Windscreen polishing

[Fezzik]

Does anyone have a method of polishing the windscreen? I have a 1990 FJ1200 and mine is quite faded and very dull. Some friends say "just paint it black", but i'm not ready to do that yet. I'd like to avoid a power polisher if i can just to avoid any possible cracking.

Thank you

[movenon]

Does anyone have a method of polishing the windscreen? I have a 1990 FJ1200 and mine is quite faded and very dull. Some friends say "just paint it black", but i'm not ready to do that yet. I'd like to avoid a power polisher if i can just to avoid any possible cracking.

Thank you

You can clean it up with plastic polish by hand but IMO to do a decent job you need to use a power buffer with a foam pad. Where to start all depends on how bad the screen is.  You might have to start with some ultra fine wet or dry and start from there.  It is a lot of work... I personally would not go as far as using the sandpaper because of the time and work involved compared to what a new one can be bought for.

I have done many a screen by hand and machine.  IMO a buffer with a foam pad and some Meguiars "PlastX" is about as good as you are going to get with an old screen. The Meguiars PlastX is a good cleaner by hand, but to work on dull areas you need some power.... And also not all windscreen plastics are the same. I have ran across a few that were harder than heck to polish (hard grade plastic).

You can buy a new windscreen for around 90.00 delivered maybe a little less.  Here is a site that some have used.  They might also make a stock looking screen ?
http://www.powerbronzeusa.com/907145/818268/831929/FLIP---YAMAHA-FJ1200-88-90---IRIDIUM-COOL-BLUE.item

Zero gravity still markets a stock looking screen.  Twisted Throttle can order MRA screens but expect a 6 -7 week time frame as they come from Germany I believe.

Here is some You Tube vids on polishing. http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=polishing+a+motorcyle+windscreen
George

[the fan]

I have polished several windscreens and gauge faces using a 3M headlight renewal kit. Easy and quick with a cordless drill.

[ribbert]

Does anyone have a method of polishing the windscreen? I have a 1990 FJ1200 and mine is quite faded and very dull. Some friends say "just paint it black", but i'm not ready to do that yet. I'd like to avoid a power polisher if i can just to avoid any possible cracking.

Thank you

Below is an old post. I have done more of this sort of restoration than I care for and the one thing I can tell you for sure is the commercially available plastic "restoring" potions are useless for anything other than light maintenance.

You cannot leap frog steps of abrasion.
You will never get the scratches out unless you start with something appropriately aggressive.
You will never do it by hand.
Considering the cost of a standard screen, you are mad to even start the process.

I only did mine because it is the original non US "fin" type screen and they are no longer available.

Quote from: Persistant on May 10, 2013, 03:36:17 PM
Ok, has anyone had any success in removing substantial scratches from a windscreen?  My original one received some light to medium scratches during my crash last summer and I had hoped in saving it as my used replacement has cracks around several screw holes.

You are probably stuck with the really deep ones but you can soften their appearance and if the rest of the screen is glass like you tend not to notice them anyway.

There is no one step process for this. To get rid of scratches you have to remove plastic from the surface and that requires aggressive abrasion.

I have brought two back to life and it is a job best done if not in a hurry. I would work on mine until I got the shits, then let it rest for a few days then have another crack at it and so on. The end result is stunning though.

In a nutshell, I treated it like paint. I used the same process and the same products you would use to bring paint up to a glossy finish.

A couple of grades of wet and dry paper then worked my way up through cutting then polishing compounds using a 6" lambswool buff on a drill. You will never do this by hand.

I specifically did not use special plastic restoration products as they are very expensive and I could not get the enough stages of abrasion.

I used all normal automotive paint products, all of which I found in my cupboard.

I think I used 2 grades of paper and 4 grades of compound. You can't make too big a step with the abrasiveness or you will not remove the scratches from the previous one.

I have a proper buff but it is too big and unwieldy. I opted for the 6" lambswool on the drill because it suited the curvature of the screen better and could be operated with one hand while bracing it against my body with the other.

I once heard of a guy who in the latter stages of polishing got a bit careless (got the shits I believe) and flicked the screen halfway across his garage when the buff caught the edge, inflicting a whole new lot of scratches that then needed to be removed.

I used a pillow to rest the screen over while machine polishing which sort of held it.

The success of this rests largely on having a feel and an eye for what you are doing and is a bit of a trial and error job.

I remove my screen annually and buff it with the compounds and polishes. It is amazing how that fine haze scratching sneaks up on you.

I have those original finned, square top screens which can't be replaced so I had no choice.

If I had an after market screen or one for which there were replacements I would not even consider bringing one back from the severe scratching, it is more work than it's worth, screens are cheap.

Good luck

Noel




 

You couldn't see through this when I bought it but I can't imagine anything that would make me do this again, too much work.

Noel

[X-Ray]

My offer is still there to send you my screen Noël so you can work your magic on it.   
Ahhh, one day I will follow your guide and get mine hopefully somewhere near the same finish. As you said, they don't make these screens anymore.

[ribbert]

My offer is still there to send you my screen Noël so you can work your magic on it.   
Ahhh, one day I will follow your guide and get mine hopefully somewhere near the same finish. As you said, they don't make these screens anymore.

Love to Ray, but I can't, I'd be wracked with guilt. Who am I to deprive you of that great sense of achievement that only comes from doing the job yourself. That warm glow you get every time you look through it knowing the blood, sweat and tears (actually it was blood, swearing and beer) that went into it.

Couldn't do it to ya Ray.

Noel