Plexiglass Windshield

[Street5927]

My friend is involved with Amateur Stock Car Racing and is rebuilding one of his cars. His plexiglass windshield is scratched very badly. I went to his shop to try to buff it out using Sonus Heavy Scratch Remover (for plastics) on orange LC with my Flex. I then finished up with Sonus Light Scratch Remover on blue LC. There are still some spider webbing like swirls. I only did a test section and will be bringing the windshield home to see what I can do once he gets it out of the race car. So, my questions are:



1. Do you think using either the Sonus Light Scratch Remover or even Using Ultrafina and downgrading to a Red LC pad will polish out the light scratches?



2. If the above doesn't work, I was thinking of wetsanding the entire windshield with Trizak and then re-polishing, however, would any wet sanding change the optical quality of the plexiglass and create distortions in the windshield?



3. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.



Thanks!

 

[photoadjuster]

I do boat and motorcycle plexiglass windshields all the time. It is the same process as headlight restoration. Remove the scratches with sandpaper and then polish out with compounds. I have never been able to correct them with compounds alone. If a motorcylce windshield has the harley davision logo on it, pass on the job, it is just too hard.

 

[Street5927]

I do boat and motorcycle plexiglass windshields all the time. It is the same process as headlight restoration. Remove the scratches with sandpaper and then polish out with compounds. I have never been able to correct them with compounds alone. If a motorcylce windshield has the harley davision logo on it, pass on the job, it is just too hard.

I was going to go with 2500 Trizak and then polish. Do you think that would be fine, or should I go with a 3000 grit and then polish? Also, have you experienced any visual distortion after sanding?

 

[photoadjuster]

I was going to go with 2500 Trizak and then polish. Do you think that would be fine, or should I go with a 3000 grit and then polish? Also, have you experienced any visual distortion after sanding?

It depends on how deep the scratch is. A deep scratch can require 180,320,500, 800, 1000 grit to start. Go to home depot or lowes and buy a small piece of plexiglass. Scratch it up and practice. The edge of plexiglass is clear. The edge of polycarbonate has a noticable gray tint to it. This practice piece can also be used to practice applying wipe on UV coatings.