Windshield Roughness Repair

[kimokalihi]

My car was either frequently driven behind dumptrucks full of sand or the windshield is very old and yet has zero cracks or rock chips in it because it is very rough. When the wipers are going is sounds like sand paper scraping across the glass because of the tiny little nicks in the glass.

My question is, do I really have to replace the windshield to get rid of this annoying sound and poor wiper performance (even with new wipers) can I sand the glass the way you would when restoring your headlights and work my way up with finer grits and finally to buffing it?

Anybody ever done this?

[kimokalihi]

I just don't want to chance any leaks, shoddy install job or spend a ton of money on a windshield if I don't have to.

[zagarus]

do you have a piece of glass in similar condition you could use to practice on?

[evolutionmovement]

No. You need to replace it. Get 0 deductible glass. Ball peen hammer or hit nail with hammer to look like rock strike. I've had to replace the wagon's twice and just did the Mazda (legitimate crack, but it was the sandblasting that bothered me).

[kimokalihi]

Please explain. What is 0 deductible glass? Are you talking about those glass chip repair guys who tell you that you can get your insurance to pay for your windshield? I only have medical coverage on my car. Zero coverage for these sorts of things including collision or theft. So please don't steal my car anyone, or I'm screwed and that's not cool. lol PS: I keep a very close eye on it so watch out.

I must have that tinted strip on the top of the windshield too. Really cuts down on the sun in my eyes.

[evolutionmovement]

Zero deductible on your insurance. It's the only part of any insurance that I've made a profit from. In MA, we used to have free windshield replacement, but a couple years ago, they changed some of the laws so all the big insurance companies would now move in with the idea that the competition would drive down prices. It worked, but one of the things they did was ditch the free windshield rule. However, since mine only seem to last 3-5 years, I made sure to check the zero deductible. Just had the Mazda done and it was very easy. Perhaps I'm lucky in this state because of all the experience the windshield guys got, but every one of the windshields I've had replaced over the years was done impeccably well. The added cost for the insurance is minimal. I hate their commercials (there isn't an insurance company I don't), but I've been happy with Progressive.

So my advice, unless you want to pay out for the $300+ windshield replacement, is to look into getting the no deductible windshield/glass and see if a random rock can't get kicked up from a truck and finish that thing off a few months later.

I never got a straight answer, but heard that at one point in MA, some companies would replace the windshield for severe sandblasting. True or not, they should as can be a bigger safety liability than a crack, but then I'm not one of their accountants.

[kimokalihi]

I see what you mean. Zero deductible insurance would actually increase my insurance considerably. Not because of the deductible but because I don't have comprehensive coverage and I would have to add that back on and that would raise the price enough to where in 2 or 3 months I will have paid more than a brand new windshield would cost me.

[evolutionmovement]

Yeah, I didn't realize that was part of comprehensive, but it doesn't actually add much vs. glass deductible (the glass deductible is a separate one). I also like Progressive because I've read that they're the best when it comes to insuring weird stuff like kit cars and homebuilts that some companies won't even allow.

Damn, don't you pay something ridiculous, too? I'm around $1000 with two speeding tickets and good coverage.

Well, the cost for my Mazda was for $330 and IIRC, the Legacy was around $300 about 8 years ago (! dammit—8 years already?!), but that's installed. I don't know how much of that was part and how much was labor, but I suppose you could try doing it yourself and save some money. Then again, some things just are worth paying someone else to do. I can't imagine a windshield being less than 2/3 of that cost, but I never priced one, either.

There are, for future reference, some protective plastic films you can get for windshields, but I've never used them and am skeptical of them since I can't see them not getting beat to hell by wipers and such in pretty quick order and even if they made it a year, I think you'd excede the cost of a new windshield (providing a rock doesn't take it out even sooner as I doubt that film will help much with that) before an unprotected one would need to be replaced.

This is actually a larger concern of mine as I like being able to see when driving. On my Tigershark car design, I've made the windshield 3 panels of flat glass so they can be easily and cheaply replaced (especially where I'd have to do the work myself).

[kimokalihi]

Yes, I pay too much. I was paying about $170 a month for just the metro with full coverage. Then I got sick of it and decided I paid $1,250 for the car and have spent far more than that on insurance so what's the point of having comprehensive. Dropped that and it went down to about $93 a month. I just added the subaru onto my policy again without comprehensive as well and it jumped to about $215! a month. $1,290 for 6 months with zero coverage for theft, hit and run, collision, ect.

I called progressive while searching for auto insurance a couple years ago and they actually told me nationwide had cheaper rates so I said, thank you and called nationwide and I've been with them since. I also got quotes online from every major insurance company out there and this was the cheapest. Perhaps in a year or two when I'm 25 or 26 (damn writing that sounds so old ) the rates will drop? I've only been in one accident that I caused and that was when I was fooling around driving stupid so the comprehensive wasn't worth it. Especially having such low value cars.

[Legacy777]

I had to have my windshield replaced several years ago because of the same reason. The glass got sand blasted by a dirt & wind in Wyoming.

[ericem]

Are you sure it's not grime? I think on my older legacy I went around the entire windshield carefully with a exacto knife blade at a 45 slowly until it would run along nice and smooth. Then use some wax to make it extremely smooth to the touch and clean any residue with some invisible glass THAN I proceeded with new wipers.

[kimokalihi]

Oh yeah. You can see all the tiny little holes in the glass and you can feel it with your hand all the pitting.

[ericem]

Hmm than yes you definitely need new glass!

Better off just using rain-x so you don't need wipers.

[Apex3]

Yea, not a whole lot you can do, glass is very hard so if you sanded it you'd only be scratching it, not smoothing anything out.

Aside from that, I guess you could try waxing it, or even clearcoating it, but both are definitely temporary solutions

[kimokalihi]

Yeah Eric, I'm already using rain X lol. That's how bad it is. I've never seen a windshield this bad. I thought about waxing it but I figure with all those little holes the wax will just go into the holes and then it will leave millions of tiny little white dots which will surely make the vision worse. Ever waxed a hood with bad rock chipping? The wax in the little holes in the paint stays white instead of going on clear and then it really looks like shit.

[Falken-18c]

just use rainx until u can get a new window. u gota love new glass lol so clean maybe i should just clean my windows lol NAH

[Apex3]

Yeah Eric, I'm already using rain X lol. That's how bad it is. I've never seen a windshield this bad. I thought about waxing it but I figure with all those little holes the wax will just go into the holes and then it will leave millions of tiny little white dots which will surely make the vision worse. Ever waxed a hood with bad rock chipping? The wax in the little holes in the paint stays white instead of going on clear and then it really looks like shit.

Good point, it was just a thought. Rain-X is basically wax anyway. Could always try it on a small part of the windshield, but it may or may not last any longer if it does work.