Anyone buff scratches out of a wind shield?

66-67-88Chevy · BRANT COUNTY, ONT

Anyone buff scratches out of a wind shield?

fatstax · COBOURG, ONT

im sure napa will sell a compound for that exact purpose

poncho62 · ADMINISTRATOR

I have heard that toothpaste works well....I would test in a hidden area no matter what I tried.

You do know that a cracked windshield is covered under your comp insurance, right?...nudge, nudge, wink, wink

GhostPost · ONTARIO

There is professional companies to do this with proper tools and supplies. Pay a professional. It wasn't all that bad price wise. New windshield is around $250 so a buff can't be that bad. Personally from all the stuff I have detailed. Unless you know what your doing. Don't.

hemi43 · ONTARIO

Like Ghost said, get a new windshield. Not worth the time, effort and expense to try and repair the old one.

fatchuk · ST MARYS, ONTARIO

Chris58 · WATERFORD, ONT

I've heard toothpaste works too. The other thing to watch out for is no matter what you try, don't get too aggressive or you may cause distortion in the glass that you can't get out.

66-67-88Chevy · BRANT COUNTY, ONT

Thanks guys for the input. Dont know what we are going to do yet but we got a scrap car in the back with simmilar scratches that we can test some methods on. May just get a new windshield though, but it failed safety the way it is now, so Im going to have to do something eventually.
Thanks again.
Ben

123pugsy · MARKHAM, ONT

66-67-88Chevy wrote:
Thanks guys for the input. Dont know what we are going to do yet but we got a scrap car in the back with simmilar scratches that we can test some methods on. May just get a new windshield though, but it failed safety the way it is now, so Im going to have to do something eventually.
Thanks again.
Ben

Never heard of a scratched windshield failing safety before. Cracked, yes.

slim · DUNDAS, ONT

I was going to say the same thing. I would think it would have to be a hell of a scratch.

Gazoo · BADEN, ONT

I've never heard that one either. Even a cracked windshield could pass, if the crack is not "in the line of sight".
Got any pics of it? They've got to be awful scratches.

fatchuk · ST MARYS, ONTARIO

88 Chevy said

My car has scraches in the windshield. Not big ones, you can barely feel them with your nail if you run it over the scratch.

If the above statement is true ...I can't see for the life of me how it would fail a safety ..I do safteys every day and I have never failed a vehicle for a scratched windscreen..There is nothing in the MOT-bible about a scratched windscreen..It would to be blurred pretty darn bad...

hemi43 · ONTARIO

fatchuk wrote:
88 Chevy said
My car has scraches in the windshield. Not big ones, you can barely feel them with your nail if you run it over the scratch.

If the above statement is true ...I can't see for the life of me how it would fail a safety ..I do safteys every day and I have never failed a vehicle for a scratched windscreen..There is nothing in the MOT-bible about a scratched windscreen..It would to be blurred pretty darn bad...

Maybe the Guy doing the certification also does glass installation ! wink wink

123pugsy · MARKHAM, ONT

hemi43 wrote:
fatchuk wrote:
88 Chevy said
My car has scraches in the windshield. Not big ones, you can barely feel them with your nail if you run it over the scratch.

If the above statement is true ...I can't see for the life of me how it would fail a safety ..I do safteys every day and I have never failed a vehicle for a scratched windscreen..There is nothing in the MOT-bible about a scratched windscreen..It would to be blurred pretty darn bad...

Maybe the Guy doing the certification also does glass installation !

One of those, "hey, my buddy installs windshields" guys....

Chris Stapley · CAMPBELLFORD, ONT

Toothpaste will work dandy on plastics headlights etc, same as a fine rubbing compound, won't touch a windshield though.
Might avoid cavities,but just like on teeth, won't remove them...

slab · BRANT COUNTY, ONT

The windshield has a rub mark from hard rubber or something on the wiper. The kid has looked closer at it than I have but to me it's more of a rub and probably 1inch wide for the whole drivers side travel on the upper end of the wiper. The mechanic says because it is in the wiper travel and if the sun hits it , it could be a vision problem for the driver(glare). The mechanic in question is a good guy but has become very nervous of late after the ministry checked out one of the trucks he safetied(lifted 4x4 or something). It passed there check OK but they actually went to the owners house/shop to check it out and this freaked the mechanic a bit and so now he is pretty fussy. Please don't question me on the story because I can only go by what he said to me as unbelievable as it sounds. I have been dealing with this guy for over 17yrs and he has always been fair and a good guy. Even though I am not overly happy with the windshield deal...he is right in that the sun would glare on this streak ...maybe. I respect that he wants to cover himself and with all the other crap the MTO etc has been doing lately ... I can't blame him. It's all good and we will figure out how to fix it or will have to replace it( kinda blows the kids budget but ...)

