The windshield of your car can develop semi circular scratches from the windshield wipers. That happens when the wiper rubbers have worn off and it needs to be replaced. Know wiper prices here and learn how to replace the wipers by yourself.
Can Windshield wiper scratches be removed?
Absolutely yes! If you notice the wiper marks early then there are high chances that you will be able to save your windshield from permanent marks.
Follow the below mentioned steps to remove the wiper marks from windshield:
Take a drill. No, don’t worry we will not tell you to drill a hole in your car, take glass polishers round in shape to be fitted into the drill, cerium oxide, water and microfiber cloth.
Wiper blade scratches don’t come off with regular cleaning methods, so we need the cerium oxide. With cerium oxide we have to repeat the process 4-5 times to remove the marks.
Take the cerium oxide and mix water in the ratio 2:1. That is, for 2 parts of cerium oxide, take 1 part water. Take water in half of the quantity as the powder (Cerium Oxide). Stir it well. Now apply it on the scratches.
You may want to cover the engine bonnet so that it doesn’t get dirty. Now, take the drill and use the glass polisher heads on it. Then start using it on the scratches by applying pressure. Be careful with the glass and don’t apply too much pressure.
This paste may get dry over time. So, spray water whenever needed to keep the compound moist when polishing the glass.
Repeat this four to five times. About 5 mins will be required each time. Then wipe off and see the condition. If there are still marks on the windshield then repeat a few more times. It is very important that the glass doesn’t get too hot and so check the temperature and take breaks in between.
To be honest, this process cannot yield new-like results. If your windshield has been heavily scratched by wipers then all of the marks won’t disappear. Only light scratches can be removed. If you continue doing it for long then the results will improve but it still may not look new-like.
Some tips:
- In any wiper scratch, the ends of a long scratch will be deeper and so, devote more time to the ends of the wiper scratches.
- You can take a splatter guard which is a big foam kind of material with a big hole in the middle. Use this over the scratch so that when you are polishing the glass, no other part of the glass or the car gets that glass polisher splatters.
- Use an IR Thermometer to check the temperature of the windshield while you are working on it. Since the windshield is a laminated glass, it is more sensitive to high temperatures. Don’t let the thermometer reading cross a 150-deg F.
- First, you can check for any rocks or chips on the windshield. Because, if you have any of these in the path where you’ll be working, then it is a good idea to repair those first. As heat and pressure may make it worse. We will learn the repairing of it in the next section.
- Check from inside of the car if the scratches are visible anymore. There is a thing called the ghost of the scratch. It is basically, when you have removed 90% of the scratch and the scratch isn’t visible anymore from the outside but is visible when you are looking through the glass, i.e., from the inside.
Check it out so that you can confirm whether you have fully removed the scratch or not. Spend another minute or two if need to but try to be perfect as it will give you immense satisfaction when the visibility of the windshield improves.
- You can also apply the glass polishing compound available from the market. You can apply them over the glass polisher of the drill so that the pores of the glass polisher soaks it and it is distributed when you are cleaning the glass.
How to fix a chipped or cracked windshield
You may be driving on the road while enjoying the cool breeze and all of a SUDDEN out of nowhere a rock kicks up and chips your windshield. Don’t worry as today I’m gonna tell you all that you need to know on how to repair a windshield chip.
At the beginning you will need a windshield repair kit. There are many windshield repair kits available but you don’t need to worry as all of them work on the same principle. You’re gonna be injecting glass resin into the chip. This resin then hardens which makes the chip a lot less visible and it also prevents it from spreading.
Use the resin as mentioned on the instruction pamphlet and the resin looks clear when it has dried and your chip won’t be visible. If you do it correctly then it looks absolutely fine.
In a nutshell, windshield wiper scratches can be removed with a little bit of time and patience. You can make your own glass polish with cerium oxide or can use a glass polish from any store and work your way out. We have various car accessories to make your driving experience memorable. Don’t forget to check them out!
