Windshield fine line scratches: poor quality? factory film? (1 Viewer)

[SwampYankee88]

Hi Fellow GX'ers!

I had several bird droppings on my windshield that would not come off with wiper fluid, so I used some hot water, Dawn, and a kitchen sponge to remove the bird crap. BUT, afterwards, I quickly noticed that there are now fine scratch lines (swirls) in the windshield where I cleaned the bird crap. One of the places is right in front of the driver's sight lines. The scratch lines are very obvious when the sun hits the windshield and when oncoming car headlights hit the windshield at night. I'm super frustrated with myself for scratching the windshield, but obviously didn't think I would scratch the windshield so easily with a kitchen sponge!

I'm weighing my options to try to fix the windshield, but wonder if there is some kind of film from the factory on the windshield that scratches easily?

Have others found the windshield to be poor quality and very easy to scratch?

Has anyone else tried to fix fine line scratches with a repair kit? If so, what product did you use and did it help?

Any advice or ideas on how to resolve would be appreciated!

 

[Sixgun95]

Glass will not scratch from what you did. That is strange! Do you have tint on the outside? I would hope not.

 

[SwampYankee88]

Thanks for the feedback! I was so surprised when I got in the car and could immediately see the swirls of fine lines where I used the sponge. I would think the glass would be designed to be scratch resistant, not easy to scratch. (I'm not talking about rocks or debris hitting the windshield while driving, which would obviously damage it.)

I haven't put any film (protectant or tint) on the windshield, and I have no evidence that the dealer applied anything before delivery. Thanks for link to the DIY option - I will check it out.

 

[spiderjoe]

Sorry I could not check our front windshield as we are already on our second windshield. First one cracked.

Now that you mentioned it, what I have noticed is our rear windshield is badly scratched, probably during last winter when we had to scrape and remove snow and ice. The side 3/4 glass panel is also scratched, probably when we were installing and removing our roof box.

 

[Sixgun95]

Sorry I could not check our front windshield as we are already on our second windshield. First one cracked.

Now that you mentioned it, what I have noticed is our rear windshield is badly scratched, probably during last winter when we had to scrape and remove snow and ice. The side 3/4 glass panel is also scratched, probably when we were installing and removing our roof box.

You are going something wrong! Turning wiper on with mud and dirt on it maybe. Its not a quality control issue, its a user issue.

 

[spiderjoe]

You are going something wrong! Turning wiper on with mud and dirt on it maybe. Its not a quality control issue, its a user issue.

Could be user error .. living in the North East, it’s rough in winter.. I scrape ice and snow of my other vehicles including other Lexuses and German cars and glass doesn’t scratch like on this GX550. I treated our GX460 with more abuse and I never had soft scratches on the glass like our GX550.