★★★★★
The guys did a fantastic polishing job, touched up the chips and removed all visible imperfections. As a bonus, they polished the headlights and also cleaned up the interior. The car looks like new.…
A pea-sized chip or a half-metre crack — visually two different disasters, but the call on both runs through the same four criteria. Windshield repair vs replacement is not a fair fight: repair starts at 60 ₾ and runs an hour, replacement is substantially more expensive and ties up the car for half a day. A wrong call works both ways: repairing what should have been replaced leaves an unsafe screen; replacing what would have repaired is wasted money. Below — the decision tree the studio runs on, and the logic you can sanity-check yourself before driving in.
Contents
- The four criteria that decide everything
- Clear-cut repair cases
- Clear-cut replacement cases
- Grey zone: ADAS, edge, driver's view
- The cost of getting it wrong, both ways
- What to do if the glass has already cracked
- FAQ
The four criteria that decide everything
When the windshield comes in, exactly four questions go on the table. Each gets a yes or no, and together they yield an unambiguous "repair" or "replace".
One — size. A chip up to 2 cm in any direction is a repair candidate. A crack up to 30 cm — also a repair. Anything larger and the bond strength after resin drops by an order of magnitude; insurers in Europe stop honouring warranty on a "repair" past those numbers.
Two — zone on the glass. A rough 60 cm rectangle in front of the driver's face is the "direct line of sight". Any repair there leaves 1-2 mm of optical distortion that the driver looks through every day. That is excluded both by our standards and by most European jurisdictions.
Three — distance to the edge. A chip closer than 5 cm to the edge, or a crack already touching the edge, will not be stopped by even a perfect repair. Glass on a car is loaded around its perimeter (the frame carries the load), and any damage near the edge is the start of uncontrolled propagation.
Four — ADAS or heating in the damaged zone. Modern windshields with a Lane Assist camera, HUD projection, heating filaments or rain sensor have their own logic. A chip repair under the camera may pass optically but still throw off system calibration, after which the car has to go to the brand's official service.
Answers to those four questions form the decision grid any minimally competent studio runs on.
Clear-cut repair cases
The "100% repair" scenario looks like this:
- bullseye, star break or combination chip up to 2 cm
- located in the lower or side portion of the glass, not in the driver's zone
- more than 5 cm from the edge
- glass without cameras or sensors in the damage zone
- fresh damage (first 48 hours optimum, up to a month acceptable)
In that scenario the standard procedure — polymer resin injection under vacuum and UV curing — yields a result that holds 10+ years without re-emerging. Pricing on our list: 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 pricing on the windshield repair page.
A typical case: a stone off the wheel of a truck ahead hit the lower right corner, leaving a 6 mm bullseye. Zone — passenger side, 20 cm from the edge, no ADAS on the car. That is an uncontroversial 60 ₾ repair, an hour of work, and the matter is closed permanently.
Clear-cut replacement cases
The "100% replace" scenario is the inverse set:
- chip or crack larger than 2 cm or 30 cm respectively
- damage in the driver's zone (60 cm in front of the wheel)
- chip with a crack already reaching the edge
- chip with a glass fragment broken out deeper than the laminate (outer layer breached)
- multiple damage points from a single impact (more than 3 spots)
Any repair attempt here is a compromise: optics at the repair spot in the driver's zone degrade rain and night vision; a repair near the edge will not stop the crack from running; a repair without an intact outer glass layer has nothing for the resin to seat into. Replacement is the only technically correct path.
Replacement pricing depends on the model and on sensor presence, but the order of magnitude is substantially higher than repair — practically tens of times more. On a budget car without sensors, replacement runs to several hundred lari; on a car with an ADAS camera, heating, acoustic laminate and HUD projection it runs into the thousands. On top of the glass itself there is removal-and-install labour, fresh polyurethane adhesive, and sensor calibration if applicable. That is why an early 60-80 ₾ repair done in the first days after the impact is not "thrift" — it is cold arithmetic: one hour now saves several thousand lari in six months.
Grey zone: ADAS, edge, driver's view
Between clean "repair" and clean "replace" sit three situations decided on the totality of factors.
ADAS camera. Many modern cars (from Toyota Corolla 2019+ to most premium models) carry a Lane Assist camera above the mirror. A chip in the camera's view can physically be repaired, but even a clean resin injection creates a tiny obstruction through which the lane-recognition algorithm starts seeing noise. Most manufacturers explicitly forbid repair in the camera zone in their service manuals. Studio call: with a chip under the camera, we direct the client to the brand's official service for replacement and calibration.
Edge chip. The boundary between "repair" and "replace" is exactly that 5 cm from the edge. A chip 7 cm in on a young (3-5 year) glass — usually a repair. A chip 4 cm in on an old (10+ year) glass with internal stress already showing — better to replace, because the glass is already pre-loaded to crack and any damage will accelerate it. At intake the technician checks the overall glass condition before deciding.
Driver's zone. "60 cm in front of the wheel" is a standard rough rectangle, but in reality it depends on the seating position. A tall driver in an SUV sits higher and their line of sight shifts down on the glass. A short driver in a coupe sees the upper portion. So in cases of doubt, the client sits in their car and the technician checks whether the chip falls into their specific zone.
