Can Heat Portable Crack A Windshield

The most common culprit is uneven heating. If your car is parked in the direct sun, the edges of the windshield (which are encased in the dark metal or plastic frame of the car) heat up faster than the center. This causes the edges to expand at a different rate than the rest of the glass, creating "thermal stress." If the stress becomes too great, the glass will snap. 2. The "Ice Water" Effect

She sat back, stunned. The AC was still blowing, the sun still blazing. She reached out and touched the glass near the crack. It was hot—too hot to keep her palm there for more than a second. But the inside, where the cold air hit, was cool enough to raise goosebumps. can heat crack a windshield

That night, parked under a humming streetlight at a motel in Tucson, she looked up how much a new windshield cost. Three hundred dollars she didn’t really have. She sighed, cracked open another soda, and made a mental note: Never cool a hot windshield fast. Let it beg for mercy first. The most common culprit is uneven heating