This area isn’t easy on vehicle windshields, whether it’s gravel kicked up by tires, trees falling or even bird strikes. 

Luckily, there are a number of businesses in the region ready with a fix or a whole new windshield. 

Park County Glass

At Park County Glass repairs are done ahead of full windshield replacements, owner Troy Swope said, adding they sell windshield repair as a preventative maintenance item (it keeps the break from spreading after a repair.)

Debris from the road, during chip seal season or when sand has been laid down after a snow storm can lead to a need for windshield repairs, Swope said. They often see trucks in need of windshield repairs, as they tend to be used more by drivers in the area.

“A windshield repair is always going to be that something that’s going to be [on the windshield] and then a lot of times when the rock hits what will happen is it knocks a little chip of glass off of the surface,” Swope said.  “So you’re going to be able to see that, it’s kind of like getting a cavity filled in your tooth. It’s something that’s always going to be there, but it does clear up about 80%-90%, sometimes you can’t even really tell they’re there.”

Park County Glass recalibrates the vehicle’s Advanced Driver Assistance Systems like lane keep assists and adaptive cruise control.

Western Collision

At Western Collision replacements are more common than repairs and damage is often caused by rock chips that spread quickly or weren’t taken care of. 

“When the weather changes they’ll crack out, then it needs a new windshield replacement, that’s the bulk of them,” Brian Frame said.

He adds the glass is sometimes changed out during automotive repairs. 

Western Collision does do some repairs but replacements are more prevalent due to the occasional time constraints and cracks spreading quickly or being too large. 

The shop most often sees domestic cars — GM, Ford and Ram but also Toyotas; that’s what the dealers in the area sell, he added.

Absaroka Auto Glass

Absaroka Auto Glass sees more replacements than repairs, owner Zach Smith said, “because obviously there’s plenty of rock chips on the road, people receiving rock chips, and giving that damage.” He added that people can procrastinate getting their windshield repaired which then leads to a windshield replacement, while at other times a chip in the windshield “cracks out immediately.” When it comes to specific vehicles Jeep Wranglers are prone to cracks, the windshield is nearly vertical without a lot of curvature. “So when rocks hit that window, it’s pretty much just just a solid impact, instead of, you know, hitting the window and deflecting and just creating a rock chip,” Smith said. Outside of Wranglers the shop sees a lot of Toyota 4Runners and Ford F Series trucks due to their prevalence on the road. Absaroka Auto Glass also recalibrates ADAS , which customers are interested in. The windshields on many new vehicles include cameras now, which makes part of replacing a windshield recalibrating the ADAS after it is installed.

The Windshield Doctor

Robin Murdock, the Windshield Doctor, has been fixing chips and smaller cracks for roughly 45 years in mainly the Powell and Lovell areas. “Most of the time, I’ve had excellent luck of being able to repair them and hold them for the life of the vehicle,” he said, adding, “And that’s kind of my guarantee that it will last.”

Of course, he said there’s a limit to what size of crack he’s actually able to seal for the life of a windshield. While he’s done one as long as 17 inches, he said he has the most success with cracks under a foot long. 

Murdock said it’s important to address chips or cracks quickly, as especially if they’re near the black parts of windshields they’re prone to quickly crack due to the black spots heating up quicker than other parts of the windshield, causing cracks to spread. 

And over the decades he’s seen cracks and chips in every kind of vehicle windshield, but he said the straighter windshield such as a Ford Bronco or Jeep are more prone. 

“The Jeeps seem to attract more rocks than others, but any of them are susceptible to getting chips,” he said.