Glass Suction Cup

Glass Suction Cup

Auto Glass Repair and Maintenance

Having a car means having responsibilities. One of these responsibilities is maintaining your car. Everyone knows that driving on a flat tire is bad for your car, or that you need to fill up air if it's running low. If you have a drained battery, you get a dead battery jump start. But what do you do if you get a chip in your windshield?

 

Mainly, the only place people get chipped windshields is on the streets. While driving, the debris and scattered fragments of rocks are all over the floor. A driver that tries to cut you off or maybe driving too fast can have a tiny piece of rock off the ground ricochet to your windshield causing it a minimal amount of damage, if you're lucky. But cracks are not all the same. Some need to be treated differently than others.

 

You might think to yourself that a tiny crack in your windshield won't matter and you can leave it like it is. What can happen to a tiny nick in the window of your car?

 

Before the thought enters your mind, dismiss it. There is nothing worse when dealing with a problem than procrastinating. This is especially pertinent to automotive issues. When your tire blows out on you, you don't wait a few weeks to get a new one and think that driving around on nothing but your rim will be fine. Auto glass may not be as pressing as other automotive maintenance would be, but it's just as important.

 

At first, a tiny crack can seem like nothing, and it might not be, but depending on where you are, and climate change, especially during the transfer of seasons, that crack can become more of an issue.

 

What happens with your tiny crack is that if it has space enough to let in air, then it might have space enough to let in water. It could be even be humid and the moisture in the air can fill up the crack. And since warm air can hold more moisture than cold air, when temperature decreases, the moisture expands and will most likely create "spider-webbing."

 

We've all seen it on cars; an inch or less of space on any auto glass that looks like a tiny and intricate spider web. Once this has happened to that once small chip, an increase in tiny cracks can lead to longer, more serious cracks.

 

So you end up in having to replace a windshield or side window. This will probably run up into the hundreds and all this could have been prevented with a kit that wouldn't have cost more than $25 at the most.  Even taking it into a mechanic would probably have cost as much. So why wait?

 

Places like Auto Zone and Pep Boys most definitely sell auto glass repair kits. You might even find some at a Rite Aid or Walgreen's.  But wherever you get it, make sure to do it early on to not make matters worse.

 

Monetary issues aside, not only will it worsen your auto glass if you wait, but if you are spotted by a police officer or patrolman, they will probably cite you. Sometimes they might just give you a fix-it ticket to repair the windshield and show proof that you have. But why take the chance?

 

If it is early enough you should buy a repair kit and fix it yourself. The rest of this article will explain the steps of how to use the repair kit and how to properly maintain your auto glass.

How to Repair My Auto Glass

Once you have an auto glass repair kit, there are a few easy steps to follow. They're simple enough and if you do it right, it'll work. Even if you take it to a mechanic or technician to fix, it shouldn't cost more than $30. But the windshield repair kit is preferable because it's much cheaper; usually around $8-$10. The steps to using it are as follows:

 

• The first thing you should do is having the auto glass, which is almost always the windshield, facing the sun. This is because the temperature usually aids the process along, and it helps cure the resin after it's placed into the crack. The optimum temperature for fixing cracked windshields should be between 50-75 degrees.
• When you get the kit, it should be equipped with a few things.

1. A plastic syringe to inject the resin with.
2. A sort of suction cup that looks something like a cone on a disk.
3. A plastic tab to place on the windshield with a self-adhesive backing.
4. Alcohol swabs to help clean the area.
5. Some other things you might need that do not come with the kit are something to protect your dashboard so if the adhesive drips to the other side it won't damage it, and some rags to clean up after the job is done.

