Windscreen scratches - can you polish them out ?
Discussion
As the title says , can you T Cut them out ? would I be wasting my time or possibly making things worse ? The constant problem I have is I drive 100 miles or so to an event and then try to clean bugs and any grime off with water and glass cleaner , over the years I have managed to accumulate a few scratches from minute debris present at the time.
Dogwatch said:
Don't overdo it though. By polishing out the scratches you are thinning the outer glass which is under tension on a curved screen. A little won't matter, but too much......
Has this ever happened to you? No.To answer the OP's question, you can certainly try to polish out the scratches, but in my experience, even using the 'kits' that say they are designed for the job, you will have limited success.
The Autoglym product is not for removing scratches, but to clean the screen, and it does that very well.
I've used the Frost kit, with some success.
You can tell it's working when you find your arm gets too tired to go on rubbing, a light cordless drill can't 'cut' it, and you have to resort to a mains drill to power the polishing disc they supply.
It will only deal with 'cosmetic' scratches. If you can feel the scratch with your fingernail, it's too deep. But there can be plenty of such light scratches in a worn windscreen that it may be worthwhile.
John
You can tell it's working when you find your arm gets too tired to go on rubbing, a light cordless drill can't 'cut' it, and you have to resort to a mains drill to power the polishing disc they supply.
It will only deal with 'cosmetic' scratches. If you can feel the scratch with your fingernail, it's too deep. But there can be plenty of such light scratches in a worn windscreen that it may be worthwhile.
John
T Cut
AVOID AVOID AVOID. I have been to too many screens covered in extra scratches caused by someone trying it with t cut.
Autoglym
Just a polish that you can put on glass, will not actually remove scratches as such.
Toothpaste
Will remove that oily residue that makes your wipers smear but that's about all. Smells nicer than T Cut.
Jewellers rouge
The "rouge" is from iron oxide ( commonly known as rust!) and whilst it can be used to polish glass it is generally a polish more suited to metal jewellery.
Cerium Oxide
This is the stuff to polish glass but like all chemicals there are various grades and manufacturers ( one of the main producers is unfortunately China ) Cerium Oxide is graded by particle size dependant on the job at hand and there is a certain amount of extra science involved in the strength used to prevent the particles clumping together to form abrasive lumps which can score the glass in itself. About £80 per litre.
Frost Kit
Looks cheap at £9.71 + p&p and consists of a 3" pad to put in your drill and a bag of polish that you mix with water. If you concentrate the pad in one spot it will overheat the glass which could crack it ( never polish near an existing pit on a screen as this can start the crack from this point) your home drill will normally not be powerful enough to be effective enough and will normally be too fast so the polish will just skip over the top and not do any work. High speed will also splatter polish over a wide area and is difficult to remove from black trim so mask up. May work but expect to spend a few hours to achieve a result.
Application
Whilst it is possible to polish by hand it is unable to match a machine polisher or most importantly be able to polish over an area wide enough to prevent distortion as some posters have reported. The speed and pressure of the polishing pad need to be controlled to maximise material removal whilst not overheating the screen due heat build up ( which can crack the screen ).
Luckily the 1600E has a screen in a rubber so you can always just string a new one in. Nice motor btw!
AVOID AVOID AVOID. I have been to too many screens covered in extra scratches caused by someone trying it with t cut.
Autoglym
Just a polish that you can put on glass, will not actually remove scratches as such.
Toothpaste
Will remove that oily residue that makes your wipers smear but that's about all. Smells nicer than T Cut.
Jewellers rouge
The "rouge" is from iron oxide ( commonly known as rust!) and whilst it can be used to polish glass it is generally a polish more suited to metal jewellery.
Cerium Oxide
This is the stuff to polish glass but like all chemicals there are various grades and manufacturers ( one of the main producers is unfortunately China ) Cerium Oxide is graded by particle size dependant on the job at hand and there is a certain amount of extra science involved in the strength used to prevent the particles clumping together to form abrasive lumps which can score the glass in itself. About £80 per litre.
Frost Kit
Looks cheap at £9.71 + p&p and consists of a 3" pad to put in your drill and a bag of polish that you mix with water. If you concentrate the pad in one spot it will overheat the glass which could crack it ( never polish near an existing pit on a screen as this can start the crack from this point) your home drill will normally not be powerful enough to be effective enough and will normally be too fast so the polish will just skip over the top and not do any work. High speed will also splatter polish over a wide area and is difficult to remove from black trim so mask up. May work but expect to spend a few hours to achieve a result.
Application
Whilst it is possible to polish by hand it is unable to match a machine polisher or most importantly be able to polish over an area wide enough to prevent distortion as some posters have reported. The speed and pressure of the polishing pad need to be controlled to maximise material removal whilst not overheating the screen due heat build up ( which can crack the screen ).
Luckily the 1600E has a screen in a rubber so you can always just string a new one in. Nice motor btw!
Edited by zap mc on Monday 7th January 21:17
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