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Fixing scratches in a soft top window... sorta

regular guy

Basic User
City
Cameron
State
NC
So what I did yesterday was try to polish the scratches out of my very old kaoline top. It's been pretty roughly used and the windows were pretty smokey and difficult to see out of. I used Meguiars PlastX bought at Autozone. I think it's s'posed to be used for cloudy headlights, but worked pretty darn well for jeep windows. I applied it both directly onto the window and on a paper towel. The directions recommend a terry towel, but it's not needed. I did the inside while I had the top off to wash out the inside and the outside on the jeep.
I applied the polish and did some serious "Wax on, Wax off" until it was almost clear, then I polished it again with a clean paper towel until there was no residue. There is a lot of static build up once the residue was almost completely gone.
This will remove small scratches and clean some of the deep ones up, but big scratches will still be present, just easier to see through. Anyway, Here are the pictures.




 

gr8dain

Old and Slow
BENEFACTOR
Gold Member
Lifetime Member
SOA Member
City
Ashburn
State
VA
That looks really good. Do you by chance have any pics that might show how cloudy they were before?


Dain
 

regular guy

Basic User
City
Cameron
State
NC
I'll look around. I don't think so though. I haven't taken many pictures since going from half cab to full soft top.
 

regular guy

Basic User
City
Cameron
State
NC
This is the best I've got. If you zoom into the picture you can see the difference between the windshield and the window.



I'll try to get better at taking before pics of projects.
 

gr8dain

Old and Slow
BENEFACTOR
Gold Member
Lifetime Member
SOA Member
City
Ashburn
State
VA
No problem. I was just wondering. I will be doing this soon. So I will have my own before and after to know the difference. Looks great!


Dain
 

Jeep Addict

Scrambler Junkie
Lifetime Member
City
Baton Rouge
State
La
That looks fantastic. I'll be using this on my nutmeg kayline before I put it in storage
I wonder how well a small soft buffer would work
 

regular guy

Basic User
City
Cameron
State
NC
Maybe?

The trick is to have them completely clean because if there's even a tiny speck of dirt, it will scratch the crap out of the window as you wipe with the towel. Also, you are filling in the small scratches so it's not like sanding. You want it as smooth as possible.

On a completely separate note, I think that it conditions the plastic as well, because the next day the windows seemed much more supple and bendable.
 

bigwalton

Alaskan Postal nutjob
FORUM MANAGER
SOA Member
City
Dexter
State
MI
Very interesting, this Moab trek really beat the crap out of the windows in my Bestop, which were pretty pristine before. I definitely need to find some of that. I'm thinking a Mothers Powerball and a drill would do wonders.
 
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