• Once you have these things you can start in repairing your auto glass by cleaning up the area around the chip. Make sure to clean it thoroughly and let it dry so that why when the job is done there are no obstructions and debris sitting inside.
• With a pin, clean any broken glass inside the chip or crack. When you apply the resin, it will help by not having anything blocking the space needed to be fixed.
• Take the swabs to clean inside and outside of the windshield to prepare for the rest of the process. You want a clean surface so the process will move along smoothly.
• The next step is to take the plastic disk with the adhesive backing and line it up flush with the hole in the center. When doing this, run your finger around the disk to make sure you eliminate any and all air bubbles. Also check from the inside for what your finger might not find, your eye will.
• After it's on the windshield tight, remove the backing from the disk so you can place the cone or suction cap on it.
• Again, when you do that, make sure there are no air bubbles.
• Once you do this, you are ready to inject the resin. The kit usually comes with a tube holding the resin. If so, open the cap away from your face and cut the blocker 1/8 of an inch to let the resin out.
• Place the tube into the whole of the cone, and squeeze almost ¾ of the resin out so you have some to save for later when you're at the end. When you're done loading the resin, take the rag and clean the top to make sure there is none hanging around. If you touch it with your hands it can be dangerous. If you do, make sure to keep your hands away from your eyes.
• Next, take the syringe with the plunger and place it in the cone. You might have to twist it to get it right, so make sure there is no air space available. The plunger of the syringe should also be all the way down.
• There should be indented setting on the plunger, so once the syringe is inside tight, hold it with one hand and then pull the plunger out and place it on the second indented setting. This allows making sure there are no air pockets for the resin to escape to.
• You should let this sit for about 10 minutes to let the resin set.
• After it has settled, with the plunger set in the same place, remove the syringe from the cone. This will let air into the syringe to help compress the resin into the cracks when you move the plunger in.
• Place the syringe back on with the plunger in the same place. Then, with one hand on the syringe and hand on the plunger, push it down to first indent on the plunger and set it there. Let this sit for 20 minutes to let the effects take hold.
• When the time is up, take off the syringe as well as the cone. Do this slowly. Any hard or sudden pull could damage the work already done.
• After it's off, scrape off the rest of the resin that has congealed on the windshield. For this you can use a safety razor.
• Now the rest of the resin you left in the tube will be used. Squeeze some onto the chip on the windshield. In most cases there should be some sort of strip to place on it to let the resin set in. Once you do this, make sure there are no air bubbles. Let it sit for 15 to 20 minutes for the resin to do its job. After the time is up, remove it and clean the rest of the resin that was packed in and spread under the strip.
• Once the process is over, clean the windshield. Your crack is now fixed.

In some cases you might notice that the crack is still there but the thing is that it is fixed. When you have a crack fixed, the job is less of a superficial one and more of a structural job. You might not get it to look brand new, but the kit has served its purpose.

 

If you're driving on the street and you happen to get you auto glass chipped, the best thing you can do to make sure that no debris or any particles in the air get into it is have some clear tape to put on the crack. That way there is nothing blocking your view, and you're protecting your auto glass long enough for you to do something about it.

 

Between the time you get a chip to the time you fix it, there a few things you should avoid to make the chip worse.

 

• You should always try to avoid any sort of extreme temperatures. Like it was stated before, any sort of moisture being stuck in the crack can expand and make it worse.
• Make sure you keep your car somewhere where there won't be any drastic temperature changes. This also comes back to moisture worsening your windshield.

 

Try to keep your car stationary so your risk of running into different temperatures is minimized. The maintenance of your car should always be first and foremost on your mind. Remember that just because it's not obvious or pressing, it does not mean that it could wait.

About the Author

There are glass repair comapnies across the Unted States that do quality work with windshields. Portland Auto Glass Repair Specialists will charge a fair price for the labor. Examine their track record and website for information on their services before making up your mind.

Are glass thermometers better than stick-on strip ones?

I just want to know if the glass thermometers that go inside the aquarium and stick on the glass with a suction cup are better and more accurate than the stick-on thermometer strips that go on the outside of the tank?

Does the ambient room temperature affect the temperature readings of the strip stick-ons since they're outside the tank?

Glass thermometer readers tend to be much, much more accurate. Stick-on strip thermometers are much better than nothing, but are not very accurate.

I've now switched almost entirely to an electronic thermometer with a digital readout and a probe that goes in the water. I can monitor the temperature at a glance rather than trying to peer through the water at a glass thermometer.

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