Tempered Glass?

[Rogalicious]

Hi,
When I bought my Berlingo a couple of weeks ago, I didn't notice whilst giving it the once over that the windscreen wipers have left nasty scratches arcing over the windscreen right in front of my eyes illyme: I bought a kit off the internet which includes some pads which you attach to a drill and some compound to remove these scratches. It mentions in the instructions that if the glass isn't tempered then I would need to keep a supply of cold water running over the area otherwise my screen could crack. Is the windscreen of a mk2 Berlingo tempered? I can imagine it being quite an awkward job if I have to hold the drill in one hand and a spray bottle in the other!
I'll be changing my wiper blades at the same time to prevent this happening again.
Thanks in advance

[craigblues]

It is hard work to remove scratches if deep in a windscreen.

You might be better of claiming for a new windscreen on insurance if it bugs you that much...

[andy-womble]

Is the windscreen of a mk2 Berlingo tempered?

Yes, mostly bad if you break it..... :whistle::whistle::whistle:illyme:illyme:illyme:

[Rogalicious]

The scratches aren't deep, I thought some sap or grease had been smeared by the wipers, but after intense rubbing with a soft cloth, the marks weren't removed. I've read a lot of reviews and some say it can take hours, but I have a weekend in the sticks coming up and it's probably going to be cold and wet so I thought I'd have a go myself! The kit only cost me a tenner so if it doesn't work, it's an inexpensive lesson not to try again!
The question kind of still stands though, unless it's raining, will I need to be dousing the area with water, is the glass tempered?

[Ol'Jeffers]

OK! Tempered glass is usually found in the side windows on cars.
Windscreens have been made from laminated glass for many years.
The downside of polishing out deep scratches for laminated glass is
that it is possible to polish away a substantial amount of the outer lamination
and therefore weaken the screen against impact damage.
I would be looking to replace the screen as significant, visible scratches in the
driver's eye line will also constitute an MoT failure. (Depending on the individual tester!)

[hachiroku]

If you look in the corner(s) of the screen you should find some info printed on the screen (the same as you'll see info printed in black on the other windows around the car), it will either say "Tempered Glass" or "Laminated" or have a manufacturers name or something which you could put into Google to find out more info.
I think most windscreens these days are laminated, only much older vehicles still have tempered glass screens as these used to shatter into a million pieces when they broke, nowadays the screen can break and cave in but will mostly hold together in one piece.

What model/year of Berlingo is it?

If I were you I'd test out the poilish on a corner of the windscreen first, just to be safe, before going at it in the middle of the screen.
I don't see a problem with using water in any case, if you're using a machine polisher then it can generate quite a bit of heat, a bit of water cooling would do it no harm imo.

[Rogalicious]

Thanks guys, that all makes complete sense. I'll have a look tomorrow and still go ahead with my attempts to repair, but try the corner, as hachiroku recommends.
It had only just had an MOT when I bought it, so my guess is that the seller uses the same MOT garage for all their used cars and probably gets the minor issues overlooked. I hope I'm wrong about that actually, because that makes me paranoid about everything else that I can't see! I guess only time will tell.
Thanks again!

[steve valentine]

If you can feel the scratch with your fingernail, even the tiniest amount, you won't ever polish it out.

Even if you can't polish it out, I doubt you'll fully remove it without dulling the windscreen.

New windscreen is the way to go.

Hope you don't get it out and prove me wrong! :whistle:

[evdama]

Plastic bladed ice scapers are capable of scratching glass too-aviod!

[Drew]

I used one of the kits off of ebay on the scratched windscreen of my old Mercedes V class and the results were brilliant, completely removed the scratch even though it was quite deep and no dulling of the screen at all, in fact you couldn't tell that it had ever been scratched. I even used the same kit to polish the glass on an old watch. The secret is use plenty of water, to polish across the scratch and not to use a too fast a speed. I used a cordless drill because of the use of water and because they aren't normally as fast as corded drills.