There will always be rainy days. Unfortunately in the windshield repair business, water and resin do not mix. Simply wiping the water from the surface is not sufficient. When it rains, water seeps into a break on a windshield and if you try to repair it, the resin will not completely setup and cure. When the water eventually evaporates from the repair, you will be left with ugly air pockets inside of your repair and an unhappy customer.

If you have an indoor facility, then you can dry off the windshield with a towel and use a hairdryer to evaporate the water from the break before the repair. This will take some time. You want to make sure that the glass does not get too hot as this can cause the break to crack. Or you can simply let the water evaporate naturally. Whichever method you choose, take your time and make sure that the break is free from moisture before proceeding with your repair.

If you don’t have a facility to do an indoor repair, then simply postpone it until the next dry day. If you explain to your customer that rain can ruin the repair, they will gladly wait.

Typical Star Break

Star and bullseye repairs are generally very easy windshield repairs to perform. Here are a few tips you can use to make sure they are the best they can be:

1. If you want to see how a leg of a star is filling you have to get your eye down near glass level and look at the leg from its side. From that angle you can see the depth of the line and actually see whether or not the resin is filling in. Because the leg is so thin, looking at it from above will reveal nothing.

2. Be sure and look at the leg of a star from both sides when filling it. The general rule is if you can see it from one side and not the other, then it is filled. If you can see the leg from both sides, then it is not filled.

3. With your injector under pressure (piston screwed down), use your probe to apply slight pressure at the base of each leg. This technique forces the resin to fill the leg all the way to the tip. Be sure not to press too hard as this can make the leg grow.

4. If you are doing a star repair and all the legs are filling great except for one, then you will want to drill directly into that leg and fill it from the new drill hole.

Use these tips to insure you are performing the absolute best windshield repairs possible.