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Polishing the stock C14 Windshield

Scary Harry

Scary Harry

Fear is not boring. COG# 4090
Member
I'm looking at all the scratches and dents in my windshield awarded to me from branches, rocks, and insects.
I think I will pull it to polish out the scratches while snowed in for the winter.

Any tips on procedures and products to use or avoid?
 
I have tried to polish mine using Novus, it didn’t help , but that may be because of my teqnique and elbow grease wasn’t enough,
 
Good luck. beem there done that. The Kawasaki windshields have a hardened surface.

I spent 20 years in NavAir. One of my jobs was to take scratches out of canopy glass. Sometimes we had to completly repace the canopy glass. Especally when a refueling basket was dragged across the canopy when trying a in flight re-fuel. (students were good at this) So I would think I have some exprience in taking out scratches in plastic.

OK so I had a new 10 to 15 stock windshield which for safe keeping was placed between cardboard. When I went to mount it I found cardboard was not a good thing to use on bare plastic. The center of the windshield was scratched with fine scratches. I thought ahh, no problem and set out to clean it up. I have various grades of plastic polish plus a mirco mesh kit. The kit contains wet/dry sand paper sarting at 5000 grit and goes thru 24000 grit. The final grit is talcum powder.

But because of the hardened surface I was unable to get a satisfactory finish with many hours of work. Every thing was completely done by hand so the windshield would not have distortions. The main problem was getting surounding surface to remain clear. I did not have anything fine enough to clean up tiny scratches left in the hardened surface from fine grit as I worked to keep the glass disortion freeThen finish off with canopy polish. Never made it the talcum power because it was obvious it would be a waste of time. . Plus keep in mind the scratches I was trying to remove were surface scratches.

Should have been a cake walk.

I gave up and bought another windshield through C14 classifieds. Turns out it was new in the box. I have had great interactions and outcomes with fellow COG members when buying something off the forum.

For me it is easier to just buy another windshild. IMHO trying to clean up scratches in a Kawasaki windshield is a complete waste of time with lots of frustration.
 
Thanks Tim. Sounds like good advice.
I'll treat it like a glass windshield.
When it becomes pitted and scratched to the point of painful to look through, I'll just buy a new one.

Don't want to waste time on a futile project.
 
Hold the press!

I believe I found something that works.

I remember that I used to rub out scratches on my watch crystals, eyeglasses, and other plastic items using Brasso.

I pulled my windshield just to clean the bugs and grime off.
There is one long scratch up the center of my screen left by a tree branch that came out of the back of a trailer.
There is a lower part of my screen with a similar shorter scratch. I tried that first and amazingly, I was able to buff it out without leaving smaller scratches.

I'm sold.

I now apply the Brasso to a clean terry wash cloth and rub 90 degrees against the scratch. It buffs out quite nicely. WOOT-WOOT!
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I tried the longer deeper scratch across the center, and same great results. Scratch is now gone. More like a scrape than a scratch. It was about 1/4 inch wide, not deep, but very noticeable. It's now gone.

So, this is what I did:

1. Remove windshield and clean in shower with water and Dawn detergent soap. Let dry.
2. Clean with Turtle Wax Super Protectant
3. Buff out scratches (back and forth motion, not circular) at a 90 degree angle.
4. Let dry and buff away any residue using clean soft cloth.
5. Apply and buff with Turtle Wax Express Shine wax.

Warning: After this treatment, the windshield is so slippery it is impossible to hold onto using bare hands. Don't drop it.

This treatment won't remove the deep pits from rocks.
I'm just glad I could get these wide scratches out.
I'm also glad the windshield did it's job protecting my eyes and face.
 
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I used the brasso too and still did not get a desirable result. perhaps I'm just too picky. The finsh I sesired would be as new. As for watch crystals try jewllers rouge. 100% faster than brasso.
 
You do have to be persistent and patient.
This is why I'm setting this aside as a winter project while eating cookies, drinking hot cocoa, and watching movies.

I just put the screen back on my bike.
The results are stunning. Like a brand new screen, even though I'm not finished.
I also have some scratches from where my son was trying to be helpful. He tried to clean my screen while I was away and didn't bother to soak the bugs off or rinse away the dirt first. It's never going to be perfect, but I R impressed.

When the pits become too bad, that's when I'll replace it. But for now, I'm quite pleased.
 
Looking at the ingredients of BRASSO: silica powder 15–20%, and quartz, both a very fine abrasive and very good for removing scratches from plastics. You definitely want to wax after removing the scratches. Again, I read you want to rub back and forth across the scratch, not parallel to the scratch. Cool stuff.
 
Tim R
I don't think my 2014 C-14 windshield had any coating on the Plexi.
This Spring during the shutdown I took it off and over a couple of movies I took out a bunch of fine scratches with Novus #1 and then worked on it with Novus Polishing compound, It came out perfect, crystal clear. Then hit it with Lemon Pledge.
Its worth noting never polish in a circular motion, only straight lines, circles will create these Halo effects.
Nick
2014 C-14
 
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