Wind Screen

[Taylor 1983]

What is the best way to maintain a wind screens newness? I have all the sprays, but is there anything more permanent and truly protects from scratches and swirl marks?

[strataj]

It's the products you use. Microfiber, never user paper. If it's dirty with mud and such, lots of water to wash with a surfactant (I use Turtle Car Wash), you don't want to rub mud into the shield. Lot's products out there, Plexus is my choice.

 

Jay

[mneblett]

What is the best way to maintain a wind screens newness? I have all the sprays, but is there anything more permanent and truly protects from scratches and swirl marks?

*NEVER* take any petroleum-based product to a stock windshield (I use only water and microfiber cloths).

 

The stock windshields have a thin, quite hard surface coating that is very good at resisting scratches.

 

A tip for dried-on bug removal: lay a wet washcloth or towel over the windshield for 15-20 minutes. When thoroughly re-wetted the bug guts wipe right off. If you need to use any elbow grease, they're not socked through.

[eddd]

 

Merchants who sell to the aviation industry will have sprays and wipes that are specifically designed to clean in a safe way. Cee Bailey is a supplier of aircraft windshields. They offer both a spray and the Dupont Sontara aerospace grade wipes.

 

The problem I have with microfiber cloth is that once used it should really be laundered before using it on critical surfaces. That being said, most windscreens on BMWs are at a height where you are not looking through them, but over them while you are definitely looking through an aircraft's windshield. In any case, a windscreen with swirls and/or scratches definitely takes away from the looks of the bike.

 

As mentioned, getting the bugs and such rehydrated is very important, but I like to go one step further by using only running water and my hands to gentle get everything unstuck from the shield before I use and wipe or cloth.

 

[MacGruber]

I was recently clued in to using a 50/50 mix of water and hydrogen peroxide for bug removal. Does a great job of dissolving them.

[blackyam]

Hi. I like to heat up water in a microwave oven (for a few minutes), soak a microfiber (or any soft cloth) towel in the hot water, and then lay it on my windscreen for a few minutes. The bugs come right off.

 

By the way, if you have hydrogen peroxide and liquid dish soap, then you just about have the makings for

! :-)

 

---John.

[Mustang Guy]

Hi. I like to heat up water in a microwave oven (for a few minutes), soak a microfiber (or any soft cloth) towel in the hot water, and then lay it on my windscreen for a few minutes. The bugs come right off.

 

By the way, if you have hydrogen peroxide and liquid dish soap, then you just about have the makings for

! :-)

 

---John.

 

Similarly, I use warm or hot water, but I add a bit of Dawn to it. It foams up nicely in the microfiber towel and helps prevent the dirt scratching the finish.

 

The Hydrogen Peroxide way sounds neat. I will try that out some time. Honestly though, hot water, Dawn and a microfiber works very easily...

[Daddoz777]

Pledge (or generic) aerosol furniture polish plus microfiber cloth. Cheap, safe, cuts the crud and leaves your windscreen shiny and swirl-free! Works great on the helmet shield too. Learned it on a forum somewhere (probably here) and now take it on all my trips.

[foundationapps]

Pledge (or generic) aerosol furniture polish plus microfiber cloth. Cheap, safe, cuts the crud and leaves your windscreen shiny and swirl-free! Works great on the helmet shield too. Learned it on a forum somewhere (probably here) and now take it on all my trips.

 

+1 on the pledge. Old method that I learned in the 70s. Some of the new coatings don't like it though. Scorpion shields glaze over. Windshield of the beemer though it's great!