Pitted windshields
 

Is there any cure for pitted windshields (that look like thousands of specks from inside out when driving into the light) other than complete windshield replacement?

It is becoming a safety hazard as I can hardly see out of the darn windshield when I'm driving at a certain angle against the sun

Does ANYTHING help in your experience?

thanks,

roadsession

The best repair is to replace it. You can use RainX, glass polishes etc, but from my experience, once a windshield is pitted, it needs to be replaced.

Haasman

I have used the polisher from the following web page

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/classic-motoring/porcabpolac.html

You need a polisher and it makes it a bit better but I agree the best is to replace it.

If you have a polisher you may try this but if you need to buy the polisher it can get expensive.

I've been thinking about trying the Diamondite products. They sound good, don't cost much, and seem to address the problem. I am also looking for a middle ground as I would like to keep my original windshield and driving into the sun is rough...

Let me know what your first hand experience is!!
I know - it makes you guinea pig...but I'd be very curious to see how the product does against its claims....

OK, I'm game. I just ordered it. I'll let you know how (if) it works out...

I am also very interested in whether this product can work.
Something has to be done about the condition of the windshield and, replacing it seem like a temporary solution. A couple of years at 65 mph and you are right back where you started.:(

OK, I'm having a weird forum evening. First, I go to the DD and post a new thread about my odometer milestone, then post to a different thread regarding windshield replacement. Then I go to the OF and find an odometer milestone pic thread, then here to TH to find this. Maybe I should go buy Powerball tickets...Anyway, I did order and do have this product but as of yet, the weather and my schedule have not been cooperating. However, it all comes together tomorrow and I will post the results (including before and after pics if I can pick enough of the difference up) tomorrow. Stay tuned!

What's your odometer milestone? I just turned 70K on my ML... I know, in the M112 engine years, it's only just turned 7 years old ;-)

Anyway, my windshield's getting bad. I'm really anxious to know your results before resorting to a complete windshield replacement.

A pitted windshield just has to be replaced, if you want it to be safe again. There's not enough elbow grease in the galaxy to eliminate the problem in certain light conditions.

It's not about elbow grease, or grinding the glass down at all. The product suggests that what most people call "pitting" is nothing more than natural pores in the glass that catch minerals and other deposits over the years. They say their product removes them and then seals the pores. As I said, we'll see.

My odometer milestone was that today my 300CD reached 123,153 (it's chassis number)

The Cure.....
 

Replace the windshield. I spent over seven years in the windshield repair business. I was able to repair bullseye and star breaks, even long cracks. Had a polishing system that was state-of-the-art for removing scratches left by wiper arms. There is noting N-O-T-H-I-N-G that will satisfactorily remove pitting in windshield glass regardless of anyone's sales literature.

Just my 2ç.

I'm just a little more curious here. If the polishing systems can remove scratches created by the wiper arms, how come they cannot remove the pitting. I am characterizing the "pitting" as the result of the constant sand blasting that the windshield receives at high speed. You cannot feel this pitting with your hand but you can certainly see it in the sun and it certainly affects the wiper's capability to fully clean the windshield.

Scratches and pits.....
 

Polishing out a scratch from a wiper arm was very labor-intensive, and the actual improvement was not flawless by any stretch of the term. There were some -- make that many -- said scratches that I would not attempt to buff out due to the fact that they were so widespread I could not justify the time required vs. making several chip repairs in the same amount of time.

Any scratch repair left a distinct distortion in the affected area of the windshield. I recommended replacement to ost customers although the car dealers always wanted me to make the attempt; for the most part, they weren't concerned so much abut safety.

I made several attempts to polish out pitting from windshields from mild to severe. I even tried my hand in salvage yards on really old, really distressed glass. In all cases, regardless of the time spent or the technique applied, there was just no way to satisfactorily get those pits buffed to an acceptable level.

I stand by my original statement that the only way to fix the problem is to replace the windshield; glare can be a killer. Sellers of Pop-A-Dent and Pocket Fisherman equipment are free to promote their products in any fashion they please, but let the buyer beware.

New Total: 4ç

Re: Scratches and pits.....
 

Quite interesting. Very compelling from a person within the industry. Any recommendations on replacement glass? Quality? Durability? I had a windshield replaced on the 123, and, within two years, I was, effectively, right back where I started with regard to the glare and the pitting. The durability of the glass to withstand the sandblasting was just not there.:mad:

More To Consider.....
 

Sadly, replacement windshields have gone down the too familiar path of lower quality standards that everything else in our society seems to be taking. I'd stick with PPG, if possible, but there are other factors that might affect pitting.

