Clear Facts About Auto Glass Repairs and Replacement
Whether it was broken by a sudden hailstorm, a randomly flying rock, or any accident, damaged glass can often make your car undrivable.
Here’s what you need from Service King Bandera in San Antonio, TX to know about auto glass repairs and replacement.
What’s the Difference Between Laminated and Tempered Glass?
Laminated glass is manufactured by sandwiching plastic between a pair of panes of glass and using a combination of both pressure and heat to properly fuse the layers together. The plastic within the glass is flexible and designed to absorb bumps and thumps that are often caused by potholes, gravel and other debris.
In addition, the plastic used also deflects a significant amount of UV light, protecting your car’s inhabitants and interior from the effects of sun damage. Whenever the glass layers break, the plastic layer will keep it together, and prevent shards from further separating. This makes it considerably less dangerous if the driver or front passenger hits the windshield in the case of a crash.
This type of glass is so strong that it’s often used as a structural component, providing up to 45 percent of the vehicle’s structural integrity in the case of front end collisions, and over 60 percent in rollovers. All automobiles built since the late 1940s use laminated glass for windshields, and some newer vehicles also use it for rear glass to add strength and integrity.
Tempered glass is manufactured from one single pane that’s rapidly heated to temperatures that are more than 1,000°F and then quenched with cold air during its production. This causes the glass to cool down unevenly, thereby creating tension at the very center of the pane.
When Can Glass Be Repaired?
If tempered glass is scratched or chipped, it means that it’s almost at the point of complete failure. This type of glass is always replaced.
Laminated glass can normally be fixed using a 100% clear resin filler. The window tech will always mix up a fresh batch of resin that is blended to accommodate current weather conditions. After cleaning the entire damaged area, a pressurized syringe pushes all of the resin into the car’s cracks and crevasses, to fill the space. The final step is to have the resin cured using a UV light, then polished to create a flat and uniform surface.
Service King Bandera in San Antonio, TX 78238
Sources: HowStuffWorks.com and Wikipedia
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