Why Summer Heat Makes Windshield Cracks Expand
Intense heat is often insufferable for anyone and the same can be said for the state of a car’s windshield. If the glass has a chip or crack and it’s forced to endure extreme heat for a long summer season, small problems can lead to bigger ones in no time. If a car needs windshield chip repair, especially in areas like Arizona where temperatures can soar well over 100 degrees regularly, then precautions should be taken. Here’s why summer heat generally makes windshield cracks expand and how bigger problems can be prevented.
Extreme Heat Outside and Cold Air Inside Make for a Bad Combination
While the intensity of summer heat and direct sunlight can cause issues all on its own, it’s the double whammy effect of mother nature outside and human behavior inside a vehicle that generally causes the most grief.
The direct sunlight on a windshield can cause the glass to become very hot as well. This forces the windshield to expand within its parameters, already leaving it more susceptible to greater damage. However, it’s the effect of a person getting into the vehicle and immediately blasting the air conditioner that will often end with a greater crack in the windshield.
Why? Because the intensity of both temperatures, hot outside and cold inside, leaves no room for the windshield to protect itself. It’s fighting against two extreme conditions, making it difficult to stay in a proper, manageable state of rest. Therefore, the pressure often causes what was once a simple windshield chip repair to become a more serious chip or crack that may continue to expand as the summer heat carries on.
Ways to Prevent Greater Windshield Damage
Though the extreme heat itself may not be something easily managed, giving a car a greater fighting chance against the elements can help keep a chip or crack in the windshield from getting worse.
During intense summer heat, especially in desert environments like Nevada or Arizona, it’s best to try and find what little shade is available when parking the car. In fact, leaving it in a covered garage is a better option, if given the opportunity.
While it’s expected that a person will need to turn on the air conditioning for comfort, it can be more beneficial to turn it up at a gradual rate, not immediately on full blast. Slow and steady gives the glass time to adjust against both temperatures and can help slow the progression of bigger chips or cracks.
A car in need of windshield chip repair should be handled more delicately in extreme heat. During the summer months in hot settings, it pays to take greater precautions until repairs can be administered.