Your windshield can become damaged due to a whole host of different factors that you may experience while driving, from extreme temperature fluctuations to flying hail and gravel. Even the most minor amount of damage to your windshield represents a major threat to you and your vehicle. Understanding the dangers associated with driving with a cracked windshield can help convince you of the importance of having even the smallest of chips repaired immediately.
Reduced Visibility
One of the major concerns of driving with a damaged windshield is the fact that cracks, dents, and other forms of chipping and glass damage to your windshield can greatly reduce the amount of visibility that you have while driving. Not being able to properly see your surroundings and other vehicles can make it harder for you to properly regulate your vehicle's speed and react to what's going on around you, making the risk of an accident – and further damage to your vehicle and windshield, not to mention yourself – a much more likely risk.
Spreading
Another reason to head to an auto glass specialist as soon as you experience even the slightest bit of damage to your windshield is because cracks and chips can quickly spread and fracture the entire windshield. This can be much more expensive to fix and can make your visibility problem much worse. Small chips and dents can usually be filled in with an epoxy and polished, which is a process that is relatively inexpensive and only takes a short amount of time. However, larger cracks that cover a bigger portion of your windshield will require the entire pane of glass to be replaced – which is a more complicated and expensive repair process.
Ease of Repair
In a similar vein to the above point, it's also important to note that even if your cracks and chips don't end up spreading across the glass, leaving them for an extended period of time can make them much harder to repair. This is because dirt, water, and other materials and debris will make their way into the crack. This will prevent the epoxy from effectively binding and will make such damage in your windshield permanent until you actually replace the glass. It's also important to note that such cracks and the debris which can fill them will severely weaken the structure of your windshield, making the risk of further damage much more likely.
In order to prevent these issues, it's important to get your windshield repaired quickly. Contact an auto repair service, like Wolfe's Foreign Auto, and ask if they do auto glass work.