What is Windshield Repair Made Of? An Expert's Guide

Windshield repair resin is made of acrylic acid, an organic compound that is commonly used for polishes, adhesives, and coatings. It is also a chemical product that must be handled with care and caution. Whenever you use a windshield repair kit, it comes with a resin. Resin is basically the “glue” that holds a broken or cracked windshield together.

All windshield repair kits include this resin, which is used according to the instructions. Windshield repair kits typically use epoxy resin to fill, seal, and stabilize minor damage that is one inch or less in diameter. They work best on small targets, chips, and stars, but for best results, drivers should get the repair done as soon as possible. If you have any type of windshield damage that you don't recognize, consult a glass repair specialist.

Large automotive glass companies, glass manufacturers, and PVB manufacturers formed a committee through the National Glass Association in 1994 with the goal of attacking the safety of crack repair and drafting a new standard to eliminate all professional and DIY windshield repairs. The standard windshield repair test approved by the United States ANSI is the laboratory test of mechanical strength using 3-point flexion. Windshield repair resins can be used to repair long-lasting windshields and are used by professionals in all repairs. Most homemade windshield repair kits come with their own injector system, but they can also be purchased separately.

This in-depth knowledge of windshield repair chemistry will help you buy better resins and convey to your customers that you are the expert they should trust to repair their safety device. In the case of chip repair, the vacuum and pressure cycles of a windshield repair injector help remove moisture. As mentioned earlier, there are different types of resins that are used to repair cracked windshields. Bear, Clearshield, Glasweld, Glass Mechanix, and American Windshield Repair Systems manufacture some of the best repair resins out there.

Silicone kits are often used to seal the entire windshield to the car body, but sometimes they can be used to repair chips or cracks on the very edge of the glass. However, nail polish is much less durable than the special epoxy resins used in windshield repair kits, and it definitely won't hold up as well in the long run. Repairing or replacing by a professional is probably the best way to eliminate large cracks, and if a one-foot-long crack has already formed, a home repair most likely won't last long, even if it works. State Farm brought a lawsuit against State Farm alleging that repairing a windshield could not and could not restore the windshield to its condition before the loss and, therefore, State Farm owed all consumers who received a repair the money to buy a new windshield minus the deductible.

It's important for anyone in the windshield repair industry to know the scientific foundations that explain windshield cracks and cracks, how a windshield is made, and the resins that are created to repair them. It's possible to stabilize small chips with Superglue, but windshield repair kits use special resins explicitly designed to repair damaged glass.