When I am driving in the evening when the sun gets to a certain height I notice faint wiper scratches and some sand pitting on my windshield. I had thought about replacing it but I then thought, can most of those scratches be polished out? I watched a couple of videos on U tube using a polisher and I saw 3M makes a glass polishing compound. I do not want to put any distortion on my windshield. Or should I just get a new windshield? Any thoughts on this and cost of new non heated windshield for 2005 STR.

 

i just had mine replaced on my 06 str and wow what a difference. Had same problem. Used my insurance glass policy for 100 dollars

 

Yea I have had zero luck polishing glass. Always ended up replacing the windshield in the end.
Spent hours on windshields that are not being reproduced and those dang wiper arm scratches are too deep!
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Jaguar started issuing a windscreen polishing compound with 'service kits' in the early 2000s when yearly maintenance was included with new car warranty.

WINDSCREEN CLEAN PASTE C2S1638

I never used the whole bottle on one car so I accumulated a few dozen over the years.

 

In restoring classic cars, I've polished side glass using cerium oxide. Side windows tend to get deep vertical scratches from the worn out felts and weatherstrip. You have to be really dedicated and determined, because its not mere hours, but you can literally spend a 40-hour week or more on one side glass. You can't go fast because you don't want to overheat it and mess up the temper or it can crack. The only reason to do it is when you literally cannot get a replacement, or if you need to preserve the original markings and date codes etched into the glass in order that you don't lose points in judging. I've never done a windshield but I've read that you're not supposed to try to remove deep scratches on laminated glass as the localized heating can jeopardize the lamination as well as possibly introducing some distortion. I suppose if all you are trying to do is eliminate very light scratches about the equivalent of "swirl marks" in your paint, then maybe its worth a try but if there's deep scratches like as is if a rubber wiper blade came off and the wiper arm scraped with windshield, then it'd be more work than its worth to try and polish that out.

 

Yes Cerium Oxide is the stuff to use. Yes after I did get the wiper marks out of that old Thunderbird windshield I had a visual distortion in that spot and it drove me crazy while driving because it always was catching my eye!

Good point on the heating as the glass has plastic in-between the layers for safety and you don't want to damage that.
That's what I decided too. Too much work for the results and luckily it seems that there is a ton of repo glass out there now compared to years ago.
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Is it any use for clearing up foggy headlight lenses?
My S Type is pretty bad .

 

On the head lights I just use regular abrasives. Nothing special as it's just plastic.
Maybe use it on glass head lights? I don't know as I never saw any glass lights fog up?
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Regular stuff doesn't seem to get it all and I am worried about making it worse with too much abrasive action.
I have the same issue with my watch and spectacle lenses; I've bought some jeweller's rouge so I'll see how that pans out.

 

I had this problem too. They were awfully dull and very yellowed. They look brand new now.

The solution was simple but tedious. Use cutting compound and a bodywork ‘mop’ (electric polishing device). First use cutting compound (I used Farecla C3), then use T-cut, liquid spray wax, and finally good quality high gloss car wax.
WARNING: Only try this AFTER you have taped off the surrounding paintwork very thoroughly (failure to do so will lead to polishing through the paint and ruining the paintwork).

It will take you at least two or three hours to do all this but it will transform your headlights and, therefore, nighttime visibility and the front of your car. Don’t rush the job and don’t have the mop speed too high as it will get the plastic lenses too hot and melt their surface. If you feel they are getting too hot, keep them cool by intermittently giving them a squirt of the liquid spray wax and don’t hold the buffer in the same spot too long, allow it to move around.

You can actually buy headlamp restoration kits on ebay with special polish for this very purpose. I just used what I already had.

 

I've tried a few kits but they don't seem to get it all off but I'll keep persisting.

 

if I remember correctly it took about 3 hours and the mop was essential. Doing it by hand would not have much success. So perseverance is definitely necessary.

 

I have the same problem on my S-type.

 

I'd rather remove & replace an engine than polish a windshield, but if replacement just doesn't make sense, the 3M 60150 Glass Polishing Compound is a good cerium oxide-based product. A power polisher is critical, along with an appropriate glass-polishing pad (e.g. Rayon, wool felt).

For headlamps, 3M makes a great kit that is used with a power drill. The secret I have found is to not quit the first step with the 500-grit sandpaper too soon. You will think that you are ruining your headlamp, but you're not. All of the haze-yellowing-clearcoat should be removed with the 500 grit, because if any haze is left for the finer sanding grits, the process will take forever and the results will be suboptimal. Spend more time with the 500 grit and the rest of the steps will go very quickly, and the polycarbonate lens will be restored to optical clarity.

If you need to restore a lot of headlamps, it's cheaper to buy sanding discs and foam-backed polishing discs in bulk in the appropriate grits. The 3M kit uses 500, 800 and a 3000 foam-backed pad. I seem to recall that the Mother's or Meguiar's kit also included 1200 grit, and I usually use something in the 1000-1500 range after the 800 grit and before the 3000 pad. For the final step, any good scratch-removal polishing compound will work. I use products from 3M, Meguiar's, whatever I have on hand. I use the bulk 2-inch discs and pads on a small battery-operated Milwaukee single-action polisher, but even faster and better results can be achieved with a proper dual-action random orbital polisher with 2- or 3-inch discs/pads.





Cheers,

Don