Perhaps there are times when we, as Californians, do not appreciate just how fortunate we are with the climate in the Murrieta area. We are blessed with good hours of sunshine and very rarely experience frost or snow that will trouble our experience as road users. Why am I discussing the weather? In one word – Windscreens!
Because we do not get really cold days where the temperature drops to or below freezing, our vehicle windscreens tend to have a prolonged life span compared to road users in more northern regions of the country.
Just about anyone who has driven will have, at least once, experienced a stone chip on their windscreen. More often than not these only tend to be 1mm to 2mm wide and do not really make a serious indentation in the glass. If we were to experience a sudden drop of temperatures the following would happen:
As the temperature falls, moisture gathers in the indentation and as the temperature falls to freezing point, the water expands and makes that small indention crack like a spider’s web. In time this small crack will expand in to a large split in the windscreen at which point it becomes weaken and dangerous to sit behind when driving.
However, to prevent these indentations becoming small cracks in the first place it is possible to repair your windscreen, not 100% back to its former glory but certainly good enough to prevent a crack and eventually large split ever occurring.
If you drive to the colder parts of America and you have a couple of small stone chips on your windscreen, you may want to consider getting them repaired before you head off. Replacing a windscreen is often expensive; repairing them at the early stages is not! If you think you may have a chip or two that may become a problem, call in and lets us assess its condition for you.