OT: windshield ding DIY

[Hoyt Weathers]

This question does not involve wood, but it does involve epoxy.

I have a ding in my windshield which could be covered with a 1 dollar coin. It does not through to the inside surface and is not in the line of sight. My local glass place would not repair it because he said the repair would pop out when I had the defroster on in the winter.

I would like to put epoxy in the ding. My approach is to cover the pliable epoxy with a piece of plastic film, carefully roll it flat in stages, let it cure, then remove the film.

Questions:

1. What common film would not stick to uncured or cured epoxy?

1. Perhaps I could just oil the surface of the film in contact with the epoxy and let the epoxy cure. Would that work?

Thank you for your forbearance with these OT questions.

Hoyt Weathers

[valid address above]

[toller]

I haven't any idea if the repair will hold, but epoxy is UV sensitive.

Also, I hope you are talking about laminating epoxy rather than epoxy glue. The glue will be too thick to get into the crack. (But then the laminating epoxy will be too thin to stay in place; hmmm)

[Dave Hinz]

Check out the Eastwood Catalog - they sell automotive restoration products, including what you're after.

- put windshield into the search box, there you go. 17 bucks. I've bought a ton of stuff from these guys over the years, haven't had a bad product or bad service experience yet.

Dave Hinz

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Most dings turn into full fledged cracks under the first extreme weather condition. Do you have full glass coverage on your insurance? I honestly doubt that many of us here have better knowledge of fixing that sort of thing than the pro glass guy. Think of your repair as temporary and hope it does not go when you least expect it. Ed

[TeamCasa]

Replace the windshield - its inevitable - the crack with not stop growing. Dave

[Dave Hinz]

Well, there are cracks, and there are self-contained "bullseye" dings. If the latter, he might be OK.

[J. Clarke]

Spend 8 bucks for a Permatex Windshield Bullseye Repair kit. Have no idea if it's any good but should be as good as anything else that anybody who's not a glass expert would recommend.

[Gerald Ross]

I bought a kit to fix such a ding several years ago and it worked fine for as long as I kept the car. As I remember, after the stuff had hardened it was leveled with a razor blade. BTW, my insurance company will pay to have this done with no deductible. Maybe yours does too.

[Hoyt Weathers]

Dave, I had to dig for it. Is this the item to which you were directing me?

sounds like what I need. I will order it. Nothing ventured is nothing gained.

TKX

Hoyt W.

[TeamCasa]

There are some very rare occasions in which a crack can be temporarily checked. It involves drilling very small holes (more like a shallow countersink) at the end of each line and filling the crack with epoxy. I would like to stress the word temporarily.

Small rock chips, if smoothed and filled, can be much more permanent.

Dave

[Dave Hinz]

not sure why it didn't come up on the first page of the search for you, but yes that's the one.

Well, I don't own _this_ item from Eastwood, but I've boughta ton of other stuff and it's not the JC Whitney class of stuff (read: mostly crap), it's stuff that actually works. I'd be surprised if it didn't do it for you.

Dave Hinz