Drive It Forever

Dear Bob: Is there an effective way to repair small windshield chips? Is there a product that I can use, or is a professional repair job preferable?

— D.A.G., via e-mail

A: There are a number of do-it-yourself windshield-crack-and-chip-repair kits on the market. My experience with them has been less than satisfactory, and I wouldn’t advise car owners to try to repair windshield cracks themselves. This entails drilling a small hole in the center of the crack and then injecting some type of epoxy resin into the hole and force-feeding it into the crack, which is a tricky business. I’ve yet to find a do-it-yourself kit that satisfies me.

On the other hand, I have had good luck with some professional windshield-repair companies. One that come to mind is Novus — call (800) 776-6887 for a direct connection to a shop near your, or find them on the Web at www.novuswsr.com. They’ve done some repairs for me through the years, and have always proven satisfactory.

One of the tricks to getting a good, clean, nearly invisible repair is to prevent an initial fracture from widening. As soon as you notice a chip or crack — a star or bullseye — on your windshield, cover it up with a piece of scotch tape to keep dirt and water from penetrating the glass.

Then get to a glass-repair shop as soon as possible. Resin-type repairs have improved greatly through the years, and some shops can clear up even fairly major damage to the windshield, provided that the damaged area is kept clean and free of dirt and water.

So my advice is to leave this to the pros. And remember, many insurance companies cover these repairs. It’s much less expensive for them to pay for a crack or chip repair than to shell out for a new windshield.

Dear Bob: You recently replied to a reader inquiring about not having grease fittings — “zerks” — on his 2002 Pontiac.

I have a 1999 Mercury Grand Marquis with 91,000 miles. Recently the ball joints began to squeak when the wheels were turned. The shop said to replace the ball joints, a not-inexpensive repair.

I found another service station with a grease needle. It has a fitting on one end that fits into a grease gun, and the opposite sharp, needle-like point is inserted into the rubber boots around the ball joints to fill them with grease.

The squeak was gone by the time I drove home.

Thanks,

— J.O., via e-mail

A: Grease needles can also be used to fill rubber CV (constant velocity) boots, in lieu of replacing the entire unit. But remember that there is a reason that one of these units should need grease: It’s probably leaking grease from some point. Keep an eye on the unit after it has been filled to check for leaks.

Adding additional grease is a stopgap measure, but it should work fine as long as there aren’t major rips or tears in the rubber boot enclosing the unit in question.

And no, the grease won’t leak back out from the hole made by the needle. The rubber closes tightly around the small hole, making it “greasetight.”

AMERICAN DRIVERS FIGHT BACK

Here’s a tip that will help you get better gas mileage while fighting terrorism and cutting our nation’s dependence on Mideastern oil:

Last week I mentioned that a new-car owner should not be too anxious to get top fuel economy right from the start. As I noted then, Saab estimates that it may take as much as 6,000 miles of driving before the engine breaks in properly and maximal fuel potential is obtained.

Here’s another reason why the fuel economy of a new car may be less than that for a used, year-old version of the same model: Many car owners trade in their old cars when the new model year begins, at the end of summer.

Owners who pick up a new car in the fall are comparing apples and oranges when they compare the gas mileage of their old and new cars. That is, they are comparing the fuel economy obtained by a well-broken-in, older car during the summer months to that of a new, not-yet-broken-in car operating in cold weather.

Cold temperatures mean lower fuel economy. Couple that with the expected lower break-in fuel economy, and the initial difference between a new vehicle and a used one of the same model can be more than 10 percent.