“What Is the Difference Between a Chip, a Star Break, and a Crack?”
Summary:
Mike walks through the main types of rock chip damage. A normal chip is a small impact point with a little crack coming off it. A star chip has a somewhat bigger impact point with multiple legs, or cracks, radiating out from it. A bullseye is a round impact mark that looks like an eye, which is where the name comes from. A combination break is a bit of everything: an impact point, some bullseye shape, and lines and cracks spreading out from the point of impact. Finally, he mentions surface pits, which look like something is there but are really just a scratch or imperfection on the surface of the glass. A surface pit is not an actual rock chip and is not something drivers need to worry about.
Answer:
Okay, the difference between a few different rock chips. A normal chip typically could just be a small impact point with a little crack that comes off of it. A star chip can be a little bit bigger of an impact point that has multiple different legs that come off of it, multiple different cracks. Then there is what I call a bullseye, which is pretty much when you get hit by a rock and it is just a circle. It looks like an eye, and that is why it is called a bullseye. Then there are also combination cracks, which are kind of a little bit of both. They are self-explanatory, really. You have the impact point, you have a little bit of a bullseye, but then you also have the lines and cracks coming off of that general impact point as well. Then you also get surface pits, which is where you get hit by a rock and it looks like there is something there. In all reality, it is really just more or less a scratch or an imperfection on the glass. It is not an actual rock chip or something that you technically need to worry about.