How to refinish your windscreen

[Rushiku]

The previous owner of my scoot splashed 'something' on the windscreen, which left brownish spots etched into the windscreen, ranging from 1 to 5 or 6 mm.

I also wanted to clean under the windscreen, all the way down to the tip of the nose, as there was quite a bit of dirt and dust down there (2005, et al, windscreens wrap around the front of the fairing).

Taking pictures of a clear windscreen seems to be futile, so you'll just have to use your imagination. I did include a before and after comparison, but different times and locations...In 'before' you can see some spots about central, next to the glare, and the dirt along the left headlight. In after, you can see two areas where spots were, mostly due to the light refracting nature of the slight dimples.

Tools I used: 3 mm allen key, No. 7 Rubbing Compound, Blue Magic Liquid Metal Polish, Zymol Wax, Dremel Tool with felt polishing cone, spray bottle of water, various rags and paper towels.

First I removed the windscreen with the 3 mm allen key, 2 screws on each side under the rubber boots for the mirrors, and one under the tip of the nose. The windscreen then lifts off, though it could just slide off on its own, be careful.

I set the screen aside and cleaned the fairing underneath, finishing with a nice coat of wax.

Now it was time to attack the spots and general haziness caused by 'microscratches', presumably from numerous improper cleanings.

I wet the felt pad and worked some rubbing compound into it, turned the Dremel on low, took a deep breath and began polishing one of the larger spots.

After a reasonable amount of time, the spot turned clear. However, as it was etched into the plastic, there was still a dimple in the plastic. Deciding that a clear dimple was better than a brown spot, I stopped and moved on after rinsing and drying the area (to ensure the RC abrasive was all gone).

The rubbing compound, no surprise, left the area quite scratched, an even matte finish if you will. I put some Blue Magic on a paper towel and polished a larger area than I had with the rubbing compound.

Now back to clear, but still quite scratched in the light, another rinse and dry, then I moved on to the wax. Wet pad, little bit of wax, rub, dry, buff - success. Not perfect, but the spot was out. (If I wanted perfect, I'd get a new one...)

I gave each of the remaining spots the same treatment with the rubbing compound before moving on to the Blue Magic again.

I used Blue Magic on the entire front surface of the windscreen, taking quite a bit of time to really buff it out. The abrasive in Blue Magic is very fine, and by now I knew that the wax would make the scratches left by BM very nearly disappear.

I understand that there are plastic polishes, I bought the Rubbing Compound and Blue Magic for the headers and thought "what the heck?, I'll try it on the windscreen"

[Sawblade]

In a previous job at a cell phone refurbishing shop, we would get scratches off of cell phone lenses using a buffing wheel attached to a bench grinder along with tripoli compound that is used for polishing jewelery. If you push too hard it builds up heat and cracks the lens, but with patience, the lenses looked like you just peeled the film off of a brand new one.

[jsp]

Looks very nice!

[villa1963]

"Now it was time to attack the spots and general haziness caused by 'microscratches', presumably from numerous improper cleanings."

So how should one clean the windscreen?

[Rushiku]

I use water and a soft cloth or paper towel right after I come in to get the bugs off, Zymol every once in a while to keep a layer of wax between the bugs and cleaning and the actual surface.