Wet Sanding Windscreen

[bdevries]

Hey everyone,

The last thing I wanna do to my bike before spring is take the swirls out of my wind screen. Unfortunately the previous owner had tried rubbing off a sticker and gauged the paint pretty good so theres some hefty swirls right in the middle. I tried Plast-x but it didn't seem to do a whole lot - at least it wasn't noiceable.

Has anyone tried wet sanding their screen/is it safe for the plastic?(There's no "protective coating is there?)

 

[Brandon]

I recently wet sanded, buffed and polished mine. Looks wayyyy better than it did before (swirls and scratches galor) and still looks great a couple weeks later.

 

[bdevries]

Thanks for the reply. Good to know. Has yours been exposed to lots of sun/bugs?

 

[FinalImpact]

Cant speak to the coating but use dish detergent and wet dry paper. Maybe start at 1500 grit, move to 18 and the 2200 grit for final. You'll need a firm rubber backing for even pressure. Big tip when using soap water, the second it feel gritty, dip the paper, rinse the screen and then continue. If the trapped debris is under the paper it just makes more scrathes...

I removed 90% of the scratches from a used Puig with Wax Shop Safe Cut HD Swirl & Haze Remover [ame=http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000AMBP6G]Wax Shop WS31 Safe Cut HD Swirl & Haze Remover 16 ounces:Amazon:Automotive[/ame] its a great product. Id try it before commiting to wet sanding.

 

[bdevries]

Cant speak to the coating but use dish detergent and wet dry paper. Maybe start at 1500 grit, move to 18 and the 2200 grit for final. You'll need a firm rubber backing for even pressure. Big tip when using soap water, the second it feel gritty, dip the paper, rinse the screen and then continue. If the trapped debris is under the paper it just makes more scrathes...

I removed 90% of the scratches from a used Puig with Wax Shop Safe Cut HD Swirl & Haze Remover Wax Shop WS31 Safe Cut HD Swirl & Haze Remover 16 ounces:Amazon:Automotive its a great product. Id try it before commiting to wet sanding.

Thanks for the reply. Ya I have the fine grit stuff from when I wetsanded my truck, so I'll just use the same stuff on the windscreen. I don't have 2200(just 2000) but the compound will take out that size of scratches.

As for "commiting to wetsanding", I think I actually find it easier than using a compound and polish only.. that way cut through the crap right away, and from then on it's only fine tuning as you bring it back to clear

 

[FIZZER6]

It does have a coating from the factory that will eventually start to peel off or chip off over time. If you are going to go through the trouble of wet sanding, finish it with a high speed polisher and polishing compound and then coat the entire windscreen with 3M Scotchguard protective film which will fill ALL the swirl marks and give you a clear, chip resistant coating that lasts years and years.

This is the exact process I do to restore old, nasty plastic headlight lenses and they come out looking new. I'll be doing the same thing to my touring cruiser windshield this spring. :thumbup:

 

[Brandon]

Thanks for the reply. Good to know. Has yours been exposed to lots of sun/bugs?

Not so much the sun because it's always in the garage when not riding but I just wash it whenever I feel it's getting dirty or if there are bugs splattered on it...so I can't say much on the bugs either lol

 

[bdevries]

It does have a coating from the factory that will eventually start to peel off or chip off over time. If you are going to go through the trouble of wet sanding, finish it with a high speed polisher and polishing compound and then coat the entire windscreen with 3M Scotchguard protective film which will fill ALL the swirl marks and give you a clear, chip resistant coating that lasts years and years.

This is the exact process I do to restore old, nasty plastic headlight lenses and they come out looking new. I'll be doing the same thing to my touring cruiser windshield this spring. :thumbup:

For sure, compound and polish will finish it off. Thanks! As for the scotch guard, thats a great idea! Maybe I'll clay and polish the entire front end and apply the scotch guard to the front of the fairing and front fender as well!

 

[1Animal1]

I did mine last week using 2500 grit then polishing with a medium then polishing compound using a rotary.

Trouble is, once you've done the main front part, you have to take it off and do the inside to get it perfect - whilst off i ended up buffing my entire fairing, removing the front guard which came up amazing!

Finished off with a layer of glaze (Poorboys black hole) to hide the finer swirls I hadn't removed and then an acrylic sealant (Werkstat)