Windshield ready for scrap after polishing

[dwadj]

Hi All,

Since one week our MME has been delivered.
We have the AWD ER version in Star white color, with black glass roof.
As you know the car has lots of black parts, which are quite scratch sensitive.
So we decided to give the car a glass coat treatment.
The result is fantastic, the white color is so much more shiny, but especially the black parts (fenders, roof, mirrors, ...) have a much deeper color and for now look scratch free.
The car detailer did a fantastic job...
They completely did the car with Modesta, by first giving the new car a very light polishing.
However one big issue popped up... the windshield is completely scratched for some reason.
All other glass parts, which got exactly the same treatment shine like a mirror, but the windshield is ready for scrap and must therefore be replaced.
The detailer was completely flabbergasted by the result and had never experienced this in his long career, having done over 700 cars, mainly Porsches, Mercedes, Audi, BMW.
Since he is a professional, he directly called Ford to get the windshield replaced on his expense, but unfortunately no windscreens in stock due to the recall.
The guy (and his team) is totally affected by this and just can't understand what went wrong, since he used the same type of soft polishing pads on all the other windows, without any issue.

So yesterday i got back the car and indeed was also totally flabbergasted by this.
I went to my Local Ford Store and told the story, also showed the result, because the windshield should be resistant to this light polishing, right?
But they said mmm, it's clearly an issue from the polishing so no warranty...

Does anybody else have a similar experience with the windshield due to polishing or something else?
Maybe there is some kind of coating on the windshield that caused this problem or even they have faulty ones?
Before the car went for the glass coating, we had a few days of bad weather and we already saw stripes on the windshield coming from the wipers, which i don't think is normal.

I'll attach some pictures once the daylight comes...

Sponsored

 

[murphy62]

Hi All,

Since one week our MME has been delivered.
We have the AWD ER version in Star white color, with black glass roof.
As you know the car has lots of black parts, which are quite scratch sensitive.
So we decided to give the car a glass coat treatment.
The result is fantastic, the white color is so much more shiny, but especially the black parts (fenders, roof, mirrors, ...) have a much deeper color and for now look scratch free.
The car detailer did a fantastic job...
They completely did the car with Modesta, by first giving the new car a very light polishing.
However one big issue popped up... the windshield is completely scratched for some reason.
All other glass parts, which got exactly the same treatment shine like a mirror, but the windshield is ready for scrap and must therefore be replaced.
The detailer was completely flabbergasted by the result and had never experienced this in his long career, having done over 700 cars, mainly Porsches, Mercedes, Audi, BMW.
Since he is a professional, he directly called Ford to get the windshield replaced on his expense, but unfortunately no windscreens in stock due to the recall.
The guy (and his team) is totally affected by this and just can't understand what went wrong, since he used the same type of soft polishing pads on all the other windows, without any issue.

So yesterday i got back the car and indeed was also totally flabbergasted by this.
I went to my Local Ford Store and told the story, also showed the result, because the windshield should be resistant to this light polishing, right?
But they said mmm, it's clearly an issue from the polishing so no warranty...

Does anybody else have a similar experience with the windshield due to polishing or something else?
Maybe there is some kind of coating on the windshield that caused this problem or even they have faulty ones?
Before the car went for the glass coating, we had a few days of bad weather and we already saw stripes on the windshield coming from the wipers, which i don't think is normal.

I'll attach some pictures once the daylight comes...

The windshield is safety glass.
The rest of the glass in the car, any car, is tempered glass. If broken it shatters into lots of small cubes that do not have sharp edges.

 

[bshaw]

Since your detailer offered to replace the windshield at their expense, I think you already have the answer — they caused the damage. They wouldn’t make such an offer otherwise.

 

[HuntingPudel]

I am guessing that you are concerned with the cost to the detailer. His General Liability insurance should cover the replacement of your windshield, less whatever his deductible is.

 

[Scooby24]

Since your detailer offered to replace the windshield at their expense, I think you already have the answer — they caused the damage. They wouldn’t make such an offer otherwise.

Glass should not get scratched from polishing. Glass is immensely harder than automotive clear coat so if there's something that occurred here, it's good information to share so others don't make the same mistake.

Typically to polish out glass effectively to correct any defects I have to use cerium oxide and very abrasive pads and even then it doesn't cause scratches or swirls.

I'm curious to know what happened here. It sounds like this is the IR coating glass so is the IR coating baked into the glass? Could that have caused it to be softer as a result?

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

I think the problem may lie with the OP's detailer. I had my mach-e polished and ceramic coated shortly after I picked it up. The polishing was primarily to remove the water spots caused by the car sitting on the San Diego docks for 5+ weeks. That included all the windows, the glass roof, and the windshield. No scratches on any of them.

The detailer has offered to have the windshield replaced. Have them do so and move on. Be sure it's OEM quality for sound and IRR. On the bright side, doing this will eliminate the need for any windshield recall should your car be subject to it.

Good luck.

 

[dwadj]

The detailer indeed offered to have it replaced and it will be done at the local Ford store so it's OEM.
But still we don't know what caused it, because he used the same pads and paste for all the windows and none of them have any scratches/issues.
We also believe some sort of layer/coating is already applied on the screen which must cause this.
As i'm not sure, the new windshield will for now not getting any coating applied on.

I just want to say to others be careful with the windshield...

 

[machefan]

The detailer indeed offered to have it replaced and it will be done at the local Ford store so it's OEM.
But still we don't know what caused it, because he used the same pads and paste for all the windows and none of them have any scratches/issues.
We also believe some sort of layer/coating is already applied on the screen which must cause this.
As i'm not sure, the new windshield will for now not getting any coating applied on.

I just want to say to others be careful with the windshield...

The windshield recall is not replacing rather adding more adhesive to the current so I’m not sure why that would cause a shortage aside from the supply issues. The windshield has a coating and it sounds like the products used had a negative reaction to it. Since the dealer is responsible you just have to wait it out till the replacement arrives.

Sorry but good post so others can avoid!

 

[dbsb3233]

Took about 5 weeks for us to find a new OEM windshield (rock crack) mid-summer, and we were lucky to even find that one when we did.

And it wasn't cheap. $1060 (including install). Would have been ~$250 more than that had their calibration equipment been working, but it wasn't. They recommended that be done at a later time, but I haven't bothered since all sensors seem to be working perfectly (lane centering, collision warning, adaptive cruise control, speed limit sign detection).

 

[RickMachE]

My dealer is queuing up spare windshields for when one breaks during R&R.

 

[Neilthepilot]

I wonder if they had problems getting windshields and to keep the line moving bought some that ended up being poor quality. It could even have been a bad run by the manufacturer.

Sponsored