Should I fill a tiny windshield chip or leave it alone?
Advice is heavily split on whether to fill chips smaller than a sesame seed to prevent spidering or to simply leave them alone. This lack of consensus leaves people unsure if it is worth paying for a repair or doing it themselves, causing them to just ignore the damage for months.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1leaving small chips alone
- 2filling them in to prevent spidering
- 3spit on it and rub it
- 4Buying a cheap DIY repair kit from an auto parts store
- 5Ignoring the damage completely and hoping it does not spread
- 6Paying a professional shop to drill and fill the weak spots
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Looks more like a chip than a crack. I’d probably try to fill it myself or just keep forgetting to do that and leave it (which is exactly what I have been doing with a similar chip for months and months)”source ↗
“Something dinged my windshield on the freeway, and left 3 tiny chips. After doing research, it seems some say to leave small chips like this alone while others recommend filling them in to prevent spidering. Is there a consensus?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 3Does this concrete crack need immediate repair?
- 6Can a dented car door be fixed or does it need to be replaced?
- 143Is it worth fixing an old car when repairs cost more than it's worth?
- 3Is it worth fixing an AC leak or just keep adding freon?
- 13Are new brake pads with a chipped corner safe to use?
- 3Is a gas line repair quote too high or should I just abandon it?