. I think I'll try my hands somewhere less obvious first though.

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## METRIX

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gqOIlWqjk4

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## Bros

How did you get the stone chip? Mowing contractors carry insurance to cover stone damage as my BIL made a claim on one mowing the side of the road. He got a new windscreen and 2 days later got a chip from a roadworks when passing another car.
I took one of my vehicles to a big name windscreen repairer and they wouldn't repair the chip as they said it was to big, went to another and got it fixed. Best to get it done straight away so the chip is clean. One thing that can happen if you don't fix it as it can start a crack which will require a replacement.

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## Marc

I had someone taking a shot at my car with what seemed to be a .22 from far enough to only do marginal damage. O'brien repaired the chip with resin and I did not pay a thing. At the time I was insured by Australian 4wd Insurance.

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## SilentButDeadly

I did the repair once...and I've still got a kit somewhere.  These days, being a country driver, I get stone chips 'often'.  So much so that I pay an extra $50 per annum on my car insurance and get a new windscreen every six years...next one is due anytime! Though this time I do have to get some rust repairs done as well so I might have to pay for this one....

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## ringtail

Front or rear screen for just about any car on the road ( exotics excluded) is about $200 trade. Fitters will charge an insurance company $600 ish. So if you have to break a window to get into your car always break the front screen and never, ever a side window. They cost heaps to fix but a front or rear screen is cheap as. Not worth repairing generally. Just wait until you get a few more bullseyes and replace it. If you're not in the trade do a cashy with your local mechanic  :Tongue:

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## justonething

Ringtail, where would I get a screen replaced trade (excluding my local mechanic)? 600 buck was exactly what the RACV screen repair guy quoted me.
 I had my windscreen repaired today. I also had a cracked filling repaired by my dentist. The dentist charged me 275 and windscreen repairer 90 bucks. The processes for both looked pretty similar, UV lights etc. The dentist took a lot more care and subsequently charged more but I reckoned they used similar epoxy material???
I don't think I'll ever fix my own teeth, but I reckon I am ready to have a go with the repair kit next time, unless I can get a cheap screen like ringtail said.

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## ringtail

600 is a shafting. There are specialised screen fitters that only deal within the trade. Ask your mechanic to make the phone call to whoever he uses then pay them cash direct and give your mechanic a six pack for making a phone call.

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## commodorenut

> ..... So if you have to break a window to get  into your car always break the front screen and never, ever a side  window. ....

  Side windows in the doors are generally far cheaper than a screen in my experience - especially when it comes to the labour costs. 
And you don't have to go through the hassles of having new ones bonded in place with urethane like the majority of screens these days (front, rear, and fixed sides). 
To give you my example - I had a brand new (locally built) company car in 2007 that was a week old, when a would-be thief smashed the LH rear side door glass (both bits).
The klutz of a thief couldn't reach the door lock after smashing the fixed 1/4 window, so he also smashed the main up/down window as well.   
The main up/down window from the dealer was $65, and the small fixed 1/4 window was $90 (go figure on the cost vs size difference!).  
Fitting took less than 20 minutes, although I did spend over an hour down the car wash vacuuming all the crumbs out properly before they put the trim back on. 
If it's an older car, like my neighbour's kid's corolla, the driver's door window is $35 from the wrecker.  Much cheaper than a $250 windscreen...... 
I'd be smashing a door glass every time, and steering well clear of any fixed window that's bonded in.  Especially a windscreen, which is laminated, and is damn near impossible to get through to "gain access" to the interior - not to mention the hazard of the shards of glass the laminated screens produce (unlike the tempered side windows that shatter into crumbs).

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## Marc

Agree completely, smash the windscreen to gain access is lunacy.

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## ringtail

No way is anyone replacing a power window glass in 20 minutes, in any car. However, the cars that I worked on for 15 years (Beemers and Benz) are a lot dearer than that. Try 1000 for door glass, an hour to de trim the door, an hour to fit the glass to the window regulator, an hour to re fit the regulator to the door and another hour to retrim the door = $1500 job

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## ringtail

For example, we had a customer with a 750iL and he had left his passport in the glovebox and caught a cab to the airport. His windscreen was smashed, passport retrieved and sent to the airport, screen fitter replaced the screen on site for $240 ( they have the antenna running through the glass too) happy days. 
Marc, whatever car you drive ( landcruiser?) price up a drivers window and get a quote to replace it. You will change your mind.

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## commodorenut

I still don't understand why anyone would try to smash through a laminated screen, having to hack through the inner polymer layer, spraying slivers of sharp glass everywhere, and how the hell they could reach into a glovebox that way without severing important arteries....  Lunacy is the correct word.  
Independent windscreen guy (best quote) was $380 for my VE windscreen (not the basic one - the proper acoustic glass, and with the auto-wiper provisions).  
A lot more than $250, but still a lot less than the big-name glass people. 
I can tell you that the guys at my local Toyota dealer had the door trim off, and the new glass in, in under 15 minutes (and it was a power window).  
It only took them 5 minutes to refit the trim when I returned with the cleaned car. 
The neighbour's corolla (he smashed the driver's window after locking the keys in the hatch) was a 20 minute job for me at home.  
Heck even the tenant's son's AU Falcon driver's window reg only took me 1/2 hour from go-to-whoa, and that needed rivets drilled out & replaced too! 
If it takes a professional such a long time on a simple side glass repair, then it's no wonder dealership servicing costs are so high.....  
Here's what a smashed screen looks like - no access, all the glass is retained by the polymer layer in the middle of the laminated layers:    
And what it looks like after enough force (try that without injuring yourself) is applied to breach the polymer layer:    
And the ensuing mess inside the car you'd have to drag your arm over to even get near the glovebox:    
In fact, I'd raise doubts over being able to physically reach the glovebox latch via the windscreen opening in most cars that have the catch favoured to the driver's side - it's simply too far away from someone standing beside the vehicle reaching in via the screen opening (even without all the hazardous shards of glass around the hole). 
Much easier (and safer) to smash the tempered side glass, and reach in - either directly, or open the locked door from inside (it it allows, as some cars will deadlock).  
This example is how tempered glass breaks:

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## ringtail

Yep well, different strokes for different folks. On euro stuff, glass repairs generally are anything but simple. I feel sorry for you having to work on a falcon  :Tongue:

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## Marc

Ok, this is purely academic since the OP was talking about repairing a chip, but hey, just for fun, Obrien has quoted me 528 for the windscreen and 478 for the passenger front window, that after the usual BS about "discounts" etc, comes down to 422 for windscreen and 382 for side window. 
Furthermore, smashing the window or if you are really drunk, the windscreen from your own car would void insurance and would be only justified in a life threatening situation. 
In my case it is still cheaper to brake side window. 
I am not arguing that there may be some cars who's windscreen is generic size and side window perhaps not so common. So If you drive a Panther De Ville, check before you brake.

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## SilentButDeadly

Dealer price for the rear door sliding window in my ute (when it was available) was $1,500.  I know this because I had to source one.  These days it is unobtanium as a genuine part unless it is imported from a wrecker in Europe.  Fortunately, I could replace it with a custom sliding marine window...but I'm still looking at north of $500.  Hence why I pay extra for glass insurance...

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## Bros

When I replaced a windscreen on a Corolla about 6 yrs ago Obriens were the most expensive.

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