R129 Rear Screen Cleaning with Hindsight

[gladholm]

Hindsight Plastic window restorer.
My new to me SL320 has an original soft top rear window which was a bit dull. The view through it could be likened to a foggy day. The abrasion across the middle was like a bar had been resting on the plastic in the fold.

Hindsight window restorer was recommended on this forum. It's not cheap, about £40 plus postage.
Here are the results of my experience...
2 small pots , some rubber latex gloves, 2 cotton pads and a no smear finishing cloth arrived within a couple of days.
I set aside some time for rubbing.

The first pot contains a stiff, quite coarse and concentrated liquid, texture of peanut butter. A good teaspoonful is required for the outside of the main panel. This renews and restores the acrylic surface. Manual rubbing takes its toll whilst stretching across the rear quarters. I am sure a machine polisher could be used.
The result of this polishing is a smeared and duller surface.

The next stage is to use the second pot of polish.

The second pot contains a more liquid product, with a texture of whipping cream and very white in colour. Vigorous shaking is recommended.

This milky substance must be kept off the black soft top mohair, as it dries quickly with a risk of marking the top; although it can easily be removed with water and a stiff brush.
I used the second cotton pad and a circular polishing action to apply the polishing liquid.

I could feel the smoothness of the acrylic screen under the liquid. As you work the liquid, it dries to a dry chalky dust.

 

[gladholm]

Part two, the results

The hardest part was repeating the process inside the car for the inside of the rear screen. I am not as agile as I like to think, and there is nowhere to kneel down.
The rear quarter panels will get the same treatment when I have recovered.
The second application of both polishing product will bring even more clarity.

The results are startling.

The abrasion on the bar line has virtually disappeared. The fog has lifted. This Hindsight is definitely worth the price and the effort to clean the rear screen of any acrylic window

Any professional polishers out there could offer some finer points of etiquette here. I am happy just to sear out the back...

Richard

 

[gladholm]

Part 3

Fat fingers, this should be in the trim/interior threads.

 

[television]

The hardest part was repeating the process inside the car for the inside of the rear screen. I am not as agile as I like to think,
.

Richard

Nice work, been there and done it,well tried, I think i did mine in the end by having the roof partly open or partly closed, anyway there is somewhere where you can stop it and get yours arms through and you can reach in.

Incidentally I used Mothers polish at £13 there abouts, it did a good job

 

[Myros]

I got some Hindsight

when I bought our 107. I now use it twice a year, at the start and end of the soft top season. It really does do what it says on the tin.
In theory, fine paste metal polish or brasso will get rid of the scratches in the perspex, but the plasticizer in Hindsight is what makes it so much better.
It really makes the perspex soft and supple again.

 

[Pipemaster]

Like Malcolm I used Mothers which is pretty good.

I suffered a couple of days afterward from being contorted in the back will try the half open approach next time as I am not what you could describe as petite and there was quite a bit of internal work to do.....

good write up thanks for taking the time

 

[television]

Like Malcolm I used Mothers which is pretty good.

I suffered a couple of days afterward from being contorted in the back will try the half open approach next time as I am not what you could describe as petite and there was quite a bit of internal work to do.....

good write up thanks for taking the time

None of us are what we used to be, I just have to accept that these days, the mind is willing, and thats where it ends, it was not so long ago that I would lay on the ground outside at 0c and slip an engine out, in the middle of the night:roll:

 

[Customdetailers]

be careful of the roof when opened half way i had a porsche which had to be reset to get the roof to go back down lol.

 

[Pipemaster]

well really!

None of us are what we used to be, I just have to accept that these days, the mind is willing, and thats where it ends, it was not so long ago that I would lay on the ground outside at 0c and slip an engine out, in the middle of the night:roll:

slipping something in and out at 0 degrees has never been a starter for me give me a beach and a balmy evening with the sound of the sea a bottle of Bollinger and my wife and we're talking oops sorry got carried away

 

[davidsl500]

it was not so long ago that I would lay on the ground outside at 0c and slip an engine out, in the middle of the night:roll:

Yes Malcolm, but the police tend to take a pretty dim view of that sort of behaviour!

 

[television]

Yes Malcolm, but the police tend to take a pretty dim view of that sort of behaviour!

In all of the time that I have been a member, I have never managed to cap Davids wit, so I went away to make another coffee and good think = answer mind blank.

The only thing that came to mind was a hot flush when I realised that I never notified the authorities of an engine change ever, and that includes cars where I fitted another make of engine. :Oops: That was back in the days when my body reacted to my brain