Windscreen Scratch Removal Advice (pics inside)

[Purity14]

I lent a friend a car for the last 12 months as they were having issues financially, and I have just received it back like this.

The rubber on the wipers failed, but they didnt tell me, or replace them, and they have scratched the window to kingdom come.

From the inside:


From the outside:


The ridges are pretty strong when I rub my fingers over them and its a definate MOT fail
Has anyone salvaged something as bad as this using buffers or what not? Or is it just a replacement windscreen job?

Edited by Purity14 on Wednesday 4th August 16:54

[Camelot1971]

Can you feel the scratches with your fingernail? If so, I'd suggest new screen time. If not, you might have some luck with glass polish and a buffing machine but no guarantee it would work.

[halo34]

Thats a goner even with polishing sadly.

[Purity14]

Yeah, I thought as much, and yes its like sandpaper you can rub your fingernails in and out of all the tracks.

Bummer, new windscreen then!

[TVRBRZ]

Had a similar issue with a 2013 Suzuki Swift I bought as a cheap runaround from a bit of a dodgy garage. No issues on the test drive or inspection but on the journey home (a few hundred miles) the rain started and washed off whatever coating the scummy garage had used to disguise the scratches. Lots of other issues came to light but not for this thread.

I spent multiple hours with my electric drill, buffing pads and glass polishing paste and got what is probably as bad as the OP's back to a reasonable standard and a MOT pass.

I did it over a couple of weeks, and made sure when the friction made the glass too hot I stopped. With a high speed electric drill it was messy, but eventually I saved the cost of a new windscreen.

Garage was reported to Trading Standards for this and other issues but nothing was ever done.

[Glassman]

FUBAR