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Picture this: You’re cruising down the highway, enjoying the wind in your hair and the open road, when suddenly, the dreaded “thwack” of a pebble against your windshield shatters the tranquility. Windshield chips, the unwelcome guests on our automotive journeys. But fear not, for this is a story of hope, and personal triumph on the road to windshield visibility redemption. Fiberglass Window Screen Roll
Most of us have experienced it, a tiny chip that seems harmless until it morphs into the beginning of a menacing crack threatening to engulf your entire windshield. But fear not, for here are several DIY windshield repair kit options that can come to your rescue.
These kits are like the Swiss Army knives of automotive care, using epoxy resin to fill, seal and stabilize those pesky chips 1 inch or less in diameter. But here’s the catch, timing is everything. The sooner you act, the better the results.
If you wait too long, an expensive professional replacement may be the only fix. But if the chip is small and you act promptly, DIY windshield repair kits can save you time and money.
These kits aren’t a panacea, and waiting too long can let road dirt and other contaminants work their way into microscopic cracks surrounding the chip preventing the epoxy from adhering effectively. Likewise, temperature changes can cause the chip to further fracture the glass, sometimes producing a large crack. If you’re reading this because that’s already happened, windshield replacement beckons.
The science behind most of these kits is similar, and the major differences involve the method of injecting the epoxy into the void. Several include a vacuum syringe to first remove dirt and moisture, creating a clean surface for the epoxy to bond to, ultimately creating an effective repair. The end result may not be quite as good as a professional repair or replacement, but it will help stop further damage at a much lower price.
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Here are our top windshield repair kit picks for 2023.
Works on laminated glass, repairs cracks up to 12 inches long
Permatex 09103 Automotive Windshield Repair Kit
Easy to use, cures by sunlight, repairs bullseyes up to 1.25 in. wide
Permatex 09103 Automotive Windshield Repair Kit
Suitable for small chips, bulls-eyes, star-shaped, half-moon crescents
Best For Heavy Highway Commuters
Best For Heavy Highway Commuters
Rain-X is a well-known brand with a reputation for products that keep windshields clean and maintained. Besides chips, the kit can be used on cracks up to 12 inches, as long as they don’t extend to the edge of the windshield in any two places. Rain-X’s injection syringe is good for more than one use and it adheres to windshields of any angle with suction cups instead of a peel-and-stick pad. The epoxy resin in this kit cures in UV light so repairs must be done in a shaded area.
Blue-Star Windshield Repair Kit, Model CSA-192
It’s hard to top Blue-Star’s peel-and-stick vacuum syringe for ease of use. The applicator is angled to match modern vehicles’ more steeply raked windshields, so this kit may not be the best choice for vehicles with upright windshields like older cars, vans or Jeep Wranglers. The manufacturer doesn’t recommend it for linear or spider cracks either. This kit includes only a small quantity of resin, and the self-adhesive syringe is a single-use item, so it’s only good for a single repair. But, at less than 10 bucks, it’s still a good value.
Permatex 09103 Automotive Windshield Repair Kit
Permatex has a great reputation for making a wide variety of quality automotive sealants, and its kit is as effective as Rain-X’s, and as easy to use as Blue Star’s. As with the latter kit, there’s no need to mix anything, but it falls when compared to Rain-X on curing time, which is even longer, and it only really works on bullseyes. Best of all though, the Permatex kit comes with step-by-step photo instructions to guide you through doing the repair quickly and correctly without causing any more damage. For the mechanically challenged person looking to save time and money, this inexpensive kit is the choice.
Clearshield Windshield Repair Kit, Model C200
The Clearshield kit is a truly professional-grade setup, so it’s meant more for a tradesperson than an individual one-off repair. However, it throws everything including the kitchen sink tackling windshield repairs, and everything in it is of high quality. The resin injection pump is made of metal, not plastic, and its large single suction cup gives superior sticking power. Buyers receive a grinding tool to prepare chips for repair by removing burs and rough edges. A UV light is included to speed up the resin’s cure time, even if the sun isn’t shining.