In a grey zone, err on the side of replacement: a borderline-zone repair often returns within a year as a "I can see the chip" complaint, while replacement is a closed matter.
The cost of getting it wrong, both ways
Two error directions, two cost shapes.
Error "we repaired when we should have replaced": the customer pays 60-140 ₾ for the repair, thinks the matter is closed. Three to twelve months later the chip cracks from the same point, often on a cold November night or after a heavy rainstorm. The crack reaches the edge — replacement is unavoidable. Total spend: repair plus replacement, which exceeds a one-shot replacement by maybe 1-3%. On top of that, lost time, driver stress, a second studio visit.
Error "we replaced when a repair would have done it": the customer pays several hundred or several thousand lari for what 60-140 ₾ would have closed. Plus loss of any ADAS recalibration discount at the official dealer, which is its own line item. Total loss vs the right call — 5 to 30 times what was needed.
Both errors are eliminated by one action: a free 5-minute studio inspection where the four criteria are evaluated separately and an unambiguous verdict is given.
What to do if the glass has already cracked
If a crack has started but has not yet reached the edge, there is a window of a few hours to stop it. Steps:
- Do not heat or cool the glass abruptly (heater on max, cold air from outside — both trigger growth).
- Tape over the crack with wide clear tape — keeps dust and moisture out, which matters for the eventual repair.
- Avoid rough roads, do not slam doors (vibration is the main growth driver).
- Same day, book the studio — every hour the crack is still growing.
If you make it within the first 24 hours, there is a chance a sub-15 cm crack still repairs (from 95 ₾). If the crack has reached the edge or grown past 30 cm, replacement only. Book an inspection through windshield repair — intake takes 5 minutes and the repair-vs-replace call is made on the spot.
Conclusion
The repair-vs-replace call is not a haggle or a price-quality compromise — it is four technical questions, each with a single answer. Size up to 2 cm — repair. Driver's zone — replace. Less than 5 cm from the edge — replace. ADAS in the damage zone — replace with calibration at the dealer. Everything else — a 60-140 ₾ repair that holds for a decade.
The big economic mistake is waiting. A chip that today repairs for 60 ₾ becomes, in six months, an edge-reaching crack that costs thousands to replace. The repair window is the first weeks after the impact; everything beyond that is a gamble with the odds against you.
Key takeaways:
- Repair is feasible on chips up to 2 cm or cracks up to 30 cm outside the driver's zone
- Replacement is mandatory for edge damage, driver's-zone damage, ADAS-area damage
- A repair holds 10+ years; replacement with ADAS calibration is a separate dealer visit
- Repair from 60 ₾, replacement substantially more expensive — the gap runs to tens of times
- The grey zone is resolved by inspection; in any genuine doubt, replace
FAQ
When can a windshield be repaired and when not?
Repair is feasible on a chip up to 2 cm or a crack up to 30 cm, located outside the driver's direct line of sight (a rough 60 cm rectangle in front of the wheel), at least 5 cm from the edge of the glass, and not under an ADAS camera. If any one of these criteria fails, replacement only. The full repair pricing grid is on the windshield repair page.
What does repair vs replacement cost in Tbilisi, Georgia?
Repair on our list: 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 ₾. Replacement is substantially more expensive — the order of magnitude is tens of times higher and depends on model and sensor count. We do not quote exact replacement figures because we do not do replacements ourselves; we refer clients to the brand's official service or to vetted glass shops.
What is better — repairing the chip or replacing the glass right away?
In a repairable zone, repair always wins: it preserves the factory glass calibration, the factory adhesive, the factory seal. Factory glass is stronger than any replacement. A 60-140 ₾ repair closes the matter for the rest of the glass's life. Replacement only makes sense when repair is technically impossible.
Does a chip repair affect future replacement cost?
No. If a year after the repair the chip does end up cracking (rare, mostly on old contaminated chips), the replacement cost does not change — it depends only on model and options. Money spent on the repair is not "lost" against a future replacement; the repair is an attempt to avoid replacement, and it succeeds in 90% of cases.
Can chips on old (10+ year) glass be repaired?
They can, with caveats. Old glass already has perimeter stress and UV-aged micro-cracks. A centre-of-glass chip on old glass usually repairs cleanly. An edge chip on old glass is risky: even after a clean repair, the glass may crack from a different point. At inspection we look at the overall condition and warn if a repair in the specific case is a compromise rather than a full fix.
Book damage assessment and windshield repair at BESTAUTO via the form on the service page or by phone to whichever studio is more convenient in Tbilisi, Georgia:
- BESTAUTO Guramishvili — Guramishvili Ave. 78, tel. +995 550 000 299
- BESTAUTO Politkovskaya — Anna Politkovskaya St. 51, tel. +995 550 000 199
Both studios are open Monday to Saturday, 10:00–20:00. The under-the-lamp inspection is free — five minutes and you have an unambiguous "repair" or "replace" verdict with the four-criterion reasoning.
