DIY How to repair a windshield rock chip bull’s eye for $10

Parts needed: Windshield Repair Kit 

Our  two favorite kits are:

• Rain-X Windshield Repair Kit
• Blue Star Fix your Windshield Do it Yourself Kit 

The choice is yours.

 Repairing a windshield rock chip takes about 40 minutes if you repair it for the first time. A couple of notes before we begin.

• We will show you how to use a syringe-type kit to fix the rock chip. Please understand that you will first be sucking the resin out of the break (to clear air bubbles) and forcing it back in with air pressure. Practice locking the plunger in the two positions, vacuum & pressure,  before squeezing in the resin.
• Be careful to press the doughnut-shaped adhesive onto the windshield firmly around. When we didn’t pay enough attention to this step, the resin worked its way through and trickled down the windshield.

1. Get a windshield repair kit, any of these kits on Amazon should work. 
   
2. Clean the area and the chip. Use a sharp object like a razor blade or a pin to scrape the loose pieces of glass or dirt. Do not use any type of liquid. The area needs to be dry for this repair to work.
3. Mount seal on the windshield. Peel backing off one side of the adhesive seal. Press the seal into the glass to ensure the rock chip is in the center. Put some pressure on your finger to make sure it is sticking all around.

   

4. Peel off the paper backing from the top of the seal, exposing the adhesive on the place the pedestal.
5. Install Pedestal. Mount the pedestal to the adhesive seal. Press the pedestal firmly to the glass. Make sure it is the right bond.
6. Place resin into the pedestal.  First, cut the tip of the resin container. You will need to leave a small resin drop for a later step. Even if you squeeze out the whole resin, don’t worry. Leave the resin container upside down with the cap on it. This will allow any residual resin collects to the tip of the resin bottle, which you will use at a later time.
7. Connect the syringe to the pedestal. Make sure to press it firmly into the pedestal. Place the pin into the syringe if your kit comes with the pin.
8. Lock the plunger into the VACUUM position. This step will suck the air from the little cracks in the windshield caused by the rock chip. You don’t need to hold it in lock position by hand, it should hold by itself. Let in vacuum position for 10 min. 
9. Remove the pin. This will allow the syringe gets filled with air. Then place the pin back on.
10. Move the plunger to the pressure position. Push the plunger down/in to create pressure inside the syringe. Make sure to lock the plunger into this position.
11. LET IT SIT FOR AT LEAST 20 MIN. 
12. Remove pedestal. Using a razor, carefully remove the pedestal from the glass.
13. Fill pit. Get the small resin bottle and place a drop of resin in the center of the rock chip. Place the curing film over the center, ensuring some resin is in the center of the rock chip.
14. Let it resin dry for 15 min. Let it cure in the sun. The ultraviolet sun rays cure the resin.
15. Clean. Remove the film and any dry resin sticking to your windshield using a safety razor.
16. That’s it. You are done.

The primary reason is that you want to avoid getting a crack developed in your windshield because of the rock chip damage. The secondary benefit is that the rock chip will be much less visible. The rock chip/ bull eye size should reduce by more than 80%. In case you were wondering, it is illegal to drive with a broken windshield in many states. So don’t let that rock chip turn into a windshield replacement.

BlueStar kit works excellently, but Rain X can be used more than once, and it is also ranked #1 in Amazon at the time of this writing.

An ultraviolet light curable resin is injected into the damaged area of the glass. Once the resin is cured, it creates a bond between the portions of the windshield separated by the damage.

We are glad you ask this question, as we know nothing is free. Your insurance pays for the repair. The insurance companies often will waive your deductible for rock chip repairs.  It works only if you have glass coverage in your insurance. Otherwise, you will get a bill in the mail. Insurance companies are very familiar with how these places work. The “Free Rock Chip” repair places get your insurance information and bill the insurance anywhere from $80 to $120. Why put something like this in your insurance claims history? If you have 30 minutes, you can repair yourself and spend less than $10. It may sound like a complicated repair, but it’s not, and we know you can do it.

These videos will show you how to repair a rock chip/bull’s eye in a broken windshield.