Windshield chip repair: what the studio does and when it is too late

A pebble kicked up from the wheel of the car ahead hits your windshield at speed, and a second later there is a pea-sized dot in the glass. It can look harmless, but the clock has already started: moisture gets in, the next winter's temperature swing turns it into a crack, and a month or two later instead of an 80 ₾ repair you are looking at a full replacement at a glass specialist. windshield repair in its early window is not cosmetic — it is a structural operation that physically restores the strength of the glass.

The industrial classification splits chips into three main types, and the type drives the repair tactic.

Bullseye. A round spot with a dark core and a ring around it — like a target. Formed by a perpendicular hit from a stone. The most common and the easiest repair: resin fills the round cavity evenly. After a proper injection, a 5-8 mm bullseye almost disappears visually.

Star break. Three to six short legs radiating from the impact point, 5-15 mm each. The result of an angled hit or a harder object. The repair is trickier: resin has to be driven into each leg separately under pressure. If the leg has already been contaminated by dust and moisture, a dark trace remains after the repair.

Combination break. A central bullseye plus radiating legs. Common on high-speed impacts. Repair takes longer and needs two or three injection cycles. The result depends on how fresh the damage is — on a new chip it nearly vanishes, on an old one a hazy mark stays.

There is a fourth category — surface pit (a shallow pock without penetrating the laminate). That is not a chip in the full sense; it is handled by glass polishing, not resin injection.

The single biggest factor in the result is the time between the hit and the repair. In the first 48 hours the damage is clean: no water, dust, wiper grime, or oil vapour has worked its way in. Polymer resin on that chip fills every capillary and, after curing, gives an optically uniform result.

A week in, the picture is worse. The chip has seen rain, dust-laden air has blown through it, micro-particles have been drawn inside. Even if the resin goes in, a dark line stays at the contamination boundary.

A month or two in, repairability drops further. If the car has seen subzero temperatures, water inside the chip froze and expanded, widening the damage itself. A typical Tbilisi scenario: a chip ignored in November, January cold snap to -5°C, and in the morning there is a half-metre crack across the glass instead of a dot.

Studio-practice data is straightforward: a chip repaired in the first 48 hours holds 10+ years. A chip repaired a month later often cracks from the same point within 2-3 years. Book windshield repair via the form on the service page or by phone; the inspection takes 5 minutes.

Resin injector (bridge injector). The main tool. A metal frame on suction pads that locks onto the glass centred over the chip. Resin is driven into the damage under pressure, and in the reverse phase it is pulled back out to remove air.

Vacuum pump. Before the resin is introduced, air is drawn out of the chip — otherwise bubbles stay inside and leave hazy dots. This step is critical: amateur "drop and hold" repairs skip vacuuming and produce the telltale cloudy result.

UV lamp. Resin does not set on its own — ultraviolet light triggers it. A 365 nm lamp runs for 5-10 minutes and initiates polymerisation: the liquid resin turns into a solid plastic bonded tightly to the chip walls.

Polishing compound. After curing, excess resin on the glass surface is shaved off with a blade, and the residue is worked down with polishing compound — the finishing step.

Professional resins have a refractive index close to glass (1.48-1.52), which makes the repair optically almost invisible. Hardware-store epoxy leaves a visible patch against the light.

• Intake and assessment. Chip inspected under a lamp, size measured, type identified.
• Area prep. Glass around the chip is cleaned with isopropyl alcohol, dust and moisture drawn out of the cavity.
• Injector set-up. The frame's suction pads clamp onto the glass dead-centre over the damage.
• Vacuuming. The piston is pulled out, creating negative pressure in the injector chamber.
• Resin injection. Resin is driven into every capillary of the chip under pressure.
• UV curing. Injector removed, a thin clear film placed over the chip, then UV lamp on for 5-10 minutes.
• Trimming. A thin blade slices off the bead of polymer protruding above the glass in a single motion.
• Final polish. Polishing compound on a felt pad smooths the repair zone.
• Inspection. Under a directional lamp and against the light the result is checked.

• Chip up to 1 cm — from 60 ₾
• Chip 1-2 cm — from 80 ₾
• Crack up to 15 cm — from 95 ₾
• Crack 15-30 cm — from 140 ₾

Full price list is on the auto glass repair service page. The final figure for a specific piece of damage is set after an in-person look.

There are cases where we do not repair and recommend full replacement: chip in the driver's direct field of view; crack reaching the edge of the glass; fragment of glass broken out deeper than the laminate; chip on a car with an ADAS camera in the camera's field of view.

First: chip plus rain plus cool nights. Thermal cycling widens the damage slowly but unavoidably. In 2-4 months the chip becomes a 5-10 cm crack.

Second: chip through a winter with salted roads. Salt eats at the edges, freezing water expands the damage. One cold night at -5°C after a wet day and there is a half-metre diagonal by morning.

Third: chip plus a 40-50°C jump from frozen glass to heater-max hot air. That delta alone is enough to start propagation. Industry rule: spot it, fix it in the first days.

Chip up to 1 cm — from 60 ₾, 1-2 cm — from 80 ₾. Crack up to 15 cm — from 95 ₾, 15-30 cm — from 140 ₾. Price is not driven by chip type — only by size. Full pricing table by category is on the car glass repair page.

30 to 60 minutes depending on chip type and condition. A simple 5 mm bullseye — 30 minutes. A 15 mm combination break — up to an hour.

On a fresh chip (first 48 hours), after a proper injection there is a dot only noticeable up close at a certain angle. Driving, against daylight, it is invisible. On an older chip, visibility is higher: dirt trapped inside leaves a dark shadow.

A windshield chip is structural, not cosmetic. Polymer resin under vacuum with UV curing car glass repair in the damaged zone. Time-sensitive: a repair in the first 48 hours holds for years; half a year in, it is often a replacement instead.

Book windshield chip repair at BESTAUTO via the form on the service page, or call whichever studio is more convenient:

• BESTAUTO Guramishvili — Guramishvili Ave. 78, tel. +995 550 000 299
• BESTAUTO Politkovskaya — Anna Politkovskaya St. 51, tel. +995 550 000 199