I've had my car at Safelite a couple of times in the last few months to have some chips sealed before they started to run and just took it in a third time last week.

I was at a sandblasting/paint place recently and got some overspray on the car/windshield. I took a razor to the windshield to get it off & think I may have chipped the resin on the repairs. Is this possible, do they leave resin on the glass or just in the chip and can it be re-repaired?

ETA: It seems like there may be some spreading of the chips into cracks now.

This post was edited on 6/19/16 at 2:59 pm

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Posted by Spankum

The Sip

Member since Jan 2007

63281 posts

Posted on 6/19/16 at 2:50 pm to CMBears1259

yes, they generally clean all of the loose glass chips out of the hole and fill it with some kind of quick-curing plastic stuff. I suspect that you could cut it with a razor blade. Unless it is a big deal to you, I wouldn't see the need too have it redone, though.

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Posted by windshieldman

Member since Nov 2012

12818 posts

Posted on 6/19/16 at 3:18 pm to CMBears1259

Safelite is not a bad company regarding windshield replacements, they've gotten better. They are horrible in windshield repair. Unless something has changed they aren't even allowed to carry a drill. On cracks that have a star you'd normally drill and then pop a mini bullseye in the drill hole where impact point is. That gets resin throughout the entire crack.

I've redone countless Safelite repairs that have cracked out after repair. They use shitty pit filler also. What you may have possible chipped off was pit filler which shouldn't be able to be taken off period. Check the legs of the crack and see if there is any black in it. Check different angles. If there is then crack wasn't filled correct to begin with. Windshield resin in an epoxy and once cured it's basically like concrete. Good resin that fills entire crack is permanent and crack should never crack out. Take it back to them and have them check it out.

Pit filler is not what fills the crack. It just flattens the impact point where its smooth, keeps crap from getting in crack, and keeps windshield wipers from being damaged, and of course makes it look better. It's possible that's what was knocked off if the crack where impact point was from rock hitting it is now a crater again.

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Posted by CMBears1259

Baton Rouge

Member since Sep 2005

5047 posts

Posted on 6/19/16 at 3:35 pm to windshieldman

Good info, thanks! So it can be redone as long as it's done before they get too long?

How obvious is the black pit filler? I'm not seeing anything obvious.

You in BR?

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Posted by windshieldman

Member since Nov 2012

12818 posts

Posted on 6/19/16 at 3:48 pm to CMBears1259

quote:
Good info, thanks! So it can be redone as long as it's done before they get too long?

Well, if its poor resin that failed not much you can do. Unless it cracks out further you can fill the new crack.

quote:
How obvious is the black pit filler? I'm not seeing anything obvious.

Repair resin is a low viscosity (thin) resin that fills the tiny legs in the cracks. If you see black, and may have to look at different angles that is light refracting in the crack, basically air trapped in there also. That air is vacuumed out during a repair and the resin pushed in after vacuuming. There shouldn't be any black anywhere in crack after repair. Pit filler is the final product, its a thick resin placed in impact point (initial area rock hit) and then a clear tab placed on it to squish resin and clear air bubbles. Once cured its supposed to be a smooth surface and tab is pulled off and left excess resin scraped off with a box blade.

quote:
You in BR?

Naw

LINK

I know nobody cares but this is the process. This break is a pretty simple one though. Pretty generic video but just clicked on first one I knew about as nobody is probably gonna watch it

You can see the black in break before it's filled.

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Posted by Spankum

The Sip

Member since Jan 2007

63281 posts

Posted on 6/19/16 at 6:06 pm to windshieldman

that is actually pretty interesting...I figured there would have to be something like a vacuum pump involved...