Possible to polish a windscreen?

Richard53

I've just bought an older Merc and have noticed that the windscreen is less than perfect. There are no visible scratches, and driving it during the day you don't notice anything, but at night oncoming headlights refract and form a vertical line which covers most of the depth of the screen, top to bottom. When I examined it in daylight, the swept area of the screen is very slightly matte, as if the wipers have smeared slightly. I would guess that over 1/4 century the wipers have caused a pattern of microscopic scratches that are causing the issue.


I can live with it, and the car is otherwise in excellent and unmolested condition, so I don't really want to have a new screen fitted. But I have a couple of polishing machines (bought originally for polishing a faded GRP hull of a boat) and I wondered if there was a DIY solution by using some compound to polish the screen back to a good surface. I still have some G3 in the workshop. Or am I likely to make it worse rather than better? I have successfully polished boats, furniture and car bodywork, but never glass. Windolene has been my limit.

neilmcl

You could try the Ceriglass from carpro. There's posts about it on the forum at detailingworld.co.uk and videos on youtube.

Got some but not tried it yet myself.

Justice13075

Go to youtube type in how to superclean your windscreen 8min 26sec video video. Did mine Brilliant.

shaun_from_Africa

I used this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005M273TM?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage
to get rid of some scratches and scuffing on a windscreen that was caused by sand and grit on a wiper blade and it worked a treat.

It took a good hour of gentle polishing to do the job but the difference it made was amazing.

Richard53

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

I used this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005M273TM?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage
to get rid of some scratches and scuffing on a windscreen that was caused by sand and grit on a wiper blade and it worked a treat.

It took a good hour of gentle polishing to do the job but the difference it made was amazing.

Was that with a machine or by hand?


(Edit: that looks good stuff. Thanks for the link.)

scotsbob

Cerium Oxide. Some people mix in a little glycerine but you should get acceptable results without it.

pogofish

I have used jewellers rouge to good effect on a small scuff on a windscreen before - but the thought of doing an entire screen is rather daunting! :eek:

Do windscreen repairers do sales? Maybe keep your eyes out of an offer on a replacement?

Gloomendoom

The problem with removing scratched on windscreens is that you have to reduce the level of the surrounding glass to the depth of the scratch.

That's hard work, particularly so if you want to minimise localised optical distortion.

Richard53

Yes, that's kind of what was concerning me. TBH, I have just driven to work in the dark and pouring rain, and it wasn't all that bad, so hopefully any scratches are numerous but very shallow, and a careful but non-aggressive polish will restore the surface. The effect is that of a slightly dirty screen (I keep wanting to use the wash/wipe) rather than visible scars and crazing


I'm being a bit perfectionist about this because the car is in such good condition otherwise, and it lets it down slightly. I don't really want to go for a new screen because the car is so far unmolested and I am trying to keep it as original as possible. I had a new screen on the Mondeo (Autowindscreens, I think) and it was a messy job.


I've got an old Land Rover door with glass behind the shed. I'll have a practice on that! Thanks all.