How did your car get broken into? You left it in covered parking at your apartment complex, and in the morning (coffee in hand), you reach for your handle and discover that your entire passenger seat is covered in broken glass.
Someone has just attempted to steal from you, and thankfully, you don’t keep anything valuable in your vehicle overnight.
You certainly don’t want to just leave it open as it is. Read on to learn how to cover a broken window the right way, from a quick and easy method to a longer-term “temporary” fix.
Prepping the Area
Let’s take this through our steps. You wake up, have some coffee, step outside to your car and you have a smashed window. What do you do?
#1. Clear Remaining Glass.
Old and wise states that if your car was made in the last 50 years, it should have safety glass that doesn’t make long jagged shards when it breaks.
The windshield is usually laminated glass, the rest other “tempered.” But, because our readership is diverse and I don’t want to hear about how you cut your hand badly, please wear gloves and long sleeves before doing anything with glass.
Next, remove any remaining glass. Go around the perimeter and scoop this into some kind of bag or garbage can.
#2. Vacuum.
Next, go through the interior of the car and the ground underneath where the glass used to be and vacuum out any pieces of glass.
Use a Shop Vac or something industrial for this because I don’t know what kind of wimpy vacuum cleaner you have and don’t want to hear “you broke my vacuum cleaner, Al” in the comments section. The little compact Armor All AA255 is perfect for cars but any shop vac will be fine.
#3. Clean.
Now, clean the outer edge of the paint from where the window used to be with a paper towel with some isopropyl alcohol on it. This gets any oils and residue off so whatever adhesive you want does not fail.
Best Ways to Cover a Broken Car Window
Now we need to cover it. So, here are a few cheap ways you can create your own covering for your window.
Method #1: Heavy Duty Garbage Bag
Grab a hefty. Use some duct tape and slap this garbage bag to the outside of your vehicle to cover the opening. This will flap in the wind because it has some dimension to it, so it will go in and out as the wind blows across the surface.
Method #2: Crash Wrap
This is a pretty cost-effective way of covering up that window. This is basically like a heavy-duty version of the Saran Wrap that you use in your kitchen to save food for later.
You’re going to stretch the roll over whatever windows you’re trying to cover and then cut it off at the end and press it down tight. This is a waterproof and puncture-resistant answer to that problem you’re trying to solve.
Method #3: Plastic Sheeting
You’ve probably seen this product on job sites before, so you know it can take a beating. This is thick plastic sheeting that you can’t see through as easily as glass.
You’ll need an adhesive of some sort (like duct tape) to affix it over it, but it should hold for as long as the duct tape holds. This could keep you high and dry for months!
Method #4: Plexiglass (Acrylic Sheet)
If things just really suck right now, and getting a new window is not in the picture for at least a few months, plexiglass may be the way.
You can get some cardboard to trace out the shape of the opening you’re trying to cover, and then lay that out on a square yard of Plexiglass.
Then, you can use a sharpie to trace out the outline of the cardboard and cut it out with a hacksaw. Finally, sand the edges and just wipe them over with some isopropyl alcohol and a paper towel, so that the shavings won’t hinder the stickiness of your adhesive to the outside of your car.
Finally, use some more duct tape and stick this to your window, and you should be good indefinitely.
What Caused It?
Everyone gets broken into at some point in their lives—it’s just part of living in a society where we’re all piled around each other. Maybe if you live out in the sticks, you’ll have fewer neighbors plying the streets “checking doors”, but generally, break-ins are nothing unusual.
So what caused this? It’s usually someone who takes notice of something of value in your vehicle that they want and simply puts a fist through the window with some handy blunt object. Sure, they may have helped you wash those water spots off or remove the old window tint on that window, but there are better ways to accomplish that.
If you have the window slightly down, “breathing” because of the hot weather or perhaps a moldy smell in your car, a thief could simply grab the window, pull, and it comes unglued like a cork.
You could do that yourself by tossing a long piece of lumber in your car, not checking to see if it clears the window, then slamming the rear hatch down on that lumber. That’ll shatter your window.
You could be driving behind a truck with a hammer flying loose in the rear bed, it goes over a bump, and you drive right into that hammer, windshield-first. It could even be a crack in the windshield that “progressed to the point where it was too far gone” when you plowed into that big pothole.
There are many ways to skin this cat, but the lesson is—your window is broken, and you need to replace it.
Reasons to Cover That Window ASAP
#1. Precipitation.
There’s a reason windows were invented. So you can get light in and see through a barrier while keeping the elements at bay. How cool is that if you stop to think about it, huh?
Now you have no longer a window, but you can still see through it, seeing as there’s nothing there. But should something other than a perfect day happen outside and you’re in trouble.
If it rains and you left the windows down, for instance, water enters your car making mold form in your interior. Hard to get rid of while stinking up your ride both of which are no fun. And if you need to drive somewhere, you’re going to get drenched. (people care about this for some reason, and I’m like “why don’t you drive with your race helmet on?”)
Worse, and while this may be an extreme example, a broken window means you won’t be keeping any heat inside of your vehicle for very long. You’ll be cold on those -20F days and if you do it too long you could become chilled or suffer hypothermia.
Then again, that’s exaggerated, but still if anyone’s driving around with you and they end up chilled to the bone long enough, they won’t want to ride with you again (ask me how I know).
A broken windshield? Just don’t drive. If it starts snowing, hailing, or raining, you won’t see a thing and you’re causing trouble on the roads to boot. Huge safety hazard as well.
#2. Sun.
It may not seem like much, just filling your car with sunlight and warmth and happiness, but let me tell you—IT IS.
Modern windows have a UV coating in them to keep some of the more dangerous wavelengths from getting through the pane of glass and into your car. These UV (UltraViolet) rays can burn your skin if you are in the sun too long, say during a long road trip, your arms are going to get burned.
Also, if you live in a really sunny climate, and you have not covered that broken window, you’ll find that your interior will begin to fade and crack, and break quicker.
#3. Safety.
Why did someone break your window? To get into. So now, anybody can get into your car until you replace it.
While equally, covering it up won’t exactly dissuade the most determined car thief from doing their thing, it will make it that much harder to tell what’s inside—and what is or isn’t worth stealing. Out of sight, out of mind.
#4. Comfort.
While this ties into precipitation, it is just more comfortable to drive in a car where there is not one window taken out of the equation.
There will be less wind noise, and less climate control drama, and you will arrive at your destination less stressed and more refreshed. (That sounds like a face cream line… man, I need a vacation.
Can You Drive With a Broken Car Window?
Yes, you can drive with a broken car window (please don’t try driving without a windshield, though). It may not be the most desirable situation, and you may get rain, snow, hail, or UV radiation through that window—but you can do it.
It’s like rolling the window down, except when you roll it up, nothing happens. It could make a good prank for when you’re cruising around with your friends; who knows, they may even help you cover it!