JULY 2007 WINDSHIELD CRACK REPAIR JOURNAL

In this Issue we will discuss

• New Xtra Bond Windshield Repair Adhesion Promoter
• New Spray-On Edgeguard
• ANSI Approves ROLAGS
• Hot and Heavy - Edge Crack Resin Special - Buy 2 get 1 Free
• Ultra Bond Market Survey Published in Auto Glass Magazine

XTRA BOND

Most adhesive applications call for pre-treatment of the surface and for the surface to be roughed-up or sanded to increase adhesion. This was not possible with windshield crack repair because the cracks we bond are sub-surfaced or inaccessible for manual treatment. We use acrylic acid to achieve a chemical bond to the glass because we did not have the option of pretreatment. Ultra Bond has changed that. Proper chemistry will allow us to etch the glass surface for increased adhesion. That is what Xtra Bond does. Xtra Bond is a chemical combination that: etches the glass for increased mechanical bond, increases chemical bond, evaporates and, does nothing to the laminate.  You can use it on any repair, especially star breaks and combination breaks with cracks extending beyond the bullseye that are in the defroster area. In fact it works as a primer or pretreatment for any glass adhesive application including windshield replacement.

How do you use it? Inject it into the break and let it evaporate. Placing your injector in the vacuum mode increases the speed of evaporation by itself and even faster with heat.

Another application method is to place one drop of Xtra Bond on a Q-Tip and press it on the impact point, filling the break by capillary action.

 Every vehicle in your market is a prospect for our new Spray-On Edgeguard. It is easy to apply to any vehicle and is available to all our customers. This process uses the Xtra Bond as the primer and then two light coats followed by two medium coats for the protective coating. The labor comes in masking off the windshield and moldings when the windshield is already installed.  We recommend coating the frit area only since 86% of edge cracks have an impact point in the frit area.  We plan to release the product at $15.95 per can. One 10 ounce can will do two windshields. The time to do one vehicle is 45-60 minutes depending on your masking time. The vehicle can be driven one hour after the last coat.  If you are applying onto a replacement windshield it will take twenty minutes and it should be sprayed the day before install.

ROLAGS APPROVED BY ANSI

The Repair Of Laminated Auto Glass Standard is now an ANSI Standard. This standard was not initiated because of any safety, structural or scientific problems within the windshield repair industry like AGRSS was for the windshield replacement industry. This was strictly politics.



Having authored the United States Windshield Repair Guidelines in 1995 we welcome this document since there is nothing in this document that is not in the United States Windshield Repair Guidelines. Ultra Bond will continue to follow The United States Windshield Repair Guidelines (USWRG) which is based on facts, evidence and science; calls for repair resins to meet the same federal required standard of a new windshield; calls for windshield repair resin manufacturers to disclose the mechanical strength of their resin; references all documents used; tells the truth as to repairable damages and; is user friendly with graphics so that a State Inspector can inspect a repair as well as a consumer and in fact, some state DMVs have used this document for this purpose.