What can you put on a cracked windshield until it is fixed?
Reviewed by the Skyview Auto Glass technical team — NWRD-, ASE- and DINITROL-trained technicians · Updated November 2026
Quick answer
Clear tape, and only clear tape. Pressed over a clean, dry crack, it keeps dirt and water out of the fracture so a resin repair still holds. Super glue and clear nail polish do not restore any strength, cannot fill a crack properly, and can contaminate the fracture enough to ruin a professional repair. Tape protects; glue makes things worse.
Household fixes, checked
Does super glue stop a windshield crack?
No. Cyanoacrylate bonds tight but has none of the optical or structural properties of repair resin, and it cannot travel a fracture the way injected resin does. It also clogs the crack with material a technician cannot fully remove, which weakens the real repair that follows.
Does clear nail polish work on a windshield chip?
It fills the surface pit a little and that is all it does. Polish shrinks as it dries, yellows in sunlight, and leaves a film inside the fracture that interferes with resin. As a bridge to a repair, tape does the same job without the downside.
A hardware-store glass sealer is basically professional resin.
Off-the-shelf sealants are surface coatings, not injected structural fills. They sit on top of the crack instead of filling it, so the fracture underneath keeps running.
How to seal a cracked windshield temporarily
This is a holding action for the days before a repair — not a repair itself.
- 1
Work with the glass dry
Pick a dry, mild day so no moisture is trapped in the fracture when you tape it.
- 2
Clean around, not inside, the crack
Wipe the surface beside the fracture with a clean, dry cloth. Do not flush anything into the crack itself.
- 3
Press clear tape over the run
Lay a strip of clear packing or office tape flat along the crack, pressing it down firmly so it seals the surface.
- 4
Re-tape if it peels
Tape lifts at the edges over time; replace it rather than leaving gaps that let water back in.
- 5
Book the repair
The tape is buying days, not weeks — the crack still needs resin or a new windshield.
Whatever you do, do not put glue in the crack
Every contaminant that enters a fracture — glue, polish, oil from a finger — reduces how well repair resin can bond to the glass. A crack that would have taken a clean fill can become unrepairable by a well-meant household fix. See our guide to stopping a crack from spreading for the full list of do’s and don’ts.
More questions about covering a cracked windshield
What to put on a cracked windshield to keep water out?
Clear tape over a dry fracture, replaced whenever it peels. That is the only household item that helps without harming the eventual repair.
How to seal a cracked windshield if the crack is already dirty?
Do not try to wash it out — tap water carries minerals that settle in the fracture. Tape over it as it is, tell the shop the crack is contaminated, and let the technician decide whether a repair can still hold.
Is there anything I can buy that actually fixes a crack?
A professional resin fill is the only fix. Consumer products coat or cosmetically patch the surface, and the ones that inject resin without a vacuum stage leave air in the fracture — see our kit versus professional repair comparison.
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