How bad is the acid rain in your part of the world? I'm no wacko on the environment, but can assure you that acid rain is taking a terrible toll on auto finishes in most parts of the country. Ever notice all the plastic tape on new cars as they come off a transport at a dealer's lot? It isn't put on the cars for decorative purposes; it is to protect the cars from acid rain damage during shipping.

Sandblasting could be the problem, I suppose, if one lives in the southwest. I'd give more credence to other environmental factors, though.

New Total: 6ç

I had the windshields replaced on both our cars. Only $165 each.

They used Pilkington (Pilkerton?) something like that. I noticed yesterday it's the same brand as in all the new Jaguars.

Re: More To Consider.....
 

I live in the Northeast. As far as I am aware, the acid rain is not the culprit here. When you drive at 65 mph, anytime you come within 300 yards of a semi, you can hear the slight tapping on the glass from the sand lifted of the road from all of those huge tires. I can just imagine the damage it is doing.

If acid rain was the real problem, then the paint would be destroyed just as quickly, correct? That is not happening here.

Well, I applied the products today, and my initial feeling is that not much as changed (my windshield is really clean, though). I can still see all the pits, although there seems to be significantly less glare coming from them. Pictures didn't really capture them well, so I have none to post. There are several places along my drive home in the afternoon that I will check out on Tuesday. I'm not very impressed so far though...

Hmmm...shucks...
In a relative scale, did you see a 10%, 30%, 50% improvement?

Re: More To Consider.....
 

Is this type of problem covered by insurance?

I'll answer your % question after I drive it a bit. Hard to tell just sitting in it. Nearly all insurance companies will replace windshields due to pitting. The ones that won't will surely replace it if somehow you find that someone has thrown a brick through it ;)

Gotta watch them bricks. I had the same exact problem with the 123. All of a sudden there was a brick right thru the center of it. Insurance company had a hard time declining to pay on that.:D

Update...
 

Well I have had several occasions to drive straight into the sun since using these products. There is a noticable difference. While the appearance of the pitting really didn't change much, the amount of light they diffuse has drastically changed to close to zero. There is a huge difference driving into the sun. I would recommend this product based on my experience.

Windshield
 

gotta say, until I purchased my wagon ('98), I have never had this "pitted" problem on any other vehicle I have owned or driven.

After doing some research, I recently purchased Clearview Glass Polish Eckler's Home Page and tried it last weekend.

The results were mixed. Improvement? yes. Pitting go away? no. I am gonna try repeated applications this weekend to see if I can get further improvement.

Anyone try this stuff yet? I've got minor pits too, and thought about trying some....looks theoretically interesting, but could get expensive on a windshield.
http://www.asseenontv.com/prod-pages/liquid_lense.html

bjcsc,

Glare due to pitting is caused primarily by light refraction and/or reflection in the voids created by the little pits which act like small prisms. The medium through which light travels, the incidence and exit angles as well as the geometry of the medium (pit) influence how much refraction and/or reflection is observed. I wonder how much of the reduced glare you’ve noticed is a result of altering the internal pit material and geometry as a result of filling them or at least coating them with the product you used. I believe that overtime you will gradually notice more glare as the material washes out of the pits. How long that takes is dependent upon the bond between the material and the pit surfaces. Just a theory but would be interesting to monitor the long term effect.

Brewtoo:

Where did you have your windshields replaced? $165 seems like a great deal. What part of the country are you in?

Windshields
 

What are we actually arguing???

Replacing of the windshield is one of the few car repairs which results in as-new condition.

Costs are next to nothing, say $ 200 for a new windshield fitted. How many hours of polishing are you willing to do for this.

Result is perfectly safe vehicle from the point of visibility. Buy a new set of wiper blades and you are done.

markku:
You're missing the point. The point is not at all the money, at least for me, it's keeping my original windshield. Not to mention, even if I were to get some BS $200 windshield to replace it or spend significantly more $ and replace it with what's there (sekurit), I will probably end up with the same problem in 2 years with the exception of having lost the original shield, and / or being stuck with some BS shield. I'm just not convinced replacing the windshield is a significantly better solution than simply addressing the problem itself.

jammer: I am aware of the facts you state and you pretty much rewrote the ad for the products I used. It will last for ~ 4 months (according to them) and based on what I used I would say I'll get 5 or 6 more apps from the kit. I know it's not a permanent solution for the windshield, but neither is wax for the paint. I'm happy with the results and it is my solution anyway.

Windshields
 

The windshields are about the same quality independent of the manufacturer.

Consider the windshields the same as tires. They are just consumables, no added value with the originals.

