Refinishing my windshield

[Bigdog]

Has anyone had any luck sanding or refinishing their windshield?   Mine is in rough shape, thinking of sanding it down. But I wonder if it's a waste of time...??
Thanks.......Bigdog

[jer0177]

The shields have layers on them that provide scratch resistance and some other things (possibly UV inhibitor, etc). 

You don't want to sand it down and try to polish it - it would take forever to get it "optical" quality again, and even if you do, a slight breeze would scratch it.

[Jess from VA]

OE shields are lexan (with coating)....... I think a waste of time to try to sand and polish.

All or most aftermarket shields (except F4-Custom) are lucite/plastic, and here an attempt to polish might be doable (if you have the skill and patience of Job). 

[The Anvil]

Lexan can be sanded (and by that I mean abrasive pastes applied mechanically) and polished to excellent results. We do it in aviation all the time to restore aircraft windshields. There are some youtube vids that show how to do it and will tell you what compounds to buy. It's labor intensive though.

Putting on a coat of high quality wax restores much of what the "coating" does, but only as long as it stays on so you have to re-apply.

[ricoman]

I had good luck refinishing my Tourer shield.
Take it off the bike to do the work, and take all the mounting and chrome off the plastic too.
The coating needs to be removed. This is easily done using brake fluid and an old pair of pantyhose to scub away the coating. Do this on one side at a time.
Scratch removal is with 800 and 1500 grit wet/dry sandpaper. Do one side at a time.
After the scratches are gone use an orbital buffer (like the Sears one for waxing your car) and either a Meguiar's or Dupont product to polish away the sanding marks. I used Meguiar's #17 and #10. Do one side, then the other.
The more agressive one first followed by the lighter one. Follow with a final hand application of Novus #1. You will be very pleased with your shiny clear "new" windshield. I do not notice that it's easier to scratch. Remember, do one side at a time. Allow about three hours and don't rush it.
Or, spend the needed bucks for a Clearview (200 or so)-my refinish cost about 30 bucks.