[Pure Texas]

YEP, , , I dribble some DAWN liquid dish soap too, seems to work well.

Thanks for "sharing" Pure Texas, , ,wasn't trying to keep a secret, , just forgot to include that in my tips.

Sharing tips makes EVERYBODY experts,👍👍👍🏍🏍

 

[Bike...and Dennis]

Sharing tips makes EVERYBODY experts,👍👍👍🏍🏍

My step dad always said; "an expert is a drip under high pressure".

 

[Bellboy40]

I always heard an expert was "a has been little drip". :wink2:

 

[Gipsy42]

Like Rayjoe in post #23 I've had same experience, when a stiker put in the shield came off it leaved an area clear.
A couple years later my shield became hard to see thru in front of the sun or at night due to incoming headlights, it was full of swirls; so I decided to take all the hard film of it, I used clear packaging tape (Scotch tape) going a little bit at time, applying it and pulling it off, it really takes that hard film off.
Whit a 4 inch cotton buffering disk fitted in my drill, at low speed and "3M Hand Glaze" I polished that shield that looks almost new.
A friend of mine told me about doing this, I just finished it today. Hope this does some help.
Attached is a newspaper seen thru windshield.

 

[Bill-UK]

That looks good Gipsy42, has anyone thought of putting a protective film on after this process, clear or mirrored as this would help protect the lexan?

 

[Bike...and Dennis]

That looks good Gipsy42, has anyone thought of putting a protective film on after this process, clear or mirrored as this would help protect the lexan?

Where would one find this "protective film" you speak of?

 

[Bill-UK]

Something like this. I'm sure you will have something near you, maybe a glass supplier

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Safety-Security-Window-Film-Clear-Glass-Protection-99-UV-rejection-004/151460032350?hash=item2343b8af5e:m:m9QUVgRczhMVTWCpmvre7sw

 

[DennisM]

Hello,
I have a 88 gl1500 with the original wind screen, the bike now has 100k miles on it, My screen gets so bad that I cannot drive into the setting or rising Sun and at night, the oncoming headlights makes it very dangerous due to all the small surface scratches.


The good news is that I can remedy this problem I do it at least once a week. it involves Pledge furniture polish Once a week or whenever needed I spray the pledge on both sides of my screen and polish in only one direction. IT fills those small scratches. Whatever you do never polish in circular motions and never use Rain X!

 

[AZgl1800]

Look into a Madstad windshield.


it is reconfigurable on the fly while you ride.
Love mine.
the website does not show the 1500s,


But, CycleMax has them!!!


https://cyclemax.com/inc/sdetail/gl1500_madstad_adjustable_windshield/332249

 

[Jerry Burns]

I don't think the sanding pad on a drill is the right tool. It will grind the shield, you need something like a DA sander , duel action. I would sand it by hand with wet dry paper and water, then go thru the grits until you can buff it with compound and then polish. I would use foam pads for buffing. To polish a shield right you will spend more money on supplies than it would cost for a new shield plus a lot of hard work.

 

[William_86]

For safety reasons i think you should toss them away and get a new one.

sanding polishing its a pita, using wax and other compounds may work temporarily but if you get caught in the rain i would be very afraid of it washing out leaving you with a hard to see trough windshield PLUS rain water. thats a recipe for disaster.

 

[CrystalPistol]

My '85's OEM W shield was a hardcoated Lexan, but the hard coating had peeled in places. I polished it all over, but the hard coated parts looked very different from those places where coating was missing. I trashed it soon afterwards, went with Slip streamer wrap around. Did not like distraction of "blotches" of just polished Lexan.

 

[OldAge]

Many years ago I removed the hard coat from my 86 with polishing compound, then used rubbing compound and then a finer compound like Mothers. Now I just use an occasional wax with/cleaner to re-polish it. Yeah, it was a lot of work but it's kinda neat to have the original shield and it works fine.

 

[Kyle]

I made the mistake of doing the raindance. stripped off a lot of the coating, and can't get it uniform again with regular polishing, and I'm not into sanding it or other harsh chemicals. No issue seeing through it, just has kind of a cosmetic splotchy look depending on how the light hits it.

 

[OldAge]

I made the mistake of doing the raindance. stripped off a lot of the coating, and can't get it uniform again with regular polishing, and I'm not into sanding it or other harsh chemicals. No issue seeing through it, just has kind of a cosmetic splotchy look depending on how the light hits it.

I didn't do any sanding. I just used polishing compound which is coarser than rubbing compound. It took a little time but once the coating was off, the rubbing compound worked pretty good.

 

[Gamli]

I restored an original '82 GL1100 windscreen last year. The hard layer pealed off easy. I used a polish mashine set on minimum speed (800rpm) and a thick 10" foam pad. I tried several compounds, but the one that worked best were some water based cutting compound called Farecla G3 (course) and G10 (fine). This is a polishing compound without chemicals or wax. The trick with using water based compounds is that you can keep the viscosity thin and constant by adding a little water as you progress with a spray bottle. It also helps with cooling so you don't risk burnmarks. Rinse the pad and the screen often during the process and reapply fresh polish, as any dust particles will leave scratches. Once you are happy with the result you can simply wash the compound off with water and perhaps a little dish wash soap.
The result was perfect, but I have to say that, as some one here mentioned, the Lexan is very soft. You can almost scratch it just by looking at it. I finished it off with a coat of hard wax and it seems to help a lot.
I dont think I would use any sanding paper at all even on deep scratches. It just takes a little longer with the polish machine, but eventually it will also remove the deeper ones.
It took about 4 hours of work to get it nice. Is it worth the it? sure, if you already have the materials as I did or if you want to keep your bike 100% original.

 

[ob1quixote]

Thing thing about using abrasives is the quality. If there is one 80 grit grain on your 120 paper, you have problems. Dont buy cheap abrasives. So says the guy who has a paint and body shop.


I use Super Assilex for my paint correction, and I use that same on polycarbonate.


Once the hard coat is cleared from your windscreen, I would suggest Super Assilex blue. then yellow, then green, then orange with a final pass of peach. Change directions with each grit so you can see the scratches from the previous grit disappear..Use it wet or dry, but be sure to dry and examine the scratch pattern before changing grades. Dry will be more difficult to see the changes; wipe it with a damp cloth and dry to inspect/



Final polishing with 3M Super Duty compound, followed by 3M Perfect-It.


Here is an Assilex assortment to get you started.
https://smile.amazon.com/Eagle-U191-150A-Assilex-Assorted-Job-Pak/dp/B00XD8MWFC/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=super+assilex&qid=1559353882&s=gateway&sr=8-4



Once the hard coat is gone,