Where the chip is matters more than how big it is
A windscreen is divided, for inspection purposes, into zones. A chip in the driver’s primary field of view fails at a far smaller size than the same chip near the edge.
That is why a mechanic Camden Park drivers ask about a chip will want to know where it sits before saying anything useful about it. A five millimetre chip low on the passenger side is usually nothing. The same chip directly in the driver’s sweep is a problem.
Chips spread, and temperature is why
Adelaide is hard on damaged glass. A windscreen sitting in 40 degree sun expands. Turn the air conditioning on full and blast cold air at the inside surface and the glass contracts unevenly. That stress runs straight to the tip of any existing chip.
The practical advice is simple. A chip repaired early is cheap and takes half an hour. Once it has run into a crack, the screen is replaced. If you get a chip in summer, do not aim the demister vents at it, and get it looked at rather than waiting.
The thing that has changed: cameras
Most cars built in the last decade have a forward-facing camera mounted behind the windscreen, driving lane keeping, autonomous emergency braking and adaptive cruise.
That camera is aimed through the glass. Replace the screen and the camera must be recalibrated, because a fraction of a degree of error at the windscreen becomes metres of error at 100 metres down the road.
A screen replaced without recalibration can leave a car whose automatic emergency braking is aiming slightly wrong. It will not warn you, because as far as the car is concerned the camera is working.
If your car has any of those features, ask whoever replaces the glass whether recalibration is included, and get it in writing.
The rest of the glass
- Rear demister elements break where the tailgate flexes, and a single broken line leaves a stripe
- Door glass that drops or is slow usually means a failed regulator rather than a motor
- Wind noise appearing suddenly often means a seal has lifted rather than glass damage
Getting to us
2/208 Grange Rd, Flinders Park, about eight minutes from Camden Park. Tell a mechanic Camden Park drivers use where the chip sits, not just how big it is.
Call (08) 8443 7900.
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