Car Glass Repair: Summer Maintenance Tips

May 27, 2020 12:34 PM EDT | Staff Reporter

Car Glass Repair: Summer Maintenance Tips


(Photo : Car Glass Repair: Summer Maintenance Tips )

The Northern Hemisphere summer is on its way. This traditionally means that hotels, lodges, wildlife reserves, and other summer tourist attractions should be prepping for the influx of tourists. Unfortunately, the 2020 summer season is not going to be a normal season. 


Why? 

Succinctly stated, the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, is sweeping across the globe, shutting down most, if not all, non-essential businesses and forcing people to stay at home under varying degrees of lockdown or stay-at-home orders. 

The good news is that many countries are slowly opening up as they pass their infection peak and start "flattening the curve." However, this is a slow, cautious process to prevent a second wave of the virus from sweeping through each country again. Thus, it is probably safe to assume that the 2020 summer vacation tourist season will be extremely limited. 

Even though people will most likely not be traveling long distances during summer, it is still essential to implement a rigorous motor vehicle maintenance program, including ensuring the car's windshield remains in tip-top condition. Consequently, here is a list of tips to prevent the car's windshield from cracking and needing to be replaced.

Let's now consider several tips to maintain the vehicle's windshield during the summer. 

Get small chips and cracks repaired promptly

According to the car glass repair specialists, it is essential to be aware of the fact that chips

and small cracks in a car's windshield can be repaired if brought into an automotive glass repair shop before they have cracked over the size of a Canadian Looney which is about an inch in diameter. The auto glass does not have to be replaced. Thus, it is critical to get the vehicle to a repair shop as soon as the windshield has the smallest chip in it. This is especially important during the winter months when chips spread much quicker then in the warmer months. 

It is also a traffic offense to drive a vehicle on a public road with a windshield crack of more than an inch long. This is because it is virtually impossible to see out of a moderately to severely cracked windshield. And, even if there are only minute chips in the windshield, at certain times of the day, the sun's rays will bounce off the chip and into the driver's eyes; thereby, radically reducing the driver's ability to see out of the windshield.

Don't leave the vehicle standing the hot summer sun

The car's windshield forms an integral part of the vehicle's structure. It is perfectly balanced in its frame where helps secure the car's passenger cabin. 

Automotive glass also expands and contracts as the external temperature heats up and cools down. As a result, small chips or cracks will run and grow into long cracks with extending tendrils. When this happens, the windshield will have to be replaced. 

Avoid using the car's air conditioning unit if at all possible

This point is similar to the previous point. In summary, the vehicle's windshield expands and contracts when the temperature in the inside and outside of the car changes. And, the quicker these temperatures change, the more the windshield will expand and contract in its frame. As a result, any existing chips or cracks will start expanding, turning into long tendril-like cracks that will spread all over the windshield.

Thus, it is essential to keep the vehicle's temperature as constant has possible, so that the windshield does not twist in its frame as it expands and contracts. 

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