Duke I

I have my car for about six months now with 4000 mi. Have become disappointed with what I perceived as "softness" in the windshield. In certain lights, mainly facing the sun just above the horizon, I can see the pitting already all over the surface. THEN, one day recently I noticed the same "pitting" as I looked out the side window. I thought, "No way there's pitting on the side windows" so, I took out a microfiber towel and cleaner to clean and assess the damage and noticed that the "pitting" moved as I wiped! Not pitting, but tiny mircrofiber fibers (not long threads and not visible except in the lighting I described above) that I could move with attempts to clean, but I could not get them off and seemed to leave other fibers behind -- I am using Auto Geek's waffle and Griot's fine weave glass towels. And the "pitting" in the front, much of it these tiny fibers that I locked on the surface with Optimum Glass Sealant, I think.

So question is, have you seen/noticed this and how do you handle it?

Bishop200

I notice that with microfibre towels too. I think a wash with water and a squeegee might get rid of most of it. I use Sonax glass cleaner and a big, fine nap, microfibre.

chuck911

Might as well go the Full Monty.

Bigalfromfl

Clay your glass as part of your routine maintenance and that will help alleviate some of the contaminants that are 'trapping' those microfiber/towel fibers behind. Also try to make sure your towel/towels are lint free, static charge could be helping those fibers cling to the glass.

Hope this helps!

Duke I

Thanks, claying is a good idea and I think I'll try LV's 100% cotton towels also.

Duke

Duke I

LV, denatured alcohol and cotton towels were the secret! Thanks. D

LexVan

Our PCA Concours judges gave me this secret years ago!

Own Goal

All windshields are softer surface than your side and back glass. That is because the windscreen is laminated annealed glass that was slow cooled after bending in a leer. The rest are tempered monolithic and set in tension in a quench. If you are a pro and know what you are doing you can get all surfaces in like new condition using a hard synthetic felt buffer with a slurry of semi optical grade cerium oxide. It needs to be in the 3000# to 5000# range. Do it wrong and you get "cats eye" distortion from a low spot of just a few thousands depression. Using automated machinery with synthetic felt and cerium is how mirrors are prepared to be silvered. Just in case were wondering.

Duke I

Did not know enough to even wonder. Interesting.

Duke I

We had the same first Porsche. My avatar says '69, but it was MY '70, as you probably know. None for me, however, between the 914 and the 991. Regards.

docjohnM

just be careful with the Cerium Oxide buffing.


I did it to an older car I had and reduced the pitting by 50%...

BUT,

I did get some odd visual effects. I eventually replaced the windshield at 10K miles. It seems to be all cars today. The glass is rather 'soft'

You can try ClearPlex sheet, but even that has issues. I would only get one applied if I had a ferrari with a $9K windshield. The sheet is like an iPhone screen protector for your car. But just look at the one on your phone and you can see why this eventually fails too..

Here is one trick that helps. If you have a few larger pits (0.5mm or smaller), take a black marker and color the chip. Then use cloth and buff. You barely notice the black spot, as opposed to the silvery chip. I used testors enamel paint once and a razor blade and it worked well. Remember that these are for the small "sparkle" pits and not true chips.

Own Goal

Like I said; be careful and leave to folks know what they are doing. We manufacture both heat treated and laminated glass parts. There are two guys with cerium buffing stations off the end of the main heat treat oven. "Soft" glass is a problem for windshields and have sort of wondered why a high end mfg. doesn't offer a first surface ( the one gets rained on) hard coat. Guardian Industries, one of largest international glass mfg. has a product called Diamond Guard used in applications to prevent vandalism etc. should be a great deal for auto application. On the other hand the thicker glass gets the softer the surface and top layer on windshields is like in the 2.8-3.2mm range. Real thin.

mikes70

Precisely. Also keep in mind that today's windshield's are longer/taller than years past=more surface area to get damaged, however, more aero=better overall epa regs and other benefits.

Just read/saw that BMW will be chemical dipping their windscreens (before lamination or after, that is my question) with the same process Apple uses for chemically hardining their phone screens. Interesting, but once "cracked" it wont be just one or two runs....

yep, i'm a glass nerd, its put three kids through college plus a few other goodies

Own Goal

^ also in the industry all my life. Currently have two tempering furnaces and two convection laminating ovens.....and all the ancillary process equipment.
Should have mentioned this one. IF you are stating with a new or almost new car/ windscreen, most surface damage is from wipers going over stuff on the surface. What if when driving in the rain at say over 30 MPH you never used your wipers on the road? When got the Caman it was used but I took it and did a good cerium polish on it then set over to the EnduroShield application booth. This is not RaineX or such but a commercial nanotechnology coating. How good? On new showers in your house a 10 year warrenty. Kept the Cayman a bit over 3 years and never chaged wipers since didn't use that often. You can buy a DIY version at Home Depot starting last year. Australian product. Can't get the industrial version unless know someone with a glass tempering facility and a product license. The DIY should last a couple of years however.

mikes70

I own a retail/commercial shop in Dublin Ca, we currently use a vendor who chambers the Diamond Fusion product. Yes, nano-coatings are the way too go by far. Wonder if my vendor can chamber a new w/s with the edge delete required for the urethane bond, i would imagine so.

Sorry op for straying off topic, but this is great info for y'all....