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My car is 5 years old and the windscreen has many faint scratches and blemishes. These are so fine that they are not normally noticeable but when the sun is low and ahead they do become an irritation.
It there anything that can be done? Can they be polished out? Or is it not worth the trouble?
I had an older car with lots of scratches in the windshield and took it to a professional who said that no hacks are available. He could of course be soliciting his business, but I didn't get that impression. So you either have to live with it, or replace the windshield.
The main approach is to use a series of very fine abrasives and glass polishes. The problem with this strategy is that it is very time consuming to polish glass and takes a considerable amount of skill. A non-professional will typically just end up with a worse result.
I use a different strategy as follows:
(1) clean the windshield
(2) clay the windshield; it is absolutely essential all particles be completely removed
(3) use a pad or paper towel that is very slightly humid and cake table salt onto it, then rub the windshield with it hard
What this does is smooth the glass, not scratch it. Glass is actually amorphous; the salt basically pushes the glass and smoothes it out without scratching the glass. Salt is too soft and friable to scratch glass which is why this works. From a technical point of view, this is called "burnishing," not polishing.
Once again you must thoroughly clay the windshield first; if you fail to do this you will scratch it up much worse.
Check your auto insurance policy; they may allow you to have your windscreen replaced and pay most of the cost for you, and it won't count as a claim so has no impact on the next year's premium. The last time I had a windscreen replaced because it was full of micro scratches, I paid approximately 5% of the replacement cost, though I don't doubt the insurance company was being taken for a ride (pardon the pun) because the process took all of about 10 minutes and the bill to the insurance co was approximately quarter of what the car was worth
They do this because it's usually cheaper to replace a badly scratched windscreen than it is to pay a claim for an accident that occurred because you couldn't see through your badly scratched windscreen
You can use toothpaste to remove scratches. They act as abrasives that removes them. Add a small toothpaste on a damp cloth and then gently rub on the scratched part of the windshield. Then gently clean them with soft cloth. Addition of toothpaste with baking soda will remove better. Many in my city would try them to remove scratches from bike. Just Google about the removal of scratches using toothpaste. It will help you.
I know when watches with glass cases have scratches you can buff them out with toothpaste... If you have a lot of free time, and even more toothpaste that should work to help remove the scratches.
I did not believe that this method worked until I tried it myself. I can personally vouch for how effective it is.
Polish the dry windscreen with dry 0000 (Extra Fine) wire wool. It is vital that you use 0000 extra fine grade or you will add to the scratches. Once the windscreen is totally and completely clean, sparingly apply a wetting agent (such as RainX).
I mixed a standard toothpaste with some baking soda and it definitely worked for me. The scratches I had were quite light and you do have to spend a bit of time/elbow grease going over them. Worth the effort though.