Actually...
 

The problem that we are all trying to address is the glare on the inside of the windshield.

It is correct - all windshields pit over time.

However, the pitting in itself doesn't affect vision as badly as what gets INSIDE the pits.

Because of water conditions or environmental conditions, what settles inside the pits tends to be such a different material that it causes enormous light refraction as it enters the windshield.

What BJSC and others have been trying to do is to remove the material inside the pits (by the way, the diamondite system BJSC uses is essentially paint cleaning clay).

Removing the material inside the pits will actually help.

Now the glass will never be as clear as a new windshield, but it will help.

In addition, not all replacement glass is the same as the original. Differences in thickness, differences in optical clarity is VERY frequent as replacement glass (even if made by the same manufacturer as your original). In addition, I can understand why some people want to resist replacing windshields. Most shops today are just awful in installation and end up with creaking noises or worse yet, leaks.

I hated getting rid of my "original" windshield... Sure it was heavily pitted and driving at night or at dusk with it was borderline dangerous, but i eventually had to do it... Replacing the windshield is never the same as the original.. Now with the new windshield "sekurit" i believe, whenever the wiper goes beyond a 45 degree angle from the center of the car the outer most edge of the blade loses contact with the windshield and makes a very sloppy wiping edge.. My conclusion is the windshield they put in was either not shaped properly or not seated properly and the glass was slighty twisted enough to cause this problem... I have replaced the windshield wiper and no fix.. So a few months later after replacing the windshield im going to try another Glass Manufacturer to see if i can get a closer to OEM match or better fit.. picky benz owner

windshield replacement and insurance
 

I wonder what folks have to pay for insurance that covers the $250 or so for replacing the windshield ?

Here in Houston, I can't afford anything less than $500 deductible, and if you even CALL the insurance co to ask about a potentially filing a claim, that is logged as 'an incident' and your premium goes up.

File a claim (any claim) and your rate goes up to completely cover that claim in 2 years of increased premiums.

(I argee that PPG glass is as good as it gets and $250 will get just about any windshield replaced with OEM or better quality, installed in you driveway or work parking place.)

I have 2 cars now that will get replacements this month--from pitting. All the construction for housing, buildings, and on the highways here keeps the roads covered with sand and fine gravel.

While this may be true or at least debatable, again you miss my point. My car has already been sold for the last time. I don't care what its actual NADA, etc. value is. The original windshield has a tremendous amount of value to me.




Deal with it how? By trying products to make it better, finding out that the products actually do work, and then posting as much for the benefit of others, only to then have the very points you've made in your posts (that seemed concise) reiteratively represented in and out of context as original thought, and ultimately missed anyway? Jeeze louise! You can lead a horse to water...
:confused:

Windscreens are, generally, replaced under the comprehensive part of auto insurance and it's cheap. I carry a "0" deductible on my comprehensive and it is a good buy.

You might try this:

http://www.janvil.com/glass_restore.htm

I have some but have not used it yet. I bought it with the intension of polishing the pits out of my headlights. They are very shallow and probably no deeper than a scratch. Claims to be superior to cerium which I found to be pretty ineffective. Maybe some diamond paste like they use to polish granite countertops would work better?

No, I don't think the paint analogy applies here. I have no idea how this thread became such a lecture session.

What BJSC has tried out has NOTHING TO DO WITH polishing and abrading the glass. The product he tried out removes impurities that get embedded in the pits that forms on the windshield. The material embedded in the pits causes much of the glare - over and beyond the glare that the pits cause themselves.

The material can be removed NOT by harsh abrasive polishing action, but rather by a cleaning clay that acts similar to paint cleaning clay.

No one is disputing that badly pitted windshields should be replaced - just that in certain cases, simply removing material from the pits in the windshield can make quite a difference in itself.

Thanks roadsession. I should've just pm'd you. I'm not sure what is going on with this thread either and was posting primarily for your benefit, as I said I would, but thought the results would be good stuff for the archives - big mistake...

no prob...however this forum is so darned valuable - I mean it is simply the best resource for MB owners on the web that's not about just about adding 22" wheels.

All the forum members here have posted something useful at some point that I've found invaluable in my opinion...;)

Experiment
 

So today, I took some paint cleaning clay and clayed my windshield. I would say on a scale of 1 to 10, (10 being very dramatic improvement) I saw about a 7 in terms of improvement of reduction in glare on the commute home.

So it was certainly worth the 20 mins I spent, and I'm glad I didn't have to go thru the time and trouble of a complete windshield replacement.

Thank you everyone.

(especially BJSC)

;)