Pitted or Sand Blasted Glass

[ramflava]

Hello everyone. I have a question pertaining to pitted/sand blasted glass (windshield). I'm a Sheriff's Deputy and back in January, I was involved in a vehicle pursuit averaging speeds of 100+ MPH for over 40 miles. At one point I was traveling 110 MPH and getting sand blasted as the car I was chasing was driving in the opposite lane of travel's dirt shoulder for nearly 1 mile. I had just paint corrected, sealed and waxed the cruiser. I even sealed the glass.

 

After the pursuit I cleaned the vehicle and I was amazed to see a still flawless paint job. The glass however, was pretty ugly. It looks like a windshield full of stars at night when light hits it.

 

I haven't tried anything other than clay bar, to try to fix it.

Any suggestions (other than replacement) using Adams products to fill the pits? I have a Porter Cable 7424 machine and just about every Adams polish product in my collection. I also have a variety of foam pads to include the 4 inch pads.

 

Thanks in advance for any advice you guys can offer.

[mtnbiker326]

Unfortunately there isn't a "glass filler" system Adam's sells.  Your best bet is to get the department to replace the windshield.  You can clay and seal it again if not but there isn't really that much you can do for it.  My windshield, with 60+k on it is almost as bad as you describe and I have just kept cleaning, claying and sealing it.  (for now)

 

Thank you for serving (BTW).  

[Ricky Bobby]

You can try polishing the glass with orange pad and orange polish to see if it helps, glass is extremely hard compared to paint so you won't hurt it but it might smooth the pits some and make is less noticeable.

 

I prefer to polish glass with a 3" Backing plate and 4" pads, gives me more oomph.

[ramflava]

cool, thanks for the info guys

[Kunal1223]

Could post a picture so we can see how bad it is?

[Adam]

Nobody even commented on the pursuit???  Sounds wild, what happened?  Love stuff like that, and realize it must have been super dangerous, but still...

 

As for your glass, you are probably going to need a new piece.  Sanding the glass is an option, but then it's wavey to look through, if you get my drift.  Not sure what your cruiser is, but a windshield for any high-production vehicle should be sub $200, installed.

 

More details on the 110+ MPH chase?

[Gen9Rolla]

Nobody even commented on the pursuit???  

 

More details on the 110+ MPH chase?

 +1!

[ramflava]

Nobody even commented on the pursuit???  Sounds wild, what happened?  Love stuff like that, and realize it must have been super dangerous, but still...

 

As for your glass, you are probably going to need a new piece.  Sanding the glass is an option, but then it's wavey to look through, if you get my drift.  Not sure what your cruiser is, but a windshield for any high-production vehicle should be sub $200, installed.

 

More details on the 110+ MPH chase?

The pursuit was back on January 12, 2014 at about 3 am. I was informed by another Deputy that he observed a black sedan driving in north on 2nd St at a high rate of speed and without any light on. I was North on 4th St. This area doesn't have a 3rd St between it. It turns out the vehicle took a side street and popped out on 4th St in front of me about 1/4 mile. As I caught up the vehicle, I noticed it was all over the road and actually driving in oncoming lanes of traffic. I watch it try to merge back into right lane of traffic and it nearly crashed in the a center median. The vehicle then continued to weave and fail to maintain proper lane of travel. I turned on my red and blue to try to pull it over and it took off! I chased straight north until the road turned into another rural highway heading into another county and town. During that stretch of highway, the vehilce drove onto the opposite shoulder and sandblasted my 2013 Ford Explorer with sand, gravel and who know what else. During this part of the chase, we were at speeds of 105 MPH or so. The car was still blacked out! I chased into the next town where it got onto another highway. By then the other agencies were already blocking all exiting roads, so it was more or less a drag race to the end point. Problem was after about 30 miles of 100+ MPH (sometimes 125MPH), the dispatch center was losing radio communication due to range. I was told to cancel the chase, but the state police that jumped into the chase shortly before I cancelled, continued. They chased the vehicle another 80 miles. The driver and passenger of the black vehicle somehow managed to bail out in the middle of no where and lost the police. A few hours later, a state police trooper located the offenders walking up out of an arroyo (spanish - loosely translates to canyon or natural ravine). They were arrested and booked.

 

I thought the driver was DWI and just didn't want to get caught, but it turns out that the driver had actually stolen the vehicle (was trying to teach the passenger to steal cars too). Fun chase. I thought I was gonna die about 3 or 4 times, but it was a rush. Thank God for AWD, great traction, and great Emergency Vehicle Operator Instructors! Those new Ford Explorer Police Interceptors are wicked fast!! None of my co-workers could keep up.