Suction cup marks?

[t4k]

Recently I did a windshield repair & noticed that my mirrors suction cup on the inside of the windshield left a suction cup ring mark.
I instructed the customer that it could be cleaned with some water & paper towels.
Not giving the customer a full explanation always bothers me.
I am a newbie having only repaired about 30 windshields with two months experience.
The explanation I found on another website forum was that
The suction cups are made from vinyl and the suns heat causes (out-gassing) this is the plasticizer evaporating.

Sounds like a great explanation for customers. Not sure if this is the real cause?
Customer paid & was very happy with the repairs. =)

Updating my kit with windshield cleaners & towels Any recommendations?

Up until this point I have used standard lint free paper towels & everything looked spotless.

Has anyone tried 1:1 solution of Isopropyl alcohol and distilled water?
Read that this removes windshield residue left from suction cups.

You say you need to update your kit with windshield cleaners and towels. How do you clean the outside of the windshield after you've repaired the chip?

[nystire]

Paper towels if needed. After the repair the outer lite of glass always looks just as clean as it was before the repair.

[t4k]

Ok.

[thechipdoctor]

If the vehicle door is unlocked, I sometimes prefer to look at the break from the inside instead of using a mirror. As a courtsey I clean the WS and inside if I use a mirror or flame on the inside. A vast number of the vehicles I repair have dirty dash boards and the inside of the WS has a greasy film and are dirty. Some people just dont take care of their vehicles. Iam from the south and doing the little extra , like cleaning the WS after a repair makes good customer relations.

Why would you use a flame on the inside?

[screenman]

That is easy to answer, it makes the glass expand to make the chip look filled. Notice the word look which is very important, it also helps soften the PVB increasing the chances of a nice pressure ring.

Can you tell I never use that method nowadays, technology has moved on from the early days when we did not understand what we were doing quite as much.

[Mr Bill]

I always clean the windshield after the repair.
I a carry a 2 gal plastic pickle jar with jar half filled with soapy water and a rag .
I wash the windshield with the rag, and squeegee the water off.
It takes just a couple of minutes.
Its harder to find evidence of a repair on a nice clean windshield.

[candyman]

Good mroning screenman! I raerly use the lighter after reading one of your post a while back, and how the PVB pushes outward when heated. I was shown that method when training about 3 years ago to help resin flow in legs that seem not to be filling. I never held the open flame in one spot long enough to build extreme heat. I look back at how I repaired cracks and breaks when I first started and compare it to what I do these days. Some methods are the same while I've gained knowledge and experience with better results. I still learn with every break. The simple breaks are sometimes the most difficult due to age, time of day (temp), weather, etc... Your words of wisdom are not lost when you post. We may not always agree with you but we do read and understand what you are talking about from a different view point. Have a good week. I have 2 repairs scheduled this morning.

[glassdoctor]

Not using mirrors? How do you check for air & water from different angles? Not using mirrors to your advantage for 20 years! If my eyes could see windshield damage the way they can when a mirror is attached I would be super human.

I guess that makes me beyond super human.

IMO, if you really know what you are doing, a mirror is more of a hindrance than a help. I'm not joking. I'm sure a newbie that was trained to use a mirror thinks I'm crazy, but I can't worry about that. LOL

I don't like to be the cranky old guy, and I was going to give this one a pass, until the part about a glass repair guy not having any sort of glass cleaner and not sure what to use? I thought at first that this suction cup mark was a freak occurrence, but then it didn't really sound that way.

Just a thought... if you can't work without a mirror, how in the world do you fix a chip that is on a blacked out part of the ws? Ironically, yesterday I found a cure tab still stuck to a w/s down in the lower corner of a truck. It was a bullseye that was barely filled. I actually know the guy who did it because he just retired and I was called to come work the lot. Guess what technique he uses? Didn't hit me until just now, reading this thread.

[t4k]

To each his own on the use of a mirror. If it helps you, then by all means use it. If you do use one, be sure to clean the inside of the glass upon it's removal with an appropriate glass cleaner. It is that simple...

Use the methodology that produces the best repair you can offer to your customers.

[Frank EU]

Nice to see how a simple question appears to go everywhere.
This was/is about a very simple question right?

Also interesting to see that so members many express their opinion, and share thoughts and experiences, but the real isseus in our trade are never properly discussed here on this forum.
It may be easy to post a reply when talking simple matters, that's fine, but where are your thoughts and experiences in other matters?
How about steering? How about the TPA isseus? Or would that be too complicated/sensitive? Do you think that ignoring this will help? That's fine.
But you are wrong -and you know it eh?

Oh, I learned myself to NOT use a mirror. I only use a mirror on private vehicles, simply because we than have the car keys available -instantly. When doing fleets (99,9% of my work) I do not use a mirror. Offices are often closed on sunday (when I do most of my work) so that makes it too complicated to get keys.
My master-trainer (Gary, a great guy) used to say (many years ago): when in doubt, pull the piston out (ie: an additional vacuum-cycle).
Also: we have had techs who left the customers' site.....with the keys in their pocket. Needless to say that this ''upsets'' the customer. Lasty: by #not going in# we don't have, never, any isseus with the belongings in that vehicle, or ''damage'' to the seats, the dash, you name it.

When using a mirror, for whatever reason, I believe it is a good thing to clean the entire windshield on the inside. Just cleaning the ''work area'' is too often a silly thing to do. Most vehicels I've seen (in the past 18 yrs) have ''dirty'' glass-surfaces on the inside. It takes you just another minute (or two)...to clean, who cares a few seconds? We are in a SERVICE industry, service is what you sell. Cleaning the windshield is a good service. Or let me put it diferently: it doesn't do any harm, instead: it pleases the customer -priceless.