sasquatch · NORTH BAY, ONT

Slab, your'e mechanic is correct on the wiper streaks, lots will not pass this because it usually is ALWAYS in the line of vision.
Besides it is a PITA to look through. Probably better to get it changed, but i certainly understand about Bens budget.

slab · BRANT COUNTY, ONT

Ya it will distract from all the quality work he has been doing and the paint job that's starting this weekend!! Ya who.

fatchuk · ST MARYS, ONTARIO

his description is much different than yours..

My car has scraches in the windshield. Not big ones, you can barely feel them with your nail if you run it over the scratch. My wipers are toast, and I turned them on at some point and it scratched the window.

yours..

to me it's more of a rub and probably 1inch wide for the whole drivers side travel on the upper end of the wiper. The mechanic says because it is in the wiper travel and if the sun hits it , it could be a vision problem for the driver(glare).

When we get the correct story it changes the demographics..I could agree that it may fail if in fact its a blurry smear from the wiper or lack of a wiper and it actualy marked the glass so it blurry and it world probably show worse in the rain and maybe at night..So now that you have given us the whole story I can understand the mechanic being more stringent ..It is true he /we have a responsibility to make sure the car is safe to be on the road ..He made it sound like you could hardly even notice a very slight scratch..It got lost in the delivery..I have seen those nasty blurry smears and I would probably fail it to and it's probably past a little jewelers rouge to polish out....

66-67-88Chevy · BRANT COUNTY, ONT

To clarify anything that wasnt already clarified with what dad said, I originally stated "My car has scraches in the windshield. Not big ones, you can barely feel them with your nail if you run it over the scratch". When I said "not big ones" I should have stated "not deep ones"

The scratches themselves are long and like Slab said "probably 1inch wide for the whole drivers side travel on the upper end of the wiper" This is accurate.

For anyone wanting to see the scratch, I dont have an up close picture, but here is it.

It is a very long and irritating thing.From what I have been reading online, it isnt the day that is the worst but the night. The scratches supposedly catch the headlights and make a very distracting glare. And not to mention the scratch itself is ugly.

From what I have been reading online, and what I have heard from the glass shops that I have called for quotes, trying to polish the windshield is not even worth it.

It is 50 dollars for a kit that is supposed to remove light scratches, and maybe toothpaste will do it too. However, even if it does work, there is the chance of thinning out the glass and distorting it which can cause a fun house glass sort of effect.

On the other hand, the lowestq quote that I got was 250 installed, and that is 5 times more than the buffing method.

Like I stated before, we have a scrap neon with simmilar scratches that we can test it on, but we will have to see.

Thanks again for all the input

Ben

-- Edited by 66-67-88Chevy on Thursday 17th of April 2014 06:12:40 PM

34guy · MISSISSAUGA, ONT

Ben

Just remember you only get what you pay for!!! I threw a 2x4 into my van and broke the windshield

The bulge was facing out so no insurance . I to found a company to replace the windshield for 250.00

after it was installed there were sections of the windshield that were distorted. I took it back where upon

I was told there was nothing wrong and they would do nothing. I got tired of the distortion and went to apple auto glass

and they told me a lot of the cheaper windshields were factory 2nds shipped out of china and that reputable companies such as apple only

purchase 1st quality . I then had them install a new one at just over 300.00 ,the difference was night and day.

PS. I have heard violin rosin will remove scratches as well .

Bryan · ST MARYS, ONT

I have heard about this but have not tried it . But it is worth a read .

www.ehow.com/how_5566819_hide-crack-windshield.html

slab · BRANT COUNTY, ONT

Ben it looks like you've been doing some homework on the subject since we last talked! The difference in the explination is about 30yrs ....LOL
I have a good glass guy in town that I'm not sure if Ben called . I guess since it won't pass safety the way it is...we've got nothing to loose trying to fix it with some of the suggestions we have read here and others.
Thanks everyone.