To Drill or not to drill windscreen repairs?

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To Drill or not to drill windscreen repairs?

Ian Sprigg • September 25, 2020

Windscreen Repair Drilling.

Here at GT we always have an open mind about what may have been the way forward in the past but not necessarily suitable for the future in conjunction with new repair technologies. There is no doubt that drilling has its supporters from a historical stand point.

1990's plastic screw thread, windscreen repair injectors needed you to prepare to repair by drilling first to get near to the PVB interlayer. Drilling in this way would enable the windscreen repair resin to flow. There is no doubt though that without drilling the finish of a repair is more superior if the damage is probed and not drilled.

Similarly, todays 1990's designed plastic thread repair kits have always used unprotected UV medical grade syringes to dispense UV unstable windscreen repair resins. In hind sight, Its laughable that this is acceptable in todays ADAS safety focused world. GT Smart stopped using un protected UV syringes (less single use plastic benefits too) with our injectors last year when the penny dropped that actually it was bad practice...….but something we always did without thinking about it,

With the advance of vacuum then pressure repair systems (VTP) the only requirement may only be to use a probe and clear the debris rather than gauging it out with a drill. We know some repair technicians who "for years" have used GT repair injectors without drilling because of the superior finish to every repair they achieve.

After many years of knowing how some of our technicians operate without drilling is it time for all of us to open our minds and stop doing what we have always done and getting what we have always got? Does drilling cover up the inadequacies of a windscreen repair injector? VTP systems have the power to extract air and push resin in without the need to drill after all!

Has the penny dropped on drilling this year like un protected UV syringes did last year? Its got us thinking whilst we do some testing!

Check back with our blog to see what our tests conclude.

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