Vinyl Window scratches

Jmjnewbold

Jmjnewbold

Member
So, looks like my wife tried to clean my vinyl windows on my soft top while I was out of town. She used Windex and a paper towel. I now have swirl marks and scratches on my window. The side windows don't look bad, but the back window is terrible!!!:doh: First, Is there a product out there can could remove the swirl marks and scratches and protect the windows? Second, how should the soft top windows be cleaned?
 
I had the same issue (someone cleaning the windows with the wrong stuff - at the Dealer before I picked up my Jeep in 2014). The back window was OK but the two side windows were "swirled" and you could see scratches going into the soft plastic. Made them give me two new side windows (they let me keep the old ones) - I still have the new ones in the boxes. I found something called Turtle Wax Ice Detailing Spray that I use frequently (on most everything except the tires on the outside of my jeep and even some of the stuff inside). I get scratches from bushes and trees all of the time. This spray must have something in it that fills in the window scratches (for a while). If you use it frequently, it seems to hide the scratches pretty well.
 
I've had great results with Novus products. I get them from my local Harley Davidson dealer. Use mostly #1 and #2. Be extremely careful with #3, only on scratches that 1 and 2 won't get out. Best out there for plastic Windows imo.
 
you can clean them with any cleaner that does not have ammonia in it. That's why the Windex scratched them. Ammonia messes up plastic. we cant even use it on the Plexiglas windscreens at the airport.
 
mkjeep said:
I've had great results with Novus products. I get them from my local Harley Davidson dealer. Use mostly #1 and #2. Be extremely careful with #3, only on scratches that 1 and 2 won't get out. Best out there for plastic Windows imo.
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I've never heard of Novus products. I will have to look into them, I've seen people recommend the Bestop window cleaner, but Bestop's site says nothing about the cleaner removing scratches.
 
Plexus might help it sprays on similar to pledge. I've never used pledge so I cant say for sure its safe but they both might help with the scratches.
 
Goldeneagle1LC said:
Plexus might help it sprays on similar to pledge. I've never used pledge so I cant say for sure its safe but they both might help with the scratches.
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Plexus is fucking AMAZING for plastic. Used it on my motorcycle helmet visors for years, you just can't use it with paper towels.
 
Also the swirls is why you should always clean the window with up and down straight line motions. That way if they do scratch it isn't as bad and can still be seen through. If you ever want to freak out a pilot clean his windscreen with circular motions.
 
mkjeep said:
I've had great results with Novus products. I get them from my local Harley Davidson dealer. Use mostly #1 and #2. Be extremely careful with #3, only on scratches that 1 and 2 won't get out. Best out there for plastic Windows imo.
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This ^^^ The Novus 3 solution kit works wonders but as mentioned, #3 is the most abrasive and you should only use it if #2 won't get the job done. #1 is more like a fine polish to finish things up.
 
No idea what the long term impact will be but after a tool at a local shop cleaned and scratched my windows I figured I would experiment. Used a microfibre cloth and Armor-all plastic protectant. Worked extremely well. Of note; I did the zippers too and they glide along now where previously sliding them was a real battle.
 
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wayoflife said:
This ^^^ The Novus 3 solution kit works wonders but as mentioned, #3 is the most abrasive and you should only use it if #2 won't get the job done. #1 is more like a fine polish to finish things up.
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:thinking: So, went to my local motorcycle shop and the guy at the parts counter told me not to use it. He said it was for hard plastic (like motorcycle windshields) and wouldn't recommend it for my soft windows especially since they are tinted. Do you think this guy is full of it or what? :naw:
 
Jmjnewbold said:
:thinking: So, went to my local motorcycle shop and the guy at the parts counter told me not to use it. He said it was for hard plastic (like motorcycle windshields) and wouldn't recommend it for my soft windows especially since they are tinted. Do you think this guy is full of it or what? :naw:
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I would guess Eddie knows more about Jeeps than the bro at the counter of your local motorcycle dealer...just a guess though [emoji12][emoji12][emoji12]
 
Jmjnewbold said:
:thinking: So, went to my local motorcycle shop and the guy at the parts counter told me not to use it. He said it was for hard plastic (like motorcycle windshields) and wouldn't recommend it for my soft windows especially since they are tinted. Do you think this guy is full of it or what? :naw:
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Again, the Novus is a 3 step product. For something like a scratch in hard plastic, you really NEED to start with #3 which is like a fine sandpaper solution. You would then follow that up with the #2 solution to smooth it out and then the #1 to polish it out. For your soft top windows, you'd primarily want to use the #1 solution but for deeper scratches, the #2 will help but you NEED to follow it up with the #1 to polish things out.

For just routine cleaning, I use Plexus but Pledge works pretty well too to help reduce the visibility of scratches.
 
wayoflife said:
Again, the Novus is a 3 step product. For something like a scratch in hard plastic, you really NEED to start with #3 which is like a fine sandpaper solution. You would then follow that up with the #2 solution to smooth it out and then the #1 to polish it out. For your soft top windows, you'd primarily want to use the #1 solution but for deeper scratches, the #2 will help but you NEED to follow it up with the #1 to polish things out.

For just routine cleaning, I use Plexus but Pledge works pretty well too to help reduce the visibility of scratches.
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Thanks Eddie!! :thumb: I would have never guessed pledge would work, but I'm gonna try it when I get home.
 
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