This kit comes with enough resin for 200+ repairs and extender kits are available for those running a small repair business. Clearshield also provides user support and instructional videos. Everything comes packed in a plastic toolbox which could’ve been higher quality, but for those who want to fix chipped windshields like a pro or have very difficult chips to fix, Clearshield’s kit is the way to go.
Best To Repair Several Chips
Best To Repair Several Chips
With four bottles of resin and ample curing film, this kit will allow for the repair of multiple windshield chips. It’s only marginally more expensive than some single-use kits too. For the driver with a fleet to maintain or who’s had the misfortune of being stuck behind a gravel truck for 75 miles, the UNIIOON kit may provide the best option. Even though the UNIIOON kit is inexpensive, most users report good results.
Windshield repair kits are often very simple: a compound (usually resin) in a tube that seals a chip, star or crack. In some cases, epoxy and resin must be mixed into this compound, but the easiest-to-use DIY kits do this for you. There are also applicators and positioning tools involved, and in some cases, professional-grade kits may provide additional tools and sealants for other areas, such as silicone sealant for installing an entire windshield.
While some kits offer the ability to seal and stabilize small cracks (as large as 12 inches, which isn’t exactly “small”, our rankings focus primarily on easy-to-use kits for repairing stone chips, bullseyes, and star fractures. We’ve also included some heavier-duty kits here, but the way we rank them is the same.
Through direct testing and research, we evaluate all windshield repair kits based on these weighted metrics:
Yes, they do, although the results may not be quite as seamless as professional repair, and neither approach the perfection of a brand new windshield. Applied properly, the kits will help mitigate the expansion of chips or small cracks, provided they haven’t had time to expand. To achieve the best possible repair, follow instructions carefully and make sure your work area is clean, shaded and well-ventilated.
Yes, but the different types are generally for different functions. Most chip, crack and star repair kits use resin (or resin blended with epoxy) to effectively glue the chip shut, sealing out dirt and (to an extent) preventing cracks from spreading. These kits differ mainly in how the resin is mixed and what tools come with the kit, including applicators and positioning implements like suction cups.
Silicone kits are often used to seal the entire windshield itself to the body of the car, but can sometimes be used to repair chips or cracks at the very edge of the glass. Polyurethane caulk and rubber sealants are also used in this area, but they won’t help you with a chip.
At least one kit we reviewed claims to be able to repair cracks up to 12 inches in length. However, kits work best on stone chips and bullseyes. Professional repair or replacement is probably the best way to go for large cracks, and if a foot-long crack has already formed, chances are good a DIY repair won’t last for long even if it does temporarily work.
It is possible to stabilize small chips with super glue, but windshield repair kits use special resins specially designed to repair damaged glass. Using a repair kit and following instructions with care will give a better-looking, longer-lasting repair and probably one less likely to be a visual distraction on the road.
As with super glue, small chips and tiny cracks can be stabilized with clear nail polish. But nail polish is much less durable than the special epoxy resins used in windshield repair kits, and definitely won’t hold up as well in the long term.
Professional chip repair generally ranges between $60 and $100, but can be more depending on the complexity of the damage.
Anywhere from $200 to $400 will cover a replacement windshield for many vehicles. But some windshields can cost more, especially if they incorporate a radio antenna or a heating element. The good news is, some insurance policies cover these replacements. The bad news? Those insurance plans cost more than even the priciest of these kits.
Cars are almost part of my physiology. I grew up playing amongst the dusty shelves of my family’s auto parts store. In my reckless youth pushing our delivery trucks to the point of mechanical failure was the best way I could find to learn about cars and how they worked. As a responsible adult I channel that interest into connecting with fellow enthusiasts through events, writing and social media.
358 Anti-Climbing Wire Fence Michael is a lifelong automotive enthusiast and founded the production company Venn Creative Media in 2018 which focuses primarily on clients in the automotive community. Michael is a writer, director, producer, cinematographer and award-winning documentary filmmaker. His films have been screened on television, streaming platforms and film festivals nationwide. He was nominated for a Boston/New England regional Emmy and won the New Hampshire Filmmaker of the Year award in 2017. He is on Instagram @venncreativemedia.