Pics of Bad Repairs

[ssbogger]

Share your bad repair pics/stories. They can be yours or others.

Came across this one the other day...

I was doing 3 repairs on an old co-worker's truck when another guy I used to work with came up and starting shootin the stuff with me. He said he had one done a while ago so naturally I went to see if I could find it on the windshield. Right away I said "Oh, here's one you need to get fixed" thinking I had found a recent break and that my search for the repaired break would continue. WRONG. He said, "Nah, that one's already been fixed." with no regard for the shoddy workmanship. I was appalled. I haven't been doing this long but when I don't even have a repair on my practice screen that looks this bad I know something's wrong with what they did. The guy tells me that the company had it repaired (company car) by *insert shop name here* in *insert city*. Needless to say, this gives me hope of acquiring a fleet account if this is the kind of repair their current fleet glass company is offering.

The damage actually looked worse in person. You could see the full break and it had as much air in it as resin. I truly think I could have done a better job just dropping a drop of resin on top and walking away.

[robert n]

your picture is very clear....All I see is your finger, some trees in the background and clouds in the sky. can you post another picture?

[pommy]

Hmmm...

That repair could have been a re-repair when the last person arrived to do it - or, a very old one that was full of contamination. Don't be too quick to judge

I often get called out to "new" damage, when the customer "saw it hit the screen" and the damage is old and full of dirt!

They hear a bang, or see the rock and put two and two together and point out old damage they never noticed before.

Needless to say, this gives me hope of acquiring a fleet account if this is the kind of repair their current fleet glass company is offering.

Not really - it shows they don't check the quality of work they pay for, or that they just don't care.

Keep in mind - practice screen repairs don't really count when it comes to end results. There is no contamination, temperature change etc. so they come out very clear. You'll come across some jobs that just can't be fixed to perfection - just the way it is.

@ Robert n - give him a break (pardon the pun!) there is nothing wrong with the pic he posted

Cheers,

Pommy

[ssbogger]

Robert - The damage is at the end of my finger. It's what I'm pointing at. The trees and clouds are out of focus; my finger and the damage are not.

Pommy -
I've repaired a few chips that were over 2 years old and none of them looked like this. Maybe I got lucky that mine were tight enough and didn't let in dirt. This was a bad repair. Even if it was a re-repair, it had to be a bad repair in the first place.
I didn't think about the fact that the fleet company might not care about the appearance of the repair. This would make it a hard sell if the selling point improved appearance. Good point.

[cdirks]

I am new to this as well. Your story reminds me of a vehicle my Dad's LLC owns. It had a star break on the windshield that looked like it was just begging to be fixed! I fought with it drilled it, and called Delta Kits for help. My Dad was there on the phone with the friend he bought the vehicle from and he said that was a previously attempted repair. DK told me to put pit resin on and cure it as there was nothing more that could be done. So that's what I did.

[Brent Deines]

Chad, it was me that you talked to and I believe we talked about all the things you should try to get the break to fill properly but none of those things were working for you. Correct me if I'm wrong but it was only after a lengthy conversation about the possibility of it being a previous repair attempt, drilling options, flexing, adding resin, applying additional pressure, temperature considerations, correct injection procedures, possible damage to the inside layer of glass, etc., that I finally told you that without seeing the damage myself I had to assume that you had done as well as you could and in some cases there is nothing else to do but apply pit resin, cure, scrape and polish the surface.

I'm sure you didn't mean to imply that my solution for a re-repair is to simply apply pit resin and cure, but that is the way it sounded when I read your post. Although re-repairs are not something I look forward to I have a pretty good track record for getting the air spaces filled and significantly improving the appearance of previously attempted repairs. Still, there are some that should not be attempted in the first place but without the benefit of inspecting the repair myself it is impossible to make that determination over the telephone. Believe me, I hate like heck to let someone off the phone without hearing that they were able to make a successful repair, but unfortunately that does happen from time to time.

You may very well have done all you could in this case but with a little more experience I think you will be able to better identify previous repair attempts and predict the results of a re-repair prior to starting the job. Practice, practice, practice...on a practice windshield, not a customer's car. It does get easier!

[cdirks]

Brent,

I apologize for making it sound as if the answer is to just put pit resin on and cure it. My post certainly did sound that way. Sorry. The repair I was talking about was shortly after I got my kit maybe around the last of May or first of June 2012. It actually wasn't you I talked to on that repair.

Usually I think through my post before I submit it. Guess I didn't on that one.

Chad

[Brent Deines]

No worries and no need to apologize Chad. I just wanted to clarify that Delta Kits does not advocate the practice of slap and go windshield repair.

[Repair/replace]

I see some damage.

It looks like there may be a drill hole that was filled. I would need to feel it or see more details to be sure.

It may have been worked on, however, it was not properly filled with resin or it would look different.

If there is no drill hole, and the glass is smooth, then it would need to drilled for the resin to flow.

It does look like one that needs repairing, from what I see in the picture. Often the glass is smooth and a no-drill shop attempted the repair; there was no glass missing on the surface, so the resin could not flow into the break. Do you see proof of a prior repair?

[robert n]

ssbogger and others, Sorry about my post (#2) on this thread....I could not see the damage at the tip of his finger because my browsers ZOOM key was set...so, my browser cropped his picture. I can now see the damage he was pointing too!