Windscreen scratches - 2002 Polo

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Fri 19 Mar 2004 19:34
Windscreen scratches - 2002 Polo - Stork
How much fine scratching is normal on a car windscreen?

We have noticed that our windscreen has thousands of fine scratches where the wiper blades go. We\'d never noticed that on our previous car, although on the new car it\'s only noticeable with oblique lighting (street lights at night or low sun).

Could it just be because the screen is less upright than on the old car, or have we got a problem?

For information:

The car is a 2002 Polo, the windscreen has been replaced twice (once because of the scratching, but with no admission of liability, and once because of vandalism). The present screen is about 11 months old.

The wipers are a non-standard design (another bone of contention in that replacement wipers are not available -- anywhere! -- we ordered ours at the beginning of February and not yet in).

The old car was a 1985 Polo with standard wiper blades and a slightly steeper screen.
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Sat 20 Mar 2004 22:43
Windscreen scratches - 2002 Polo - kurnal
When I bought my wifes 98 corsa three years ago with 32000 on the clock I noticed similar scratching and for some time I doubted the mileage for this reason alone. But my Nov 2002 mondeo, owned from new, with 28000 on the clock also has similar scratches in the areas covered by the wiper blades- and I always use washer additive by the way and the mondeo blades are still the originals so its not down to cheap rubbers.
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Sun 21 Mar 2004 09:23
Windscreen scratches - 2002 Polo - Andrew-T
The scratching will be caused by fine grit that unavoidably lands on any screen. I suppose you might reduce the effect by wiping the screen and blades clean more often. But I assume the different behaviour on your newer car will be due to softer glass, presumably for safety reasons.
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Mon 22 Mar 2004 08:33
Windscreen scratches - 2002 Polo - AR-CoolC
There is no such thing as softer glass, the standards for windscreens have not changed in 20 years, I would say that it is as you say down to the rake of the screen making it more visable that it was in older cars with a less raked screen.
Unfortunatly there is not realy anything you can do about it, as one of the posts above says, dust and dirt gets onto the screen and is then swept over the glass by the wipers.
Oh and by the way, the areo style blades are available in the aftermarket, its just than few placed stock them.
As it turns out I'm in a meeting tomorrow where 3 of the major wiper manufacturers are coming into tender for our contract, so it is a question I can ask then around availability of these new areo wipers.


(Glass-Tech)
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Mon 22 Mar 2004 11:52
Windscreen scratches - 2002 Polo - Mapmaker
I should imagine that it may be because the screen is new and unscratched.

Following many years of use, a windscreen will have lots and lots of little scratches in all directions. It will just look not as good as new. For a newer car the bulk of the initial scratches will arise from the windscreen wiper.

Just like a new stainless steel sink, when the first few scratches arrive they will cause cries of 'oh no my nice shiny new sink has scratches on it' as the scratches will be very visible. After some years wear, the whole surface is so scratched that you don't notice new scratches, and there is a nice patina.

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