Scratched my windscreen

[Craikeybaby]

While I was de-icing my windscreen this morning I must have got some grit trapped under the scraper, as when I was driving into the sun there were a few vertical lines up the windscreen. When I got to work I checked the scraper and couldn't see anything on it, but I'm going to replace it anyway. I can feel the scratches with my fingernail, are they going to be too deep to polish out?

[V8 Animal]

Too deep like you say new screen needed

[Craikeybaby]

I thought that might be the case Would it be the sort of thing that would be covered by insurance? Or would it just be classed as cosmetic?

Hopefully that's the third in my run of bad luck this week after my oven broke and I got stranded in Paris.

[jimbob82]

You shouldn't have driven your oven to Paris...

[Evoluzione]

Craikeybaby said:

Would it be the sort of thing that would be covered by insurance?

It will be when it's got a big crack in it, wink wink....

Use warm water next time......

[blueg33]

You can polish out scratches that deep. Kits are available on the net. I have a series of deep scratches polished out of the screen on the G33 after it was "cheese wired" by those tensioned cable crash barriers

[zap mc]

Craikeybaby said:

I thought that might be the case Would it be the sort of thing that would be covered by insurance? Or would it just be classed as cosmetic?

Insurance companies vary as to whether they cover scratches so the best thing to do is check the actual policy wording. Admiral for example whilst covering screen damage as listed in their schedule only cover glass "breakage" in the small print of the policy.

If you could post a good picture of it I may be able to see if it looks repairable by polishing. If it is a real deep and clicky scratch when you run your nail over it maybe not but some deeper scratches can come out even if you can just feel them. Also bear in mind the position and extent of the scratching along with the general condition of the rest of the screen.

[Glassman]

Evoluzione said:

It will be when it's got a big crack in it, wink wink....

Use warm water next time......

You wouldn't be wink-winking if there was no longer glass cover with comprehensive policies.

[Craikeybaby]

I'll need to check the glass part of my policy, and I'll try to get a picture over the weekend, but I fear it will be hard to photograph, there are 4 scratches top to bottom of the screen, one of which is right in front of the driver.

[Glassman]

Craikeybaby said:

I fear it will be hard to photograph

I was about to offer you a tip, but then I saw your website. Thankfully.

[Gio G]

I did the same on the Cayman, can't quite understand how I did it. Luckily Scratches on the passenger side, after the heavy snow and frost. Maybe it is the grade of the glass, as had no issues on the Audi windscreen using the scraper.... Ironically, the actual scrapper I used, was given to me by a Porsche body shop..

[Craikeybaby]

I've just been for a drive in my girlfriends Fiat 500, it is actually worse on that, although the windscreen was much worse to start with, there are lots of shorter scratches. When we got back from our weekend away the cars were quite dusty, even though mine was washed on Friday, it must have been one of those sand filled rain showers, but I didn't notice under the frost. As we used different scrapers I'm sure that even a good scraper would have damaged the glass.

I'll be using warm water in the future, last time I tried the water mustn't have been warm enough as it froze and made things worse.

[Craikeybaby]

Glassman said:

I was about to offer you a tip, but then I saw your website. Thankfully.

No worries, I've never had to photograph damage to glass before, so tips are welcome. I was going to use the macro mode on my compact camera, but I'll wait until the rain has stopped!

[Craikeybaby]

I've finally been able to get the elusive camera of daylight, no rain and an internet connection to upload the images of my scratched windscreen:





On another thread Glassman has also said he would be in the Midlands and should be able to have a look at it.

[blueg33]

No where near as bad as the scratches I had polished from the G33 windscreen

[Craikeybaby]

That sounds promising!

[mneame]

Toothpaste. And be very careful. Not too much pressure.