Window Glass Scratches

[SVXMAN2001]

I was wondering if it would be possible, to just take the scratched windows (drivers side and passengers) I have out and take them to a place to get the scratches out. Has anyone ever done this, or is it not worth the trouble, and just better to go ahead and buy new ones. Thanks in advance.

chris

[lee]

my advice would be to stop in at an auto glass shop and see if they will polish out the scratches while still on the car. if the scratches are light you can use a little bon ami and polish them out by hand. there's also several professional glass polish products, but without knowing how deep the scratches are....

HAHAHAHAHA OMG... Bon Ami... sorry there was an "Office Joke" at my old place of employment involving Bon Ami... I'm LMAO here! hahaha. Ok i'll stop.

Mike

Lee, the scratches chris is talking about are the ones that are caused by dirty felt window guides.

Mike

[Landshark]

i just got a glass polishing kit from J.C. Whitney - a can of cerium oxide and a buffing pad for a drill. i'll let everyone know how it works when i try it.

[lee]

Originally posted by Green1995SVX
Lee, the scratches chris is talking about are the ones that are caused by dirty felt window guides.

Mike

Then I would spend the buck or two and buy some Bon Ami. Use a car wax application pad or household sponge. Moisten the pad put on the bon ami and rub by hand. Start with light pressure and see how it goes. Bon Ami is an abrasive, so some care has to be used.

Landshark - don't know your skill level, but for me I'd be real cautious about a power tool application of any abrasive. But then I had a bad experience with cutting through a fading clearcoat using a buffer and polishing compound once, so that's just me worrying.


FYI, I had some scratches in the back window of a Dodge Caravan about 12 years ago (4 kids at home then). Dealer made the scratches somehow in the shop. Sent a pro to my house since I didn't want to wait anymore in his service bay while they figured out what to do. Pro showed up and just did the bob ami thing as he didn't feel like digging out the power buffer tools for a couple of light scratches.

[Landshark]

i've tried the drill/c. oxide - its gonna take a while! the instructions do say to keep it under 1500 rpms and keep it wet. they also say that glass is hard and it may take some time for the scratches to be removed. it seemed to make them a little less noticeable, but i think it will need a few applications to remove them completely.

[Ovidiu STAN]

I tried with cerium oxide, and I tried and I tried and I .....
and I gave up.

It is a pink powder, very messy... they said it is used to polish diamonds.

Maybe somebody else will be more persistent then me. I didn't have a good felt wheel (i confess...).

I will try again if somebody can say that they got results.

[Landshark]

i have a felt wheel, but it still seems like it might take some time - i'll consider this an ongoing project.

[SVXMAN2001]

How exactly do these scratches come up on the windows. I've heard that there is a little tab in the door that sets the window in the place or something and when it gets dirty it produces the scrathes on the window. Now if this is true there must be some serious dirt or rocks getting into this pad. It doesn't make much sense to me. Anyone have an explanation? thanks
chris

[oab_au]

Two things I have learnt with my SVX is to ; Not hose the tail lights when they are hot. Condensation.

Don't wind the windows down when dirty. Scratches.

Harvey.

[Ovidiu STAN]

The window guides have a sort of a synthetic material as padding for the guides. The pads are about 1 inch x 1/2 inch

Probably the initial idea was to prevent the windows to be scratched. The designer ( a slow mind without experience) thinked that the car will spend all her life in the show room.

Evidently that he didn't know that there are second effects like rain and dirt going.

The pads are trapping dirt (sand) and the final effect is worse than using regular plastic pads. The sand will scratch the window each time you turn it on and off. To repair that you have to remove them and replace them with something solid.

It is a pitty that a designer car didn't had a good team of mechanics around. That's why the price is so low compared to cars that were the same price at that time. Look at a Lexus or Mitsubishi 3000 and try to get one for under $5,000. You can't...

With WRX they are on the other side. A perfect mechanical car looking like a regular box. Pitty again.

This car is for mechanical inclined. I spent a lot of time (more then any other car) correcting the flaws and sometimes I wonder...

[Earthworm]

Has anyone replaced the pads with some other material?

[Landshark]

Originally posted by Ovidiu STAN
With WRX they are on the other side. A perfect mechanical car looking like a regular box. Pitty again.

HEY! i think it looks nice! (only in Platinum Silver, however - the headlights don't stand out as much.) not the looker the SVX is, though.

anyways, my plan is to remove the "fuzzy" stuff from the window guides, buy another California Water Blade and cut some pieces off to wrap around the guides, and then i'll have to secure them somehow - small zip-tie? the silicone the Water Blade is made of is supposed to be several times less scratch resistant than a cotton towel. BTW, these are great for drying your car - cuts the time in half. get the rest with the Absorber. thats my quick, lazy drying method!

[Ovidiu STAN]

Alan,

what is that with the cowbell? Enlight me. I am not an american but I am trying... The only good stuff with a cowbell I heard was on SNL..

We need more cowbell... Is that about?