Windscreen Micro Scratches (E89) - Seeking Advice

F

fishavalanche

Member
 Manchester
Hi folks,

New owner of an E89; I've began to notice that the front windscreen has a series of micro scratches which follow the path of the wiper blades.

Obviously the first step is to replace the blades. Going to be doing this this week, so first question - are the BMW Genuine Front Windscreen Wiper Blades Set 61 61 2 151 749 actually worth the £60? Given these are quite a jump in price from BOSCH it's tempting to avoid doing this. If the later, can anyone confirm the size as the forums seem to be disputing the correct sizes...

Secondly, has anyone got experience in removing micro-scratches from the windscreen? I've heard that Cerium Oxide could be an option, but I'm not particularly experienced with this. Has anyone come across this themselves? Likewise has anyone had any experience from a professional who has done it for you? You certainly can't feel any of the scratches with a nail, so seem to be very surface level.

Thanks
 
In certain light at certain angles every car I've owned has this, my wife's car and my Transit both had new windscreens and very shortly afterwards they came back. :(
 
MikeyH said:
In certain light at certain angles every car I've owned has this, my wife's car and my Transit both had new windscreens and very shortly afterwards they came back. :(
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Indeed - sadly my previous motor never had this. So it's certainly a little bit of a mindset shift...

Some Glass Polish did seem to help a little, but not to the effect that I was looking for. I also only applied a single pass by hand, might need to have another go with some more and maybe a firmer hand.
 
As said above I would get professional help with it, I can’t imagine it will be cheap though.
 
Glass seems to scratch quite easily, our French door glass has multiple scratches were our German Shepherd used to jump up to get back in.
 
Quality of windshield seems rubbish these days. My old cars seem to have Triplex glass and never noticed problems.
My original Z4 glass was covered in small chips, at time like a star field in certain light.
It finally broke, glad in a way but the cheapo Chinese glass replacement, broke the next day.
Replacement of that glass you couldn't see out once in rain and wipers running.
Finally got some BMW branded glass, now that has chips on it, one in line of sight.
 
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Think i paid £100 excess on insurance to get Chinese glass fitted, then ended up paying £140 to get glass ordered at BMW and dropped at the glass fitters.
If the screen is annoying, make sure insurance covers the glass and, well you know what.
 
Cerium Oxide is what you can polish glass with. I bought it in powder form (looked like cocaine bags when it arrived :rofl: )
 
pvr said:
Cerium Oxide is what you can polish glass with. I bought it in powder form (looked like cocaine bags when it arrived :rofl: )
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I feel sorry for the poor buggers who’ve been snorting your glass polish in the bathroom of a club somewhere whilst you’ve been busy polishing your glasses with coke… 😁
 
BMWZ4MC said:
I feel sorry for the poor buggers who’ve been snorting your glass polish in the bathroom of a club somewhere whilst you’ve been busy polishing your glasses with coke… 😁
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It’s how he imports it Richard….a box with 5 pairs of used clogs to mask the smell…🤢 mixed with bags of glass polish in each, nothing wrong there, but he then chucks in a random bag of sniff now and again….customs haven’t a clue.

He’s a f***ing wrong ‘un….🤨
 
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I machine polished my E86 windscreen a few years ago as it had historic wiper marks which were quite deep in places. I used 3M Glass Polishing Compound and Flexipads Rayon glass polishing discs. I worked a small area at a time (12 sections) and sprayed water regularly to keep the screen cool. The result was far better than I had hoped for and I was really pleased with the result. I further polished with a lighter polish and pad, added a sealant and replaced the wipers with new ones. Very pleased. :)
 
Can't help with the windscreen, but definitely don't shell out for BMW wipers, the Bosch ones are great.
 
I bought Bosch for my van and the zed and on both cars they squeaked like hell. Changed to Valeo Infinium wipers from Halfords on the zed and no more noise. The down side is that the passenger one sticks up on the end but a shorter one makes it less obvious. :thumbsup:
 
I've had three pairs of Bosch wipers on my Z4s and never had a problem with squeaking, although none of the passenger ones sat on the glass at the end. Next time I'll buy a shorter blade for that side.
 
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