Why do windscreens crack




















Driving Behind Construction Vehicles - Construction vehicles, like gravel roads, often have dirt, debris and other materials in and around their load. It is best to keep a safe distance when driving behind these trucks or switch lanes if you can. Poor Glass Construction - If your windshield was manufactured with poor quality glass, as some are, even the slightest stressor can cause it to crack. You will need to have the glass replaced with a higher quality material when seeking repairs.

Poor Installation - If your windshield was installed improperly or does not fit the frame of your vehicle, it can become loose and be a serious safety hazard. Accelerating at high speeds on the expressway will cause it to vibrate in the frame, resulting in possible damage. Repositioning or replacement will fix this problem. Accidents - If you live in an apartment complex or a neighbourhood with teens or young children who run and play ball outside, it's likely that a ball or frisbee may come hurdling toward your vehicle on some unlucky day, causing damage to the windshield, not to mention to the body of your car.

Parking in your garage, if possible, is a sound and precautionary solution. Temperature Changes - Extreme temperatures and sudden fluctuations from hot to cold can cause stress to the glass, resulting in a windshield crack. Be wary of the temperature in your area and use tactics such as slowly warming up your defroster as well as not parking in direct sunlight in order to prevent damage.

Sunlight - Similar to the caveat above, heat causes the outer edges of your auto glass to expand faster than the centre of that same glass. These birds can range from sparrows to birds of prey, and the damage will of course vary depending on the size of the bird in question.

A small bird hitting your windscreen at speed may cause a crack, but a larger bird — such as a pheasant — could cause more significant damage. If the car in front of you has a loose number plate, it could fly off and hit your windscreen. Despite being a crucial part of vehicle safety, windscreen wipers can actually damage our windscreens in certain circumstances. The primary cause of wipers damaging windscreens is the wiper blades being worn down — once this happens, the metal edge of the wiper is exposed and begins to scratch the glass whenever the wipers are activated.

More importantly, damaged windscreen wipers will hamper your ability to see the road clearly, putting yourself and others at risk. For many people, there may be a time where a windscreen chip or crack appears seemingly out of nowhere. If you notice a crack or chip, whether you know the cause or not, contact a reputable windscreen repair company as soon as possible. Once you analyse your windscreen after driving on the motorway, you may come across small chips or splits on the glass.

Not repairing a damaged glass right away can potentially work out more expensive later on. It could also potentially get you in trouble with the law. Although prevention is better than cure, there are times when you have done your absolute best to take preventative measures and something still damages your windscreen. If this happens, make sure you refer to an auto glass specialist immediately. The Windscreen Company are experts when it comes to windscreen repairs and our team will to offer you the best advice to make sure you get the most cost effective and suitable type of repair.

Contact our experts if you need your windscreen repairing or replacing! Got a windscreen problem? We can help! See if we Cover Your Area. Enter your details below to see if you're covered. We may cover your area. Please call for more information. Unfortunately we don't cover your area. If you'd like to discuss your requirements, please call We are trusted by lots of happy customers Read our reviews.

All Rights Reserved. The Windscreen Company is a registered company in England. Vehicle Details Why do we ask this? Thus, if you are driving around with an old vehicle, consider replacing the windshield. Now, windshield cracks can be a result of stones, debris, accidents, heavy tree branches, etc. However, do you know that cracks can steadily spread, becoming huge safety hazards? Let us find out what causes cracks on the windshield in cars to spread:.

The difference in the temperatures between the interior and exterior of your car can add pressure on your damaged windshield, causing the cracks or chips to get aggravated. When a windshield is exposed to direct sunlight for hours, it gets heated and tends to expand. This can cause the windshield crack to widen or spread quite considerably.

If you turn on the air conditioner after your car has been standing under the sun, windshield cracks can expand. In the same way, if you turn on your heat on high and direct it at the cold windshield during winters, the cracks can spread. This is because glass tends to contract in cold weather and expand under hot temperatures, which is why if you expose your windshield crack to harsh weather conditions or extreme weather fluctuations, it will spread.

Driving on bumpy roads or over a pothole, shutting your car doors loudly, or even slamming on brakes a little too harshly can make your windshield damage much worse. Speed bumps, sudden brakes, etc. Your car windshield is made of two sheets of glass with a layer of plastic in between.

A crack, no matter how small, can trap moisture in between the layers, be it from rainfall, snowfall, or a car wash. This can weaken the structural integrity of your windshield in the car. Moreover, when the temperature drops, the moisture inside the crack freezes, causing internal pressure and worsening of the crack. To avoid getting dirt into the windshield crack, you can put a piece of clear tape over the damage as a temporary solution till you get your windshield fixed.

Keep in mind that the tape is just a temporary solution, and it cannot repair the damage in any way. Car windshields can often crack for no apparent reason at all.

You might wake up one fine morning and find a deep crack sitting on the windshield of your car and staring right at you. Some obvious reasons why you might have a cracked windshield are stones, debris, broken tree branches, a ball that a kid might have hit unintentionally towards your car, etc.

These are all relatively straightforward incidents that could cause your car to have a cracked windshield. However, there are other, less apparent reasons which could have been enough to cause damage to your windshield. Temperature changes can cause the windshield glass to expand and contract.

Different glass portions heat up at different speeds, faster around the edges and slower in the middle. Due to this inconsistency, the glass expands and contracts at different rates. A crack could be triggered by washing a car with cold water during a sweltering day or by trying to defrost an icy windshield with hot water. Using a defroster or a car heater does not prevent this from happening either.

Thermal expansion and contraction are one of the most common reasons for a cracked windshield. Changes in pressure can be caused due to heavy storms and winds or by putting heavyweights on your windshield.

These might be enough to make a stress crack appear on your windshield, seemingly out of nowhere. If a crack begins to appear on the edge of your windshield, it might not be immediately noticeable, so that a crack might come as a surprise a few days later. You can also identify the difference between stress-related cracks and cracks due to impact by touching the centre of the crack. If the centre is smooth, the crack must have been caused due to stress.

Exposure to sunlight can cause the metal and other materials around the car to heat up. The edges of the glass heat up faster than the middle portion causing cracks to appear on the windshield.

This could, however, be prevented by keeping the car in the shade. Your windshield might have manufacturing defects. Annealing the glass during manufacture, might cause changes in pressure and result in stress cracks or residual stresses along the windshield edges.

Due to this manufacturing defect, your windshield might have a structural weakness and would thus be prone to fractures and cracks. The glass installed in your vehicle might be defective. However, this might slip your eye completely because these defects can only be detected by professionals. This can cause a cracked windshield in your car without prior warning. Your windshield might be imperfectly installed, even if it was done by professionals in a factory.

Although that might be a rare case, if something like that happened, vibrations due to a loose fit might cause stress on the glass, leading to a cracked windshield. Excessive body flex or distortions in the structure of the car can cause mechanical stress loading. This might cause the windshield of your car to crack.



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