Plastic windshield

[NorthwoodsFarmer]

Looking for actual experience.. actual results.

Problem: Old Case IH.. with old cab and plastic windshield. Windshield is severely hazed. Not cloudy exactly… but looks like it’s filled with a trillion nearly microscopic cracks. Seems on the outside. It’s beyond difficult. It’s dangerous. If the sun hits it.. I’m blinded to everything in front of me. At minimum… it is fatiguing and stressful.

Background: Lots of products and myths out there. Windshield restoration kits.. some including sanding/buffing parts. Car paste wax? WD-40? Even a following of those recommending “Lemon Pledge” furniture polish… “used by helicopter pilots”.

Your experience (not opinion please) ??? TIA!

 

[CH4Ohio]

Is it flat? If so, would it be fairly easy to remove it and cut a new one out of a sheet of plexiglass?

 

[mikester]

You can buy plastic headlight lens polishing kits as a stop gap but that only polishes the surface.

When the cracks form inside the plastic it's called crazing.

In my experience you need to replace the plastic once it has crazed.

Replacement is the most effective solution. The polishing kits aren't cheap and it won't buff out the internal crazing.

 

[chim]

Is it flat? If so, would it be fairly easy to remove it and cut a new one out of a sheet of plexiglass?

Even better if it is flat. Replace it with automotive safety glass. For the cab I built back in 2012, it was a simple matter of making a template from underlayment for the glass place and gluing the glass after they made it. No potential for scratching or hazing. If you can get the plastic out in one piece for a template, you don't need to make one.

 

[Oaktree]

My tractor isn't cabbed, but I've had the same thing happen with windshields on snowmobiles, as well as helmet visors. Haven't found anything that worked except replacing it.

 

[grsthegreat]

Last time i went to find a sheet of plexyglass large and thick enough to replace my glass windshield, i found out real tempered glass was less expensive…. By about 1/2.

 

[chim]

The only place I didn't use auto safety glass on the cab I built was where it needed to be cut to fit - below the hood. That was made of Lexan. The guy where I bought it went over a bunch of facts on the different plastics. One cracks easier, one breaks easier, etc.

We used Lexan at work for odd things like forklift canopies. We bent it on our press brake (10' wide that handled 1/4" steel) for strength and drip edges. Although we bent it to 90° it would spring back to around 45°. That was good enough to make the edges stiffer and direct rain.