Windshield Saga..

[wantakaw59]

My 2000 Nomads' windshield had some sort of "chipping" going on. It was mostly, if not entirely on the "inside" of the shield. It was severe enough that I could easily "feel" the "chipping" when I'd run my fingertip over the shield. To "see" the problem, you had to get a certain side view of it. The clarity was OK, but I fought that same problem on my last bike, and decided it was "unacceptable". I was either gunna "fix" this shield, or throw it in the trash and buy another one!! Keep in mind, my only 2 compulsivenesses in life are ciggs, and being somewhat fussy about the bike!! I've been somewhat suprised NOT to see more postings about this problem?? Unless I have been the unlucky owner of 2 bikes in a row that has had the previous owner put on a "magical" solution like Rain X on it?? I noted one previous post about this subject that stated "there may be a UV protection on the shield". I am thinking that is what it could be??
Because the thickness of said "coating" seemed to be rather THICK, and I wanted most of this job to be done before Saturday College Football came on,, , I carefully used a new razor blade to SCRAPE off the peeling "film". It came off like laquer paint, in tiny, powdery dust. It is NOT wax, waaaay too thick for wax!! The inside of the shield came out GREAT, with hardly any scratches from the razor blade, but I did get a BUNCH of medium scratches on the outside. I then hit the outside with the red "scuff pad" vertically (against the deep scratches horizontally), then "crosscut" it with a grey scuff pad. Then hand rubbed with a pollishing compound. NOT GOOD NUFF!!
Ran to the parts store and spent $20 (1/4 of cost of NEW shield) on Mequire Plastic X ($10 in itself) and some different compounds. I had a lil Black and Decker buffer that was too slow, so I cut a backplate from some hard plastic lying around and turned my angle grinder into a buffer!! Using the roughest compound, I finally started seeing results. Also, hitting the shield with some wet 2000 grit 3-M paper seemed to help bring the shine back up also. I finally have the scratches I put in it gone!! Now it's just a matter of stepping up with finer compounds to get the swirl marks out and get clarity even better!! It's not a matter of money here, it's now a war of wills!! I knew from the start of this "project" I'd be better off just buying a new shield. Being an "old" body shop guy, I've always felt I could make anything shine if used the right sandpaper and compounds. If anyone is interested in the final outcome (which may come in a few years??), I'll post it.
In hind sight..(which everyone knows is 20/20), I would have been fine if skipped the razor blade and simply sanded the coating off!! I know everyone thinks was insane to use the blade, but believe it or not, I didn't get ANY marks on the inside of the shield with the blade!! Oh, and so far the fancy Plastic X has shown the LEAST signs of helping the shine!!