Under two miles, six or seven minutes, and mostly on roads that do not queue. Grays Ferry sits west and north of the shop across 25th Street, and most of what we see from there is stone damage picked up on the industrial roads rather than a broken window. Chip repair is $60 to $130 and about half an hour. A fitted windshield is $250 to $450. We are at 2640 Snyder Avenue and open at 8:30 on weekdays.
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Grays Ferry runs on shift work and working vehicles. The neighbourhood is boxed in by the Schuylkill on one side and rail and industrial ground on the other, and the roads through it carry tankers, flatbeds and roll-off trucks all day. Cars here cover real miles and start early. When somebody calls us from Grays Ferry it is usually about a windshield that has been marked for a while and has finally started to travel, not a window that went overnight.
That changes what is useful to know. If you get the chip to us before it moves, the whole thing is 30 minutes and $60 to $130, and comprehensive cover usually swallows it. Once a crack reaches the edge of the glass or crosses your sightline it is a replacement at $250 to $450 fitted, an hour of work and a specific safe drive-away time before you take it back out. We open at 8:30, which suits a seven o'clock start less well than we would like, so the practical move is to drop the car on your way past and collect it after. Work vans and pickups get quoted the same way as anything else, with the glass matched to the vehicle before you make the trip.
Grays Ferry Avenue is the spine, running down on the diagonal to the bridge over the Schuylkill, and it carries a lot of traffic that has nothing to do with the neighbourhood. Passyunk Avenue crosses the river at the other end, past the old refinery ground, and 34th Street and Vare Avenue take the heavy vehicles. Wharton and Reed run in from the east and meet the numbered streets around 25th and 26th. The housing is mixed, rowhouse blocks with kerbside parking and the Wilson Park blocks with more room around them, so some cars sit at a kerb and some sit in a lot. What they all have in common is a daily crossing of at least one bridge deck or one badly patched industrial road.
“They were able to install a new drivers side rear window for me the same day I called, when all the other shops were saying it could take a few days. They did a wonderful job and even cleaned up all the glass that was in my car (even folded a blanket I had in there that got glass on it) from my window being busted in.”
First, stone off truck tyres. The roads down to the river carry loaded vehicles over surfaces that have been cut open and patched a dozen times, and the debris that gathers at the edge of a patch gets flicked up by the wheel in front. Second, bridge joints. Crossing the Schuylkill at Grays Ferry Avenue or Passyunk Avenue means a steel expansion joint at each end, and that sharp jolt is often what finally moves a chip that had been stable for months. Third, grit on the glass itself. Dust settles on anything parked near the industrial edge, and running dry wipers over it is how a windshield picks up the fine scratching that turns oncoming headlights into starbursts. That is not repairable; it is a replacement or you live with it. Fourth, break-ins, which happen here but are not the main story.
From the streets by the river, come east on Wharton or Reed to 26th Street and turn south. Snyder Avenue is a few blocks down and we are on it between 26th and 27th. From the southern end near Passyunk Avenue, take Passyunk north-east to 26th and turn north instead. Either way it is under two miles and rarely more than seven or eight minutes, because you never cross Broad Street and never touch an expressway. If the car is not driveable, a windshield you cannot see through or glass everywhere, call 215-608-1108 and ask for the van. Grays Ferry is well inside the range where that makes sense.
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No, and it is worth knowing why. That haze is thousands of tiny pits from sand and grit driven into the glass over years, usually made worse by wipers running dry. There is nothing to fill; the surface itself is gone. A replacement is $250 to $450 fitted and it is the only fix. What you can do on the next screen is keep the washer bottle full and never run the blades on a dry, dusty windshield.
We open at 8:30 Monday to Friday and 8:30 on Saturday too, closing at 5:30 during the week and 4:00 on Saturday, so before-hours drop-off is not something we can promise. What does work for a lot of Grays Ferry shift workers is leaving the car with us on the way home and picking it up the following day, or booking the van to come to the car while it is parked and you are elsewhere.
Yes. Vans and pickups are the same job with different glass, and the glass is matched to the year, make and model before you drive over so there is no wasted trip. Windshields on a van sit in the same $250 to $450 range for common models; unusual or larger panes get quoted individually before we order anything. Tell us on the phone if there is a ladder rack or roof kit on it, because that sometimes changes how we get to the glass.
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| Monday – Friday | 08:30 – 17:30 |
| Saturday | 08:30 – 16:00 |