Cracked or chipped windscreens can be a safety issue beyond that of obscuring a drivers' vision and should be repaired or replaced at the earliest opportunity.

In South Australia excessive chipping, cracking or even scratching on a windshield are enough to consider a vehicle as not being roadworthy, even if the drivers' vision is relatively unimpaired.

A windscreen, or windshield as it is also known, does more than shield the drivers face from the wind. It also protects the occupants inside the vehicle from all manner of debris, including rain, insects, dust, road debris and so on. Furthermore, the windscreen of a vehicle plays an important role in the overall structural integrity of the vehicle.

While a chipped or cracked windscreen may seem safe enough to drive with, the truth is that you can never really rely on it to function as it is designed to. Extreme heat or cold, the constant vibration of driving at any speed or the jarring and jolting common in off-road navigation could all contribute to a chip becoming a crack, a crack becoming larger or the windscreen failing altogether.

Windshields are made of toughened glass to maintain their strength and shape while under force from the air pressure directed against them when a vehicle is in motion. In the event of a collision the windscreen is designed to fracture rather than break or shatter, to avoid showering the occupants of the vehicle with possibly lethal projectiles of glass.

Cracked windscreens cannot be relied on to behave in this manner during a crash as the structural integrity of the windshield may have been compromised. Even a badly chipped windshield cannot be expected to behave in this manner as the glass may have tiny (but extensive) fracture lines that are not immediately apparent to the naked eye but are sufficient to weaken the overall structure.

Blackwood Dyno Tune & Service Windscreen Services:

• Windscreen repairs
• Windscreen replacements
• Windscreen crack repair
• Windscreen scratch repair
• Windscreen chip repair

Blackwood Dyno Tune & Service have the skills and experience to replace your windshield. We apply the appropriate resin to seal the glass and set using an ultraviolet light. The repair process may take between 30 to 60 minutes and may need some time to set. If the chip has turned into a large crack, we recommend replacing the entire windscreen for safety reasons.

Replacing a windscreen is performed by removing the old windscreen and replacing with a new, made-to-fit windscreen. Before we install it, we ensure the surrounding area is cleaned and a primer and adhesive is set to seal the windscreen. Blackwood Dyno Tune & Service will always try to repair the windscreen before choosing to replace but the safety of you and your passengers must always take precedence.