Were you cruising around town, going on a road trip, or perhaps simply driving along your usual routine on your way to work or as you were heading home when a rock suddenly comes out of nowhere and lands on your windshield? It’s pretty normal to get rock chips and bulls eyes and make your windshield look junky. Sometimes, it can even obscure your vision making it dangerous to drive especially during night. Well don’t worry because this article will help you learn how to repair car windshield on your own. Yes, that’s right! You don’t have to go to a professional auto shop or purchase a new windshield. These two options can be costly as compared to doing it on your own as long as you’re confident with yourself. All you need to do is to purchase a windshield repair kit and the rest of the job will be done by you. Continue reading to learn how to repair car windshield today!
You might not be aware but there are several windshield repair kits available in the market today. They are quite easy to do. These kits come in a complete package and a set of instructions. You can easily buy them almost everywhere. So just visit your local hardware or auto shop and look for one. But before you do, you should be 100% sure that the rock chip in your windshield is repairable by such kits. If there are running cracks in your windshield, it could be a bigger challenge for yourself and for the repair kit. It’s best to use repair kits only for rock chips and bulls eyes, even if some repair kits claim they can also repair cracks. Let’s take a look at these steps one by one.
- Before you start, make sure to work in a covered area. It’s best to be in covered parking like a closed garage because the hot sun can cause your resin to harden too quickly resulting in a not so fine repair. You don’t want your windshield to look trashy, right? So once you’re in a cool area, it’s time to clean the wounded area.
- The first step would be to clean the damage area of your windshield. To do this, use a glass cleaner to clean the area. At the same time, make sure there are no more tiny loose pieces of glass in the area. It’s best to get a razor blade and slide in to scoop out tiny loose pieces. If you have a mini vacuum, you can try to do that too. Then wipe with the glass cleaner and let it dry completely before proceeding to the next step.
- Now that it’s clean, position the suction cup tool that comes with the repair kit so that the threaded center is directly on top of the damaged area. Press the suction cup firmly into place and secure the four arms. It doesn’t have to be perfectly centered as you can adjust the aim of the tool later on.
- Now, get the threaded repair tube and put it into the suction cup tool. Make sure to tightly screw it in so it won’t fall off or be out of aim. However, do not use any tools to screw it. Just use your hands for tightening.
- Next, make sure to check the alignment of the threaded tube. It’s time to adjust the threaded tube such that it is directly on top of the chip. Do this check from inside the car. The rubber end of your tube should be directly on top of the chip. If no, unscrew the tube and adjust accordingly.
- Now it’s time to add the windshield repair resin by opening up the tube of super juice and adding it to the repair tube. Use 2 to 4 drops but don’t go over or less than that.
- Once you add in the super juice, make sure to quickly insert the center plunger and tighten it almost all the way down. It will add pressure to push the repair resin to the chip. Once it’s tight enough, loosen the plunger briefly just to remove any air bubbles and then re-tighten again. Give it a minute or two to fully penetrate the chip.
- Next, remove the suction cup tool completely. While the area is still moist, quickly place a section of the clear finishing film on top. You can use the razor blade to press the resin carefully towards the edges of the film. Just make it as thin as possible and spread it evenly under the film.
- To secure the film on top of the resin, you can add tape to make sure it won’t get blown or be out of place.
- After ten minutes, the resin under the clear film should be dry. However, you can let it set for as long as you want to make sure it’s all dry. If however, you pulled off the film too soon, don’t worry because you can add a new drop of resin and cover it with a new piece of film.
- Once dry, scrape off excess resin with a use of the razor blade. Now, you’re done!