It’s almost inevitable that at some point in your driving career, you will encounter a cracked or chipped windshield. When windshield damage happens, you might wonder if you can leave it, repair it yourself or if you should take your car to a professional.
The answer depends on a variety of factors, including the size and depth of crack. A small crack that penetrates only the top layer of glass is usually repairable. To answer this question, it’s helpful to know the different types of windscreen cracks/chips.
1. Bull's Eye Crack
This is one of the most common types of cracks that occurs when a small blunt rock hits the windscreen. The crack is a circular shape, hence the name ‘bull’s eye’, and goes deeper than the surface layer of the glass. These types of cracks are usually easily repaired by a technician.
2. Star Crack or Ding Crack
The other common crack is the Star Crack. This crack is caused by a sharp rock or object striking the windscreen. A star crack can spread and become bigger very quickly. It is important to get this seen to as soon as you can to prevent further damage and bigger repair bills.
3. Combination Break
This is when multiple types of cracks appear at the same time, like a star crack that extends into an edge crack (see below). It is important to get this seen to as soon as you can to prevent further damage and bigger repair bills
4. Floater Crack
This type of crack starts at the central part of the windscreen glass and can spread out from its starting point. Tiny floater cracks that are not directly in the vision of the driver can be repaired very easily.
5. Edge Crack
This crack can escalate very quickly if not seen to. This crack starts on the edge of the windscreen, usually if there is excessive pressure on the sides where the glass is installed.
6. Half Moon Crack
A half-moon crack is similar to the bull’s eye crack, the only difference is that is does not make a complete circle. These breaks can easily be repaired by a glass repair technician.
7. Stress Crack
A stress crack is a type of an internal crack that cannot be felt by moving our fingers over. To diagnose the crack, this requires moving a ballpoint pen over it. A very cool fact is, a stress crack is not caused by impact, instead sudden change of temperature causes a stress crack. If your windows are covered in frost, don’t pour hot water on the windscreen because this could cause a stress crack.
When to repair and when to replace
In most cases, your best bet would be to take your vehicle to a repair shop, as they are specialist in this and can give you the best possible advice. Get a Scratch and Dent cover from MotorHappy today it provides cover for repairs and (or) fixes things like small scratches on your rides paint job or even those nasty little scratches on the shining dashboard. Request a quote today: https://www.motorhappy.co.za/plan/renew-tech
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