Windshield Glass Expert - Help Needed!

the eastwood company sells a windshield scratch fix it kit kind of thing... but... it is supposed to be used with a buffer... you could probably do it by hand if you were very dedicated.

However, you could have the windshield removed then buff it. I replaced mine on my 355... it took over 6 months to get the windshield (the wrong one came once) and it was either 3800 or 4800 for the glass... just the glass... its not very expensive to have a windshield guy remove the windshield though...

 

removal of the instrument binnacle is very easy, just 2 screws which will give you much better access to treat it

 

I wonder if you could use that stuff they sell to fix scratches on eyeglasses.

 

Test,

I had good luck in the past with regular formula toothpaste......doesnt matter if its Crest/Colgate/etc etc. DFont use the gel type.

You have to rub your hand off, though. Keep applying it as the friction from the rubbing will dry it out....just add more, and keep rubbing, and rubbing, and rubbing, and..........

Hey, thats it. It worked. The 3 P's: Patience, Persistence, and Practical knowledge.

 

I've been in the glass business for 45 years and I have never successfully removed a scratch. I have seen it done but never pulled it off myself.

 

well clearly you have no knowledge of glass!



Kidding... of course!

Ive been so close to buying the glass buffing kit, but one set that is saw was 150 dollars and new door glass was 90... So........... ya...

 

JC Whitney sells a glass polish kit that is excellent. But I actually ruined the windshield on my MBZ. It got the scratch out, but now looks like you are looking through a magnifying glass and is distorted. In hindsight though, my scratch was quite deep. Yours would probably yield good results.

 

Ultimately, the type of mark your watch left on the windshield is going to determine how difficult the mark is to remove. The depth and the type of channel the scratch left (U shaped, V shaped, I shaped) will determine how much material (in this case glass) needs to be removed and how far out you have to remove material in order to avoid distorting the glass.

Is it a scuff (something above the surface of the glass) or a scratch (material removed from the glass)?

If it is something on top of the surface then you simply need to find a cleaner that will remove the material. If it is a scratch then you need to remove all the material around the deepest part of the scratch to create a new, level surface.

This should remove a scuff, and may help with a scratch. IME, Jeweler's rouge is a generic term, like 'polish' is to car paint. If the goal is to remove material from glass, then you are going to want to use a polish or rogue that has cerium oxide as it's abrasive ingredient.
Automotive glass is very hard to polish, and older glass tends to be harder then the newer, softer, more chip resistant glass used today.

However this presents a problem, as cerium oxide is a very hard abrasive and needs to be worked with considerable friction (such as on a rotary polisher at fast speed, using pressure) otherwise the abrasive will remain aggressive and could leave behind swirl mark like scratches in the glass.

This is from one of three likely reasons...

1) The 'jeweler's rouge' you used is either fairly aggressive and of low quality.

2) You used something abrasive to apply the rouge with (such as cotton towel with nylon backing, a dirty rag, or a some types of microfiber).

3) You did not create the mechanical action needed to breakdown the abrasive in the rogue. Diminishing abrasives start off aggressive, and as they are worked over time, break down to become finer and finer. With out knowing the abrasive used in the rogue, this is a possibility. This becomes a larger problem when using a polish designed for glass.

Perhaps a professional detailer or windshield place that has experience with such things could.

I have polished wiper tracks out of glass before, and it has been my experience that it requires an aggressive glass polishing compound applied with a machine at fairly high speeds, with a lot of pressure to do so. If your scratch is anywhere near as deep as a wiper track (which isn't deep at all) then I cannot possibly see how it could be done by hand in a timely fashion. (Keep in mind I am not an expert in this field, so there may be a way that I don't know about).

If you want to attempt it by hand get a clean foam applicator pad (or better yet get a glass pad from Lake Country and cut it into the size(s) you need. Get a high quality cerium oxide abrasive polish, and a squirt bottle of water.

Cover your leather dash with a towel, and maybe a plastic bag on top or below the towel to make sure you don't get the polish on the leather (it will likely stain it). Apply some polish to the pad and rub with a lot of passion, until your arm is tired and the polish becomes dry. Mist with water and continue working until dry. Mist with water and continue working until dry. You want to repeat this until the polish itself is completely transparent (to ensure the abrasives have broken down).

Given the depth of the scratch, this could take a very long time to do, as you have to repeat that exact process over and over and over. Even then I wouldn't guarantee it would work and that you won't haze the windshield in the process, so enter at your own risk. I have never attempted to repair a scratch this way, but in theory it could work.

Best of luck

Todd

 

Try using the Dremel buffing attachment that looks sort of like a beehive and keep running it over the scratch and see if it buffs out? Use the rouge's etc. if you need to go a little deeper. You should be able to get it to a point you can't notice it.