Cracked Windshield

[argve]

Ok I got crack that is becoming a royal pain - it's growing. With the temp swings that we have been having it's starting to make pretty good progress. I was over at Wally World today scouting out some tire prices and seen this deal where they have an epoxy out that you squeeze into the rock chip or crack - basically it glues it back together. I know this will not be a permanent fix but it might slow it's progress down til after we get back from Walt Disney World next month - trying to save every last dime before going because we all know Mickey ain't cheap. Gotta get tires but don't really want to fork out and addt'l $200 bucks for a windshield if I can keep from it. I have to get new tires for the rear (that one drive tire just seems to keep loosing tread at an accelerated rate for some odd reason - can't seem to figure out why )

Crack is on the passengers side so it's not a big deal to me but Sherri is giving me grief about it - She's dead set on it's gonna fall out or something while we drive - I told her if it does it will just be poor mans air conditioning - She's not buying that one...

Like I said I know it can't fix it, damn thing is now probably 2 foot long (trust me it has a mission in life and is working hard to get there)... Just want to stop it's progress until after I hand all my hard earned money over to WDW. - Read: me poor boy...

 

[MnTom]

Is there any chance your insurance will cover it? Have you tried contacting any windshield place to see what else might be available?

 

[argve]

Well I picked up a package while we went to get Sherman from school and read the package directions. Looks like it's a UV cure epoxy so I have some more faith... Says it will take care of a 12 inch crack so I'm going to pick up a second package and give it a whirl around the block.

I'll take some before and after pics so we can all see if I wasted my money or not... $10 per package

I'm not going to turn it into my insurance because with Sherri's record we simply can't afford to have another claim. She totalled her Blazer at Christmas of 2003, then crashed her mini van this past fall - aye aye yie... That in it's self if a long story but we're getting that taken care of (medical reasons)... So this repair is all mine (better finacially in the long run). Plus deduc is $250 so with a new winder costing only $211+tax I'm still better off to just pay out of pocket.

I'm going to try and do the repair this week. Hoping the temps climb back up some it's in the 20's today but we did have upper 50's this past weekend so I'm keepign my fingers crossed...

 

[MnTom]

Good Luck and keep us informed.
Tom

 

[argve]

Well it seems to work. You stand back from the glass (anything over 2 feet) and you can't see the crack. They use a UV cure epoxy, once you scrape away the excess it blends right in. I'm sort of proud of the cheap little kit. No it did not make it totally disappear but it looks damn nice if I say so myself. I did remember to take some pictures after I was half way through spreading the epoxy on the crack so you get no pictures... Figured what's the point of taking some of the crack afterwards because if you did not know how long it was in the first place then it would do no good... Oh well I do have a couple of rock chips that I'm going to give it a whirl later on today or tomorrow. It's starting to snow now so the windshield repair class was cancelled because both the student and teacher said BEER ME!

But I'll try to remember the pics of the rock chips.

 

[EMD Diesel Power]

Windshield for only 211 bucks? wow! My dad had his replaced not too long ago (year or so ago) on his 97 gasser and the glass guy said it would have been 600 bucks or so without insurance.

Prices drop fast now I guess. I do know that when the trucks were new, the windshields were over 800 bucks for replacement.



the DIY epoxy kits are generally a temporary fix. I was surprised that it said you could use it on a big crack. was under the impression that they were only good for stone chips and stuff and once the crack started... you were SOL--- it would keep growing eventually. Have to see how your fix works.

 

[argve]

The shops around here ran from anywhere from $211 and up. I can't remember the top price but one guy said something to the effect of $400~500 bucks and I told him that he won the award of having the highest price in town and said "You don't sell many of them do ya?" Don't know what he said after that because I was in the process of hanging up the phone. There was no point in talking with him because there was no way he was going to drop down to compete with the others in town. This guy was leagues ahead of everyone else.

I'm just hoping to make the repair last for a month but I'll see how it goes. If it lasts longer I'll run it longer but if not no real biggie because I'm was planning on seeing the glass man by this